Building advice needed

[kipper473 10]

I am thinking about having an extension on the back of my house roughly 5500mm x 3000mm to make a new kitchen, I have had just a couple of people out to give me a quote, one said roughly £20k and they would do all the work needed and the other a conservatory company said roughly £16k for an extension with a light weight roof. Both quotes were inclusive of Vat which takes quite a chunk of money.

 

The thing is I was thinking about sourcing the materials I need myself as I have more time to search for bargains to try and save some money and by hiring a builder to do the building work so that I can save on Vat but I have no idea how to run a building project.

 

I have been told it could take roughly 4 weeks to build but should I get a builder who can do all the various jobs or should I hire separate people to do the various things.

 

I am working on a limited budget of £10k for all the materials and building costs so any savings would be beneficial.

 

Any advice from anyone would be appreciated and any ideas on what the costs would be would be helpful.

 

Thanks

[Cyclone 10]

You won't save on VAT unless the builder is not VAT registered (which means a turnover of less than 80k a year approx).

And of course by ordering materials yourself you will be responsible if there is a problem, not the builder...

[natzzz 10]

Add to that lots of builders get materials at a discounted trade price, it's unlikely that you will but it does mean you can shop around as you're not just limited to one company for materials.

Doing it yourself, what you may save in some areas may cost you more in others.

Have you sorced any quotes from builders for labour only?

[kipper473 10]

I haven’t tried to get quotes for just labour yet, just started looking into things.

 

The quotes I have received are from a couple of companies and according to their quotes I have sourced some materials from various builder merchants and online suppliers, on bricks and blocks alone I have managed to get them a lot cheaper than they could.

 

I know builders do get discounts from various builders merchants but they don’t pass those savings on to their clients most of the time and I know about what their turnover needs to be so they don’t pay VAT but paying a few grand VAT for nothing is annoying.

[geared 311]

You'll still have to pay VAT on the materials so you won't save any money on VAT there.

 

Do you know exactly all the materials you will need to build the extension?

[kipper473 10]

I know mostly what materials I need for the build and I know that I will pay VAT still on some of the materials I buy but some items are from various auction sites online which I dont pay VAT on and some items are Free

[lettie01 10]

Hi i would be happy to offer a labour only price just finished a massive one at Grenoside on the same basis, your welcome to take a look! Get in touch if you want a chat I'd be happy to discuss!

Have you already had drawings drawn up?

[dan2802 53]

I know mostly what materials I need for the build and I know that I will pay VAT still on some of the materials I buy but some items are from various auction sites online which I dont pay VAT on and some items are Free

 

So your going to buy materials from auction sites and from I presume from places like free cycle ???!!!

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

Carry on saving up and get a tradesman to complete the job for you. The project management aspect of a fairly small extension like this will take over your life if you don't know what your doing.

[Jomie 30]

Sourcing your own materials and employing a builder labour only could save you money and will help you budget for the work. You need to be prepared to do a lot of telephoning and note taking to get the best prices. You will have to pay VAT on the materials unless they are used. Remember that if you buy stuff from eBay or whatever you will need to factor in the cost of transport.

 

You need your plans drawing up first then you can start to ask for quotes from builders. Don't buy anything until you have a list of requirements from your chosen builder. You will then have to make sure that all the materials are there when they are needed. You will have to plan everything carefully.

 

Regarding the individual tradesman, it's up to you. With our last project we employed someone labour only but the price included plastering because he subcontracted that job. Electrical work was also going to be subcontracted but was not needed. If you allow the builder to subcontract the work that he cannot do it will be easier for you because he is responsible for getting them there when you need them. If you do it yourself you will have to make sure that they are available at the correct time of the building process.

 

You might be able to save a bit of money if you are prepared to do the labouring yourself. Think about it carefully and if you believe that you have the organisational skills, time and nous to project manage this yourself then go for it.

[Mac_Plas 10]

As Dan said, you can save money if you project manage yourself, tempting as that sounds you will be responsible for organising a bricky, roofer, sparky, joiner, plasterer, plumber etc etc, know when they are due to come into the job, know what a good looks like and be prepared to give up a lot of time.

 

Iv seen it a lot where customers try and run something themselves and I have been left standing and wasted days as the client hasn't organised the first fix joiners, plumbers or Sparks and just expected me to "work around" or "do that bit later" that's when things start to go wrong.

[zak123 10]

This thread is so boring and I know for a fact that what the person is asking for with sizes of project it could be done for £16k solid build and solid roof with velux window's in for light why do everyone on here with all their mates giving reference's for each other try and make a fortune it makes me laugh

[Mac_Plas 10]

This thread is so boring and I know for a fact that what the person is asking for with sizes of project it could be done for £16k solid build and solid roof with velux window's in for light why do everyone on here with all their mates giving reference's for each other try and make a fortune it makes me laugh

 

Ha, yeah ok.