Extras with Jelson Homes

ap1985

scottishblondie wrote: »

I am of the opinion that it if it is anything that will require making holes in walls, I would pay the extra for the builder to do it as I would rather that than the mess and damage to the previously untouched walls. They can run all cables before putting up the plasterboard. I got extra sockets fitted, TV points, phone points and network cabling installed by the builders.

My 2 pence on what I would do:

- Upgrading Plug Sockets If you mean adding more sockets, yes. There are never enough. If you mean the socket plates, don't bother
- Fitted Wardrobes No
- Shower in Main Bathroom and extension of Tiling Yes
- Ceramic floor tiles in both bathrooms No
- Access door to garage Yes
- Power light to Garage Yes
- Shower screen in main bathroom Maybe - if they damage the tiles while drilling they'll have to fix it, otherwise you will be responsible
- Chrome Towel radiators I wouldn't bother, they always put in awful cheap ones anyway. Upgrade later.
- TV points to bedrooms. Yes

Thank you that is helpful and your opinion is much appreciated

Vampgirl

Bearing in mind our experience is with a different builder in a different area, but we found:

- Upgrading Plug Sockets - much cheaper to do ourselves. Also, we only did the ones you can actually see...if it is hidden by furniture we didn't bother
- Fitted Wardrobes - prices were about the same as getting it done ourselves for proper fitted wardrobes. We went for Ikea Pax - much cheaper and looks almost as good
- Shower in Main Bathroom and extension of Tiling - tiling was approx the same price as getting a tiler in to do it, would have been slightly cheaper to do it ourselves. Can't advise on the shower cost, but in terms of cost & hassle don't forget to think about whether you'd need to re-do the existing tiling if adding a shower later.
- Ceramic floor tiles in both bathrooms - same as the wall tiling, developer price was the same price as having someone in to do it for us, would have been slightly cheaper to do it ourselves
- Access door to garage - no idea - you could ask a local builder for an estimate to compare
- Power light to Garage - really depends on where the garage is in comparison to your house - a local electrician should be able to give you an estimate
- Shower screen in main bathroom - easy job to do yourself, much cheaper too
- Chrome Towel radiators - cheaper to do yourself, but probably neater to have the developer do it as the water feed pipes will probably come out the wall in a different place for a radiator Vs a towel rail and the pipework will be on show. Not a problem if its on a non-tiled wall, but if its on a tiled wall you'll either need to re-do the existing tiling or live with messy pipework.
- TV points to bedrooms. - ours came included, but potentially a fairly easy DIY job if on an internal stud wall, if on an outside dot & dab wall then you'll probably need to also take into account the work to hide the cabling in the wall.

In general we found some options were very good value (extra plug sockets were dead cheap Vs having someone in to do it later), some were average value and some were very expensive (eg. carpets). If you want to make the right choice then the only thing you can do is get a price from the developer for every option you're considering and then go and price it up yourself.

If the developer was oheaper or the same price - easy decision :-) If they were more expensive our approach was to look at exactly how much we could save doing it ourselves and whether it was worth it for the time and effort needed (our time has a value too).

ap1985

Vampgirl wrote: »

Bearing in mind our experience is with a different builder in a different area, but we found:

- Upgrading Plug Sockets - much cheaper to do ourselves. Also, we only did the ones you can actually see...if it is hidden by furniture we didn't bother
- Fitted Wardrobes - prices were about the same as getting it done ourselves for proper fitted wardrobes. We went for Ikea Pax - much cheaper and looks almost as good
- Shower in Main Bathroom and extension of Tiling - tiling was approx the same price as getting a tiler in to do it, would have been slightly cheaper to do it ourselves. Can't advise on the shower cost, but in terms of cost & hassle don't forget to think about whether you'd need to re-do the existing tiling if adding a shower later.
- Ceramic floor tiles in both bathrooms - same as the wall tiling, developer price was the same price as having someone in to do it for us, would have been slightly cheaper to do it ourselves
- Access door to garage - no idea - you could ask a local builder for an estimate to compare
- Power light to Garage - really depends on where the garage is in comparison to your house - a local electrician should be able to give you an estimate
- Shower screen in main bathroom - easy job to do yourself, much cheaper too
- Chrome Towel radiators - cheaper to do yourself, but probably neater to have the developer do it as the water feed pipes will probably come out the wall in a different place for a radiator Vs a towel rail and the pipework will be on show. Not a problem if its on a non-tiled wall, but if its on a tiled wall you'll either need to re-do the existing tiling or live with messy pipework.
- TV points to bedrooms. - ours came included, but potentially a fairly easy DIY job if on an internal stud wall, if on an outside dot & dab wall then you'll probably need to also take into account the work to hide the cabling in the wall.

In general we found some options were very good value (extra plug sockets were dead cheap Vs having someone in to do it later), some were average value and some were very expensive (eg. carpets). If you want to make the right choice then the only thing you can do is get a price from the developer for every option you're considering and then go and price it up yourself.

If the developer was oheaper or the same price - easy decision :-) If they were more expensive our approach was to look at exactly how much we could save doing it ourselves and whether it was worth it for the time and effort needed (our time has a value too).

Thank you I was thinking the same too get prices from developer and then quotes from external builders to compare prices...Thankfully our carpets are included