Refurbishment - Is one month enough?

bluedrop

penguingirl wrote: »

. Why aren't you getting recommendations for trades now? Even if you just have them booked in for post-exchange, and suss out whether they are available in June!

I have no recommendations for tradesmen

Shall I start discussing with builders now? eventhough I cant get them access to the property until after next week ?

juniper_berry

Hi Bluedrop, felt compelled to reply after buying a property last year that needed to be completely renovated. A year on we are still having work done.

If you are having your house rewired you will be unlikely to be working on other projects during this time - your house will be a total building site. If you have a number of people working on your electrics that will take up to a week to be complete as they have to chase out the walls and floor, fit the cables then cover it all back up. Once the electrics are done, I'd look at ripping out the bathroom and kitchen.
You would then need to find a plasterer who could come in (I'd recommend getting every room done in one go when it's a blank canvas). Taking a few days at least to find someone and book them in, you are then looking at anywhere up to a couple of weeks to do the job based on number of people and whether it's a skim or full plaster.

From start to finish it took a good few months for us to get our kitchen designed, priced, delivered and fitted. (Fitting a kitchen can generally be done within a week but there is design to think about and pricing from different people). Plus it would be fitting in with their schedule.

Fitting your bathroom would be another few days, once you have found someone, then a few more days on top of that to tile, bearing in mind unexpected things do happen.

Once these main jobs are done you would then have to order flooring and carpets - this can take up to a month to come. Factor in this time plus the time to decide what you want and getting someone in to fit it. Oh and somewhere along the line you will need to get painters in and fit skirting etc.

I hope you have an extremely large budget as it's definitely going to cost you! Remember you have to order all the appliances, fittings, flooring, kitchen, bathroom suite and more on top of finding tradesmen, getting them round to quote and agreeing start times. As other people have said they will tell you what you want to hear and from experience a lot of them talk total s***. Be wary with parting with money upfront because if they don't do a good job you have very little chance of getting it back.

Take the time to get it right and get the right people in because it's going to become a very stressful few months for you. Also note RP and TAT aren't always the way forward - read the negative reviews on people and take note of them. We've had a mix of very good and extremely bad - do your research. Hireahubby is a good site for workers who can do a mix of jobs - the workers are part of the franchise so if anything goes wrong you have a comeback.

Good luck and I hope it all works out well.

southcoastrgi

totally unrealistic time scale, any builder that can quote & start within 2 days you don't want working in your home, you could be waiting 2 weeks just for the structural calcs

Leif

Several good bathroom fitters told me they could not start for at least 3 months ahead. The ones that started soon were scheisse. The builder who said he'd prepare the kitchen in time for the fitters didn't. But I'd delayed the fit by a week, fortunately. Even then the consumer unit was not in, and sockets were dead, and the fitter had to sort that out. 6 weeks after the fit, the consumer unit went in.

An alternative is move in, book in trades, and get some work done, and live in a B&B for a week while work done, move back, book in next lot etc.

Moomum

Not gong to happen, we started in March, moved in in September and still doing finishing bits now!

Happy-Days_3

Not a chance. If you are getting quotes in the 1st June, you will be lucky if they start before end of June, let alone finish.

Rockingit

Speaking as a tradesmen personally, you are simply asking for a life-changing amount of trouble and hassle if you try to rush it. For starters, avoid like the plague the sort of recruitment websites you've mentioned, you won't find anyone decent on them (and that's a professional view as well as personal). Find a decent builder by asking around and for recommendations and let them be your guide - they will know how long it will take to get the various stages done because it's what they do everyday. Until the builders have fully thought through the plans and come up with a plan, no other trade will be able to accurately quote, or schedule.

Leif

From personal experience I can second the comment about sites such as RatedPeople. There are too many chancers and cowboys on them.

Gastines2

Used to be my main line of work,I would suggest that even with very good planning and a decent workforce you are looking at 8-10 weeks. I'm always amazed at the way some people go about total re-furbs,often knocking down walls and chasing out cable runs with the old carpets on the floor and piles of new kitchen fittings etc to work round. First job get a very good cash flow ready and allow for 15% over-run. Take all old flooring up and strip all the walls.Get a skip in place and anything you are not using, dump it.Not pile it up in the garden so that you have to handle it all twice and ruin your lawn or waste time going back and forth to the tip.Get you plumber to cut of relevant water supplies bearing in mind a water supply will be needed and probably a toilet. Clear the kitchen and bathroom. plan cable runs and any supplies to rads etc,include T.V.and phone points.Power points to suit kitchen and furniture layout.Do as much prep work as you can by clearing the site,it's safer to work in and don't get anything delivered till you need it.It avoids damage and theft. Building sites are a good prospect for all the thieves about.
I think that should give you a start but remember if knocking down any interior wall you need calculations and building regs and the building inspector will call up to three times to check each stage.RSJ.pad stones, fire board before you can plaster.

cyclonebri1

The simple answer is no, it is not enough time, and, if you are relying on getting all the trades of an agency such as check a trade etc, I can guarantee there will be at least 1 major op cuck:eek::eek::eek: