Second Fixtures in Builders Contract

shdmummy

Hello All,
I am very very new to all this. I am having a two-story extension to my house and paying s***t loads of money for it. Unfortunately, my husband is in love with the expensive builder and he is refusing to move away from him. Anyway, we are at stage of signing the contract and I just thought I should double check few things before making a bigger fool of us.

Is there any list of Second fittings which the builders should give us choice on? Is it OK to ask how much budget he has given these second fittings? If I am unhappy with the budget can I express it at contract signing stage?

Please help us. We are quiet new and I feel that the builder is taking us for a ride. He has given us breakdown of the cost but has not explained how the money will be spent. Shouldn't he explain to us what quality material he will be using?

Also, if I want to make my extension environmentally friendly, can I ask builders about those things - like solar panel etc?

PLEASE PLEASE HELP.

phil24_7

Get specifics before signing anything else you might envisage good quality fixtures and fittings while the builder could be throwing the cheapest of the cheap in there.

The more specifics in the contract the better including schedules and schedules of payment else the builder can do what he likes.

Normal practice is to get an architect or such to do a detailed drawing and material specification, then get quotes based on this.

phil24_7

Tell you husband he might be walking into a whole world of trouble unless he detaches his emotion from the decision and thinks about everything logically and in it's entirety.

Why is he so keen on this builder? Did you get at least 3 quotes for the extension? Have you seen his work or been recommended him by people you trust?

Regards
Phil

shdmummy

Phil24_7, builder comes highly recommended and we have seen his work. That's why my husband is in love with them. But he believes in no contract. He has done a £500,000 contract for a friend without contract and they are very very happy with him. But we are very nervous as we do everything via contract.

We had 25 quotes and he was coming out reasonable just over priced if I choose £1500 per sq quote from Internet. It has taken us 2 years to come to this stage. Hence I don't want this project stalled.

I am trying my best to make sure we are not made fools. Can I ask him about budgets etc?

brightontraveller

shdmummy wrote: »

Phil24_7, builder comes highly recommended and we have seen his work. That's why my husband is in love with them. But he believes in no contract. He has done a £500,000 contract for a friend without contract and they are very very happy with him. But we are very nervous as we do everything via contract.

We had 25 quotes and he was coming out reasonable just over priced if I choose £1500 per sq quote from Internet. It has taken us 2 years to come to this stage. Hence I don't want this project stalled.

I am trying my best to make sure we are not made fools. Can I ask him about budgets etc?

He believes in no contract then tell him jog on The price of previous works has no relevance to quality of work or ability to do it or indicates previous clients ability to tell if the work is indeed correctly done

If you don’t have a contract you are stuffed if they walk away, dies, get injured ,decide to take a three year holiday goat herding in the alps ?

Contracts there for both his and your protection all should be ironed out at start if its not then your not ready ?

System

25 quotes?!?! how can you compare them all if they don't have a spec

teneighty

shdmummy wrote: »

Hello All,
Is there any list of Second fittings which the builders should give us choice on? Is it OK to ask how much budget he has given these second fittings? If I am unhappy with the budget can I express it at contract signing stage?

If the electrical and mechanical (heating and plumbing) installation have not been specified or a break down in the quote then I would assume that the builder has allowed for the absolute minimum and the cheapest fittings. Ugly white plastic electric switch plates, single pendant light fitting in middle of ceiling, ugly white pressed steel radiators etc.

If you want different switch plates or some nice ornate wall lights or a few spot lights expect the costs to start ratcheting up.

Of course I am probably just being cynical but are you prepared to take the risk. Have you at least got a drawing showing the proposed electrical and mechanical layouts?

mishkanorman

If you're worried, ask to remove the second fix materials from the job and purchase them yourself ? You may pay more than trade prices but then you will have complete control

Ectophile

You really ought to at least agree on what fittings to use. Otherwise you will get whatever the wholesaler is stocking cheapest.

Solar panels needs an MCS registered installer. If you don't go the correct route, you'll get no Feed In Tariff, and the electricity company may even tell you to disconnect it.

Rain_Shadow

shdmummy wrote: »

We had 25 quotes ?

the_r_sole wrote: »

25 quotes?!?! how can you compare them all if they don't have a spec

How did you even get 25 people to quote?:eek:

Rain_Shadow

I'm just coming to the end of having an extension built.

My architect drew up a specification and the builder quoted against each element of that and included PC sums for items (flooring, doors etc) that we could choose ourselves.


I'm surprised your architect hasn't been through this with you.