What sort of builder do I need?

FeathersForever

I am in the process of buying a house and am trying to find someone to do the work it needs once I get the keys. But I am having a bit of trouble - basically I'm not sure what sort of firm/builder I should be looking for!

It needs a bit of work on the outside (gutters cleaning, ground lowering as it's got above the damp course, tree removing), and inside it needs wallpaper stripping, reskimming/making good, painting, and gas fire and electric meter servicing. Better loft insulation would be good too.

I'd like to use one person to do/oversee all of this, but when I search for general building firms that cover all areas I seem to end up looking at firms that do e.g. construction, major renovation etc. who probably won't want to take on this work as it's not so big.

Any idea what I should be searching for / where I could look?

The house is in Bradford, on the offchance that anyone reads this and can recommend someone local!

Procrastinator333

Are you sure you want one company to do everything? You do realise how much extra you will be paying for that service?

Most of those jobs you could find local trades non VAT registered. But you get 1 company to do it, they will charge a fee for managing the whole process (not unreasonable), and they certainly will be large enough to be VAT registered. My guess is that if you are lucky, it will cost you 50% extra. Perhaps even double the cost.

The other risk you run is that you end up with a Jack of all trades doing a lot of the work and while it all might get done ok, it would not be as good as getting each trade in turn. If you are going to employ someone to do decorating, surely you want a decorator, not a builder who also paints the odd room when a customer pays him enough cash?

FeathersForever

I didn't know about the VAT registered thing - time to see about researching local tradesmen I guess! Thank you!

Procrastinator333

A person can do £80k of work and not be VAT registered. E.g not charge you VAT. What that means is if you use 1 man bands. They will not be VAT registered and tht will save you 20%.

Just figure out the order of work. Then start ringing people up. 3 quotes for each piece of work. More hassle, but it will save you a lot of cash and I reckon get u a better end result.

cyclonebri1

Second the above, anyone you choose to do the lot will simply farm out bits. You can do that yourself and save money, :money:, remember.

Don't go at it with a scatter gun approach, do it in a logical order and involve 1 outfit at a time, that way you still have a good proportion of the house available to you, and they can't get in the way of each other.

edt;
(sorry P3, din't crib the order bit from you)

captainhindsight_2

If your property has solid walls you can get grants to pay for solid wall insulation which would include reskimming/plastering the walls inside.

And you should be able to get loft insulation for free.

Then just local tradesman would cover the majority of the other work.

lackingwedge

captainhindsight wrote: »

If your property has solid walls you can get grants to pay for solid wall insulation which would include reskimming/plastering the walls inside.

And you should be able to get loft insulation for free.

Good luck with all that. I am a few months down the road with a similar project and getting free\subsidised insulation is fustratingly difficult.

My advice is to break down into small managable chunks. do your research on each bit of work that needs doing so that you are in a position to instruct the builder and how have them try and breeze you with science to put the price up.

Maybe see what bits you can do yourself (laying loft insulation is straightforward) create a spreadsheet with running totals of actual and projected costs.

randykurm

I need a builder it should be professional and effective .And i want professional builder for my home.

schwam66

FeathersForever wrote: »

I seem to end up looking at firms that do e.g. construction, major renovation etc. who probably won't want to take on this work as it's not so big.

i can promise you no building company will say no to what you need doing, its a piec of !!!! for them the work you want doing....striping wall paper, laying loft insulation....they will jump at this....they will then bend you over with the final bill as well......alot of the stuff you mention are things you could do yourself and save BIG money....

smifffy1989

It is not very MSE to pass the task over to one single builder. They are called design and build firms, whereby you employ the main contractor and then they subcontract out the bits.

I would personally get some prices from handymen/odd job man for the manual labour aspects. They could probably do the wallpaper stripping and the painting too!

You when need a gas safe plumber for the gas work.

Electric meters do not need servicing, they either work or they don't and its the responsibility of the power distributor. If you mean the main fuse board then you need an electrician.

A tree surgeon or garden services company can do the tree.

Look out for the British Gas offer for the loft insulation and cavity wall.


Finally before you have anything done agree a price upfront.

27col

Nothing on the list needs a builder. A good handyman perhaps.