disabled facilities grant experienced help required

evans_ch

Hello hope you are well

We have been successful in getting a DFG for our son for his ongoing needs the purpose of the DFG is for a downstairs Toilet Bathroom wet room . The council are prepared to put the full amount according to the cost to create the facility required.

We also want to do other work at the same time to help give the family more space and to create another bedroom so our sons will no longer need to share (which is very important over the next years for them both) by doing both at the same time we hope to make further changes that will be more cost effective to complete together with the main work for the Toilet wet room having the primary costs. ie. it has to have heating / water/ foundations / so on.

We are looking to fund extra costs ourselves however we are very limited in the funds we can provide and have no way of getting extra money from any other source.

My question is has anyone experience of the process of having other works completed while having DFG work completed and how did you mitigate costs when presenting the tender costs to the council.

I am just worried that when we do present the tender the council will say that the bathroom wet room costs are lower than we estimate and therefore they are lowering the amount they will give for the transformation .

Thanks for your thoughts

regards

C

sheramber

It i is not clear from your post but are hoping to use some of the money from the grant to subsidise the extra work you want done?

How does the extra work relate to the bathroom/wet room?

[Deleted User]

If the cost of the work is lower the grant will be lower. They won't just give you the excess funds between the estimate and costs!

easy

I think your main problem is going to be finding a reputable, reliable and sympathetic builder (or possibly an architect?), who can provide detailed written estimates for both aspects of the project.

Obviously you would hope that any work which will affect both parts will be written into the wetroom estimate to ensure that the council grant will cover all those necessary costs - talk in detail to the builder/architect about what is needed, and go over the estimates in GREAT detail with him/her to make sure they cover EVERY LITTLE THING before submitting them to the council.

You say you have very limited funds - just remember these points
1. Good quality building work is expensive. Make sure you are certain what your budget for the extra bedroom is before you start
2. An estimate that is considerably below any others is quite likely to be over-optimistic. Be wary about going with the cheapest quote
3. Sometimes snags appear after the work is started, which no-one could have forseen. If at all possible have a contingency fund (that the builder doesn't know about) set aside over and above the estimate figure so you aren't thrown into a panic if that situation arises.
4. Ask around everyone you know to find a reliable builder. There are some real diamonds out there, but they are usually booked up months in advance. If a builder can start immediately ask yourself why. At the very least ask to see some of the work he has already done - and try to talk to the householder without the builder there to see how the work went.

Good luck

CountryGirl#

Unfrotunatly people are struggling to get wheelchairs, let alone wet rooms and toilets adapted. At the moment I am having to sleep on the sofa in the front room, as there isn't room, as my daughters can't share and only have 2 bedroom property. As far as the council are concerned the front room can be classed as a bedroom now and are not overcrowded. Times are tough. Have done this for the past 5 years. So maybe that's an option for you to do instead?