Renovating house: Individual trades vs combined - pros & cons?

jwl83

My girlfriend and I have had an offer accepted on a 3 bed 1960s terraced house in outer London that we'd like to renovate before we move in.

There are several jobs that will need doing and I'm trying to work out the pros and cons of hiring individual trades directly vs having a single contractor (with expertise across the trades) to handle it.

The jobs that we plan to do are:
1) Convert integral garage into extra bedroom (garage already has an internal door to the rest of the house and has electrics and lighting) [ballpark £10k - if we can't fit all the jobs in our budget, we'll drop this job from the renovation]
2) Combine several small rooms on the ground floor (utility room / water cylinder cupboard / toilet / box room), demolishing non load-bearing walls to make an extra reception room with french windows onto the garden [ballpark £4k]
3) Rewire the house, replacing the 1960s fuse box (and moving out of the garage) and installing extra power points (2 new double-points per room in each of 3 beds / 2 receptions / kitchen)[ballpark £4k]
4) Replace hot air ducted heating with standard combi-boiler and radiators [ballpark £5k]
5) Replace bathroom (toilet, sink, bath+shower, flooring, tiling) [ballpark £4k]
6) Replace kitchen [ballpark £6k]
7) Replace carpets downstairs with wood floors [ballpark £2k]
8) Replace carpets upstairs with new carpet [ballpark £1k]
9) Repainting (3 beds / 2 receptions / kitchen) [ballpark £1k]

The ballparks are just that - very rough estimates for now.

I'd appreciate if anyone has views or experience on this? We're first time buyers, so a lot of unknowns for us, but I'm trying to cover as many details as possible to reduce the risks. On the plus side, we should have two months in our rented flat after we complete on the house, so we're aiming to leave the house empty to make it easier to complete the bigger jobs (rewiring / heating / anything involving removing walls).

If I can find a single contractor with expertise/contacts across the trades I see potential benefits in (a) a single point of contact; (b) easier to schedule different jobs that need doing without conflicting with other jobs; (c) possible price savings by scale of the work.

We're about to contact builders/etc to start getting estimates, but I thought I'd ask for experience on here first to see what other people have done in a similar position?

Thanks in advance for any help.

John

eddddy

Very briefly, I would expect that...

Hiring a single contractor to do everything would be more expensive...

But then they do the project management, dealing with arguments between the tradesman, etc.

For example, if something goes wrong, it's the contractor who has to sort it, as opposed to you sorting it out e.g....

• the plumber telling you to tell the tiler that he's doing it wrong
• the tiler telling you it's not his fault, it's the plasterer's fault
• etc

xylophone

My vote (after having compared experiences with relative who went the individual trades route) would be to hire a trustworthy contractor and make him responsible for the whole job.

HouseBuyer77

Finding a reliable builder who can do the lot and you can just hand them the keys and let them get on with it is definitely the easiest option. However finding such a builder isn't always easy and they'll probably have a long waiting list (round where I live those with excellent reputations can have at least a 6 month waiting list).

Finding individual tradesman will mean more options for availability. You can always find someone to do the whole bathroom say so there's no juggling plasterers, plumbers and tilers. Major thing you need to get right is ensure the rewire does what you need in the kitchen / bathroom. Or potentially ask the electrician to just leave the kitchen circuits and let the kitchen fitter do it.

James_Green_1982

eddddy wrote: »

Very briefly, I would expect that...

Hiring a single contractor to do everything would be more expensive...

But then they do the project management, dealing with arguments between the tradesman, etc.

For example, if something goes wrong, it's the contractor who has to sort it, as opposed to you sorting it out e.g....

• the plumber telling you to tell the tiler that he's doing it wrong
• the tiler telling you it's not his fault, it's the plasterer's fault
• etc

If you're lucky.

James_Green_1982

xylophone wrote: »

My vote (after having compared experiences with relative who went the individual trades route) would be to hire a trustworthy contractor and make him responsible for the whole job.

That is putting a huge amount of faith in the main contractor.
I would advise dealing directly with each tradesman yourself.

Subcontracting is bad news for the customer, because responsibility gets lost along the way.

G_M

James_Green_1982 wrote: »

That is putting a huge amount of faith in the main contractor.
I would advise dealing directly with each tradesman yourself.

Subcontracting is bad news for the customer, because responsibility gets lost along the way.

I disagree. Responsibility lies with the main contractor.


He gets paid on a sliding basis as the job progresses, so (unless there's a good reason like purchasing expensive bespoke materials) is always in arrears.


Sorting out timing of jobs, let alone arguments, between individul contractors can be a nightmare.


But I agree it also depends on finding a ecent recommended main contractor/builder.

need_an_answer

What are your timescales for getting the work done,whats your budget and are you prepared to do any of the work yourselves.?

Are you able to project manage?


All factors to take into account also.


Having done a major refurb a few years back I would say its far less hassle to have one contractor,but they usually charge a premium....but the work can get completed far quicker than employing trades separately and slotting them all into place.


I opted to self manage and to do some work ourselves,the refurb took about 3 months longer than originally planned,but came in at least £20k less than the cheapest all in quote I had.

You may find when you start approaching for quotes that for example the electrician can recommend a plasterer,who in turn has worked with a tiler and it all sort of slots in that way

make sure you have a contingency fund of around 20% of your total,there will be issues uncovered as you go along that you will not have budgeted for!

If you subsequently come in on budget without needing the contingency,its money for a well deserved holiday.....

James_Green_1982

G_M wrote: »

I disagree. Responsibility lies with the main contractor.


He gets paid on a sliding basis as the job progresses, so (unless there's a good reason like purchasing expensive bespoke materials) is always in arrears.


Sorting out timing of jobs, let alone arguments, between individul contractors can be a nightmare.


But I agree it also depends on finding a ecent recommended main contractor/builder.

I would only take on managing a project like this if I didn't have another full time job. ie consider the project your full time job - or don't do it.

James_Green_1982

One advantage of dealing directly with the individual tradesmen, is that you can form a judgement as to which ones you would want to use again in the future.
You can also save money by agreeing to pay them in cash - as the amounts you're risking each time is less.
Paying a plumber £500 cash is a lot less risky than paying a main contractor £5,000 cash.

need_an_answer

James_Green_1982 wrote: »

I would only take on managing a project like this if I didn't have another full time job. ie consider the project your full time job - or don't do it.

It is perfectly reasonable to fit a renovation around a full time job,you don't need to be there during the day when work is actually carried out,and to be honest if you are you just get in the way!

Its a matter of how you want to use your free time.
I found it very easy to speak with contractors before or after work,or even at weekends...


In a perfect world yes you would either project manage or do your full time employed work,however its the full time employed work that usually supplies the funds to be able to progress a refurb...so sometimes its difficult to do one without the other...vicious circle!