Building company or individual tradesmen?

JeffMason

Hi All,

I've got a few bits of home improvement that need doing over the next couple of months, and wonder what your thoughts are on talking to building firms to do everything, or finding indivuals to do each job. I'm in South Norwood, London SE25.

For reference, I need: fence panels and posts replaced down one side of garden, some rendering sorted on back of house, wall and ceiling plastering in my bedroom and other places, and a refurb of bathroom (including repairing floor and walls behind hot water tank in cupboard). 

I'm slightly overwhelmed with it all, and nervous about getting it done well and not being overcharged! Any advice welcome!

Thanks.

FaceHead

So you've got:

 1. some fencing: find a gardener/landscaper. 

2. some plastering and rendering: find a plasterer. What about the subsequent decorating?

3. Is this a whole new bathroom? Find a bathroom fitter, and they will probably have access to the right people to help them with e.g. the electrics and floor replacement. 

So chunk it up into neat bits and give them to people. Know what each job is worth, and don't be afraid to negotiate. They can only say 'no' when you say what you think the materials+labour is. The internet/people can help you with knowing what a fair price is. 

I can share a local plasterers details with you - his work is decent (those internal corners not the absolute best) and I've been able to negotiate him to a sensible price in the past. 

JeffMason

FaceHead said:

So you've got:

 1. some fencing: find a gardener/landscaper. 

2. some plastering and rendering: find a plasterer. What about the subsequent decorating?

3. Is this a whole new bathroom? Find a bathroom fitter, and they will probably have access to the right people to help them with e.g. the electrics and floor replacement. 

So chunk it up into neat bits and give them to people. Know what each job is worth, and don't be afraid to negotiate. They can only say 'no' when you say what you think the materials+labour is. The internet/people can help you with knowing what a fair price is. 

I can share a local plasterers details with you - his work is decent (those internal corners not the absolute best) and I've been able to negotiate him to a sensible price in the past. 

That's really helpful - thank you.

Finding recommendations of good people is the tricky part I think! I've been looking on Checkatrade and found a guy with decent reviews who does plastering and fence panels and bathrooms... so might be worth a look.... he's local (ish) and has good reviews (but so do most on that site it seems)...

But yes - I'd appreciate getting the details of your plasterer if you think they did a good job and we are in similar areas.

Thanks again!

FreeBear

FaceHead said: 1. some fencing: find a gardener/landscaper. 

2. some plastering and rendering: find a plasterer. What about the subsequent decorating?

3. Is this a whole new bathroom? Find a bathroom fitter, and they will probably have access to the right people to help them with e.g. the electrics and floor replacement.

The bathroom fitter will (probably) have a decent plasterer on call that could do the render/plaster jobs. But just be aware that there are considerable delays in getting building trades in to do work at the moment. Even getting quotes can be problematic - Just be wary of the people that say they can start in a few weeks.

Gardeners, whilst busy this time of year, don't appear to be suffering from the same sort of delays that the building industry is having. Although, there may be issues getting hold of fence panels & posts - If you want a fence that will last, use concrete posts & gravel boards. Timber posts will rot away in ten years or less.

JeffMason

FreeBear said:

FaceHead said: 1. some fencing: find a gardener/landscaper. 

2. some plastering and rendering: find a plasterer. What about the subsequent decorating?

3. Is this a whole new bathroom? Find a bathroom fitter, and they will probably have access to the right people to help them with e.g. the electrics and floor replacement.

The bathroom fitter will (probably) have a decent plasterer on call that could do the render/plaster jobs. But just be aware that there are considerable delays in getting building trades in to do work at the moment. Even getting quotes can be problematic - Just be wary of the people that say they can start in a few weeks.

Gardeners, whilst busy this time of year, don't appear to be suffering from the same sort of delays that the building industry is having. Although, there may be issues getting hold of fence panels & posts - If you want a fence that will last, use concrete posts & gravel boards. Timber posts will rot away in ten years or less.

Thanks! I did try and get the plastering done this time last year (its the only time of year I can be available) and struggled to get quotes or people to commit to doing it. Some of that was perhaps that it was a small job, so this year I am hoping that having a good few things to do would create more interest!

