Buy well, buy once.
I remember once (bear with me not a building anecdote), when I was a child my mum did not have much money and she needed to buy a car. We went around some garages and happened upon a Renault, I think it was, it looked cooler than anything else, it had fewer miles on the clock and guess what it was also cheaper. This was probably in the days without so much regulation around car mileage and (ahem!) less control on the mileage clock on a car. Anyway duly bought we were happily driving around town with this car for approximately 2 weeks before on a very steep hill, in very heavy traffic something happened. I am too young to remember what but it was catastrophic, something like the whole gear box fell on the road, in any case the car was done and I do remember the embarrassment. Back to the garage we went (not the same one obviously), and my mum had to then buy another one. We had bought cheap and bought twice.
Whilst you may wonder what the relevance here is let me explain. The guy who sold us the car I imagine was not heavily regulated and this is the same as the building industry still is today. The chap who sold us that car called himself a car dealer but I imagine that the BMW dealership 1 mile away from his establishment would be unhappy for them both to be classed in the same industry.
In every industry there is such a scale. Especially in the building industry where without any regulation you can call yourself a builder. It is therefore up to you as the client to use your ‘buyer beware’ antennae when you meet builders for a project.
Here are the things that I would be looking at when you are sizing up builders for a project. (And these are in a particular order).
The first one will surprise you and we are never asked about it unless you have to raise finance for your project. Insurance. Please make sure that your builder has the appropriate insurance for the work that they are going to undertake. Without this, and if something does go wrong you could be left out of pocket. At the same time check your own home insurance, it is worth letting them know if you are having building work.
The second one will surprise you as well. Health and Safety. I know we have not quite got to the building bit yet but this is crucial. Did you know that is someone is hurt whilst building at your home you may be held responsible? (see insurance above to help with cover). No matter if there is insurance in place with your builder their health and safety policy will give a good indication of their competence. Yes, you will pay a bit more for the builder who provides protective clothing to everyone on site, or who makes sure that there is scaffolding in place or that the machinery is all checked but I would say what price an injury on your build?
Thirdly knowledge. This may be hard for you to ascertain without knowledge yourself but use your common sense. Look at other things your builder has done, talk to people they have worked for and with, spend a bit of time with them discussing your project. Ask the builder if he can see any issues straight away looking at your property. All proud and able builders have photos of work they have previously done so ask to look at their portfolio.
Next up the quote. You are likely to get a number of quotes for your work. They may be thousands of pounds difference between the quotes. This in some ways is not surprising. When you assess your quotes you will often be comparing apples with pears. It is a complex exercise to untangle the quotes and make them comparable, especially if you have not been very specific with what you want. For example on an extension one builder may formulate their quote using the cheapest doors and windows on the market whilst another one may try and match what you have in the rest of your house. One builder may miss out some remedial landscaping, or the upgrade on the boiler you need as your house is extended, another builder may include flooring for continuity through your original home. Some builders will quote the bear minimum to entice you to sign with them and then drip, drip other costs in of things you maybe did not appreciate would be needed. Usually your architect can help with such matters, although at times they do make their tender documents over-complex which can shift the quote as being too high. We find that often clients are coy about their budget as they do not want ‘taken for a ride’, but in way a client coming to us and saying we have between £100,000 to £200,000 in our budget means that there can be a really open discussion about the kind of thing you can get for your money.
As an aside from this remember that the building you are working on will at some stage in the future be sold whether that is in the short term or after your long and happy life living there. Any penny you spend on improvements adds value to your property as long as they are done well.
Lastly, relationship. Remember that time when you had 2 job offers, or you were deciding between 2 holidays or maybe you had a choice to make on the romantic front. In all of our decisions a proportion of it is based on feel. For your project think of yourself as the member of a team and you are looking for a team that you will fit in well with and they fit with you. In my mind this is a large reason to go for one builder or another. A good relationship with open communication will lead to the end result that you are looking for and will leave you with a trustworthy builder in your list of contacts.