SETTING OUT YOUR OBJECTIVES

Before starting on any kind of building work in your home or business, you need to know exactly what your objectives are, the resources that are available to you and how you are going to achieve those objectives. You also need to consider whether or not your ideas are practical and achievable within your anticipated timescales. Do remember that the planning of any work, whether it is on a large or small scale, takes time and patience.

The scale of the project will obviously dictate the amount of time it will be necessary to spend on the planning. If you think that your project is too small to warrant the time spent on reading all of the chapters and issues in this book read it anyway – you may be surprised how some of the bigger issues can be scaled down to help in the smaller projects.

SETTING OUT YOUR BUDGET

Once you are satisfied that your ideas are realistic, you need to decide on your budget, and check you have the financial resources to carry them out.

It is important to understand that any decisions that you make in the planning stages of any home building or alteration work can have cost implications later on. These cost implications need not be to your disadvantage. If you study this book and the areas relating to cost-saving exercises, you may find that you have more to spend on your furnishings etc.

SETTING OUT THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS

If you have little or no knowledge about the technical aspects related to your project or the logistical problems that building work involves, you will need to contact an architect or specialist designer, depending on your requirements. For example, any work that involves alterations to internal or external walls will require the advice of experienced people.

While builders and contractors will have had experience in carrying out the work, it is important that you satisfy yourself in the first place as to whether structural calculations and drawings will be required.

Architects’ and engineers’ rates vary, and can run in excess of £80.00 per hour or a fixed fee as a percentage of the project. However, if you do not start off on the right track, it could cost you much more in the long run.

For example, if an architect or engineer carries out any provisional work such as outline proposals, or any other work on your behalf for an agreed percentage of the project value, and for some reason the project does not proceed, his fee may be payable at an hourly rate. This could soon mount up to a considerable sum if a full set of working drawings and specifications are involved.

Architects, engineers and designers will also know what is required to obtain planning permission (if needed) and building regulation approval. If the architect has submitted drawings