But yes, I'll be careful. This is why I much prefer recommendations than just going with someone who has some reviews on a website.

Anthony147

Whilst I don’t recommend ANY of the trade sites - Be very wary of the reviews and doubly wary if they have loads of jobs from it and the customer chose not to leave a review, there will be a reason they chose not to and it won’t be because the work / experience was exemplary.

A good course of action is find one trades you know is good and ask them for recommendations which is essentially what’s been said already.

JeffMason

Anthony147 said:

Whilst I don’t recommend ANY of the trade sites - Be very wary of the reviews and doubly wary if they have loads of jobs from it and the customer chose not to leave a review, there will be a reason they chose not to and it won’t be because the work / experience was exemplary.

A good course of action is find one trades you know is good and ask them for recommendations which is essentially what’s been said already.

It's just finding that one person / company who is good and you trust, and can recommend others. I've found a great electrician who I've used a few times and really like - but he doesn't know any other trades people he can recommend, so not helpful there...

casper_gutman

Ask the right people with the skills for each chunk of work. Anyone who is willing to quote for everything from fencing to a new bathroom is either a jack of all trades desperate for work who will do a good job of none of it or a middle man who will add lots of cost but no value.

The exception for me is where there is a bigger job which requires multiple trades/skills to be coordinated closely with each other. The bathroom refurb is a good example: plumbing, tiling, plastering, bits of electrics, carpentry.... You want all these done in the same small space and on a tight timescale as otherwise you'll be without a bathroom for a period which could easily run into months. You also want one person to take responsibility for any problems with the completed work.

In such a case I think it's worth paying one person/company for the whole job and getting them to subcontract and coordinate to get the whole job done. It could possibly be cheaper to engage individual trades and manage the whole thing myself, but it would need a lot of time, contacts and management skills I don't have. 

JeffMason

casper_gutman said:

Ask the right people with the skills for each chunk of work. Anyone who is willing to quote for everything from fencing to a new bathroom is either a jack of all trades desperate for work who will do a good job of none of it or a middle man who will add lots of cost but no value.

The exception for me is where there is a bigger job which requires multiple trades/skills to be coordinated closely with each other. The bathroom refurb is a good example: plumbing, tiling, plastering, bits of electrics, carpentry.... You want all these done in the same small space and on a tight timescale as otherwise you'll be without a bathroom for a period which could easily run into months. You also want one person to take responsibility for any problems with the completed work.

In such a case I think it's worth paying one person/company for the whole job and getting them to subcontract and coordinate to get the whole job done. It could possibly be cheaper to engage individual trades and manage the whole thing myself, but it would need a lot of time, contacts and management skills I don't have. 

I completely agree. But I spent months last year trying to get someone to do the plastering a bedroom and a couple of small bits on two other walls, but coluldn't get anyone to do it (it was hard enough even getting quotes). I was later told that it might be that it's a small job and nobody wants to do it, they are all looking for bigger chunks of work so avoid it.

And i cannot wait another year for this to be done...

So are there companies, who could do all this? Bathroom, plastering, and fencing? What am I searching for in that case? And does anybody have any recommendations in South London / Surrey / Kent?

FreeBear

I would go to a local independent bathroom company for the refit, and when they get a plasterer in, bung him a few quid to do the other small jobs that need doing. That said, replastering a bedroom is a days work in its self, so not a small job assuming four walls and a ceiling.

JeffMason

FreeBear said:

I would go to a local independent bathroom company for the refit, and when they get a plasterer in, bung him a few quid to do the other small jobs that need doing. That said, replastering a bedroom is a days work in its self, so not a small job assuming four walls and a ceiling.

Worth a try... it's only the ceiling and one wall that need doing in the bedroom though. The bedroom ceiling has a split all the way along and that bobbly effect on it, which I want removing  - I assue it will have to come out and be replaced. And repair of a small patch at top of stairs and bottom half of wall in hallway downstairs. No idea if that's a lot of work or not, it's certainly a lot of work for me!