Extension Building Quotes - What Stops Builders Racking Up the bill during construction

a1234555

Getting different quotes and they all seem to be estimates. Builders say they they will update us on how the budget is going. But it seems a little worrisome. What stops them from adding hundreds, or even thousands of pound to the bill and blaming it on inflation, construction issues/delays (which might not even exist). How would you make sure that you are not going to be taken advantage of with higher bills once the work starts? 

MikeJXE

What stops them from adding hundreds, or even thousands of pound to the bill and blaming it on inflation

A signed contract and a fixed price

samal

Main is no changes to the project, the moment you change something after you have agreement in place it will cost you.

stuart45

Until the foundations are dug out and passed you don't know for sure how deep you need to dig. Getting the work up to DPC can vary in price quite a lot, and you can only estimate a rough price.

gzoom

MikeJXE said:

What stops them from adding hundreds, or even thousands of pound to the bill and blaming it on inflation

A signed contract and a fixed price

In my experience any relationship that ends up going through details on a contract is one you simply don't want to be in. If you have no trust in the builder no worthless bit of paperwork is going to make the building process easier or quicker.

gzoom

samal said:

Main is no changes to the project, the moment you change something after you have agreement in place it will cost you.

stuart45 said:

Until the foundations are dug out and passed you don't know for sure how deep you need to dig. Getting the work up to DPC can vary in price quite a lot, and you can only estimate a rough price.

We are 90% into our build, and couldn't agree more with the above two comments. The main additional costs were related to changes WE asked the builder to do during the build. The additional costs the builder added were related to things like finding a well under where a pad foundation was going to sit, and one of existing walls having NO real foundations at all!!!

What ever contract or paperwork you sign, you need a contingency in your budget, at least 10% buffer for extra costs, but more if possible. What ever you don't spend on the actual build you can use to upgrade finishing spec.

But by far the most important bit is finding a builder you trust and can work with personality wise. They will literally have your family home in pieices and have access to everything in your home. If you don't have trust in the builder you engage with, your build will be an utter nightmare regardless of cost, budget, contracts.

Jemma01

MikeJXE said:

What stops them from adding hundreds, or even thousands of pound to the bill and blaming it on inflation

A signed contract and a fixed price

What if during build they find a sewage pipe that wasn't declared before to the local council and now more work is needed? You think the builders should fit the bill for someone else's mistake? And if they do, it'll most likely come at the expense of a shoddy and a quick job that I'm sure OP doesn't want.

If you don't have the skills to supervise the work from afar to determine the quality of service and truth of the matter, the only thing you can rely on is a builder with a great reputation to deliver on time and on budget.

Mutton_Geoff

MikeJXE said:

What stops them from adding hundreds, or even thousands of pound to the bill and blaming it on inflation

A signed contract and a fixed price

If you ask a builder to sign a fixed price contract, expect it to be marked up by 20-30% to cover variables.

Over the last decade, I have spent almost £1m on work to 3 houses. None of them had a signed contract nor fixed price. The time to find out whether the price is likely to vary from the estimate is in prelim discussions as the builder will share their concerns with you about what might go wrong (finding underground services, insufficient foundations, rotten buried timbers etc).

GDB2222

Years ago, a friend’s family had their home built from scratch. They got three quotes for everything, and chose the middle one, not the cheapest. They were very happy with the results. 

Doozergirl

gzoom said:

MikeJXE said:

What stops them from adding hundreds, or even thousands of pound to the bill and blaming it on inflation

A signed contract and a fixed price

In my experience any relationship that ends up going through details on a contract is one you simply don't want to be in. If you have no trust in the builder no worthless bit of paperwork is going to make the building process easier or quicker.

All day long, this. 

Doozergirl

"Cost-plus" contracts are becoming more popular because of the fluctuations in material prices.  

The builder offers an open book on their invoices -actual costs incurred - and adds an agreed mark up to you. 

The most important thing is doing due diligence.  The Federation of Master Builders carry out lots of background checks on members, 100% of them have had independent site inspections carried out and they're monitored during membership.  It's a really good starting point and then you can check references and examples of previous work, and whether you get on with them or not.  

Trust is so important, I say pick the people you're working with like you'd pick friends.   Would you sit down and eat dinner together happily?    The cost is secondary, frankly.