Freaking out as building costs go up and up and up - advice needed

tegmim

Sorry to add salt to the wound but the RHI scheme closed for new applicants some time ago. As you were linking several buildings that would have fallen under the non domestic scheme so would have needed to have been completed and registered by March 2021.

I would get a quantity surveyor involved to review the contract, the invoices received so far and the costs moving forward. You need someone on your side who understands all of this. 

Thankfully we got the extension to the claim deadline agreed under the pandemic contingency rules for those who had already made large financial commitments to a non-domestic project, but were unable to complete it before the claim deadline due to the pandemic. That "reserved" the claim from the RHI budget, provided we completed all the requirements within the following 12 months. They then added a further 12 months to that deadline as there were further lockdowns, meaning all reserved claims need to be processed by March 2023. The current chair of the GSHPA is handling our claim, and we have received correspondence to confirm we have reserved the terms of the 2020/21 scheme. We just need all the evidence to be in place by the deadline, and the heat turned on to all the buildings. Hence the pressure to complete the building work to that stage within the next few months.

TELLIT01

With a massive cost over run, is it time to consider putting the pool on hold and concentrating on completing the living accommodation?  Or have you already moved it to the back of the queue?

tegmim

TELLIT01 said:

With a massive cost over run, is it time to consider putting the pool on hold and concentrating on completing the living accommodation?  Or have you already moved it to the back of the queue?

Yeah, I think that is wise. I'm hoping we can find a way to finish the 3 buildings we've started, and hopefully then raise enough extra money to get the house to the point the heat is connected up. But if the idea of getting a spa pool has to wait, it will have to wait. The priority is to get into the holiday lets before it gets too cold (I've got kids, and we have no heating or hot water in the house, except for one electric shower and a wood burning stove, and it is starting to get chilly).

tegmim

I thought I'd update this thread to say that we finished the buildings sufficiently to get the RHI claim in on time (though I had to do all the paperwork myself, as our contractor suddenly had no capacity to help near the deadline) and it was approved.

The buildings we had started were nearly completed, and were done to a good standard, so we agreed a price to do the work on the house. However, for unrelated personal reasons "Nick" disappeared one day last summer, and we haven't seen him since*. Despite having paid Nick in advance for the finishing work, we ended up having another firm do the finishing off. They transpired to be a lot more expensive, and wanted 60% more to do the house than Nick's updated quote. We couldn't afford that, and at that time point we had a lot of trouble finding good builders with availability so we thought we might be stuck. However, six months later the pandemic demand for builders seems to have reduced with the interest rate hike, so we have been able to get new quotes to do the work on the house that are much better. And we have raised additional funds that mean we hope to start work soon.

*We know it wasn't planned as he left all his tools on site, including a trailer, a specialist stone saw, and his scaffolding tower. We have tried to make contact by phone, text, and recorded delivery letter, and eventually had to serve the legal letters to tell him to claim his stuff (and, separately, to repay the money) but without response.

ThisIsWeird

Thanks for the update.

Wow, what a 'mare it's been for you. And then you lose 'Nick' when things are finally getting sorted. 

You seem incredibly resilient One day you'll look back on this and lau...

tegmim

ThisIsWeird said:

Thanks for the update.

Wow, what a 'mare it's been for you. And then you lose 'Nick' when things are finally getting sorted. 

You seem incredibly resilient One day you'll look back on this and lau...

Thanks. I was really stressed about it. Then I realised that if the worst came to the worst and we couldn't pay to finish the work or couldn't pay the mortgage we'd sell this place and buy or rent somewhere modest. Life would go on, and we would have lived in a lovely farm cottage on the edge of a wood for the whole of our kids' childhood. Sure, we'd have had building work going on and various crises during that time, but who has a life entirely without stress? And sure, we lost money to Nick, but the work he did was good, and we can recoup some of the loss by selling off the stuff he left behind, and we got the treehouse (and secured the RHI). There is little we can do about all the stuff that's happened, so we just need to make the best of where we are, and find a way forward.

gzoom

tegmim said:

So, now I am in a mess like the worst stories on Grand Designs, where we all think "how could they be so naive and let costs spiral like that", what can I do? 

I think you have simple fallen foul of the human thing known as mission creep. Whilst doing things like hear pumps seem like a sensible thing to do, it all adds cost, it's one of the reasons why we didn't bother on our build.

Our orignal building quote from 2019 was £200k, by the time our builder started in Feb 2023 it was £300k!! We than added some extra things, all existing roofs to be done, a few changes here and there, and our builders final invoice is going to be around £350k. 

Builders quotes are also normally to 'first fix', so bare plaster without any decoration or utilities. We have spent another £150k on glazing, bathrooms, flooring, kitchen, etc.

Someone told me at the start of the project take the 'maximum' sum you think the build I'll cost and double it!!! Our project has certainly followed that trend, luckily we budgeted for double the cost + contingency so were/are OK. I was fully anticipating my wife wouldn't be OK with an Ikea kitchens and any glazing would need Aluminium frames

The stress of it all is ofcourse until you are back in the house with building regs sign off all the money you have spent is worthless. So essentially you just have to find a way to get to the end!!!

Good luck, you will get there, we moved back in at 18 months, but I don't think we'll be paying the final invoice till after Xmas, still have plenty of trades visiting to tidy things up/finish off.

ThisIsWeird

The Covid price inflation was a real thing. On a big project, it would have a big effect. Compounded by the addition of a dodgy builder on the timber part of your build who needed replacing. And then the unexpected loss of a good guy who rescued much of it. And you're still 'smiling'.

I'm impressed. 

Ok, you clearly appreciate and acknowledge that you were starting off from a position of some property 'privilege', the kind most of us can only dream about. But, tbh, it's often those in your position who moan the most about their 'woes'! You haven't. Kudos to you.

With the much higher cost of Nick's replacement, it kind of highlights that he was a decent, honest bloke all along.

Not sure why you paid him upfront to complete the work, tho'! 

All the best - and please give further updates as this move on

Albermarle

However, six months later the pandemic demand for builders seems to have reduced with the interest rate hike, so we have been able to get new quotes to do the work on the house that are much better

That fits in with other anecdotal evidence that builders/tradespeople are not as swamped with work as they were.

moneysaver1978

tegmim said:

However, six months later the pandemic demand for builders seems to have reduced with the interest rate hike, so we have been able to get new quotes to do the work on the house that are much better. 

Thanks for the update and glad it's all working out in the end for you!

However I am surprised about the demand. It's been a struggle to get builder in for quotes (even in the last few months), we have had a couple who informed us that they wouldn't even visit for projects costing less than 100K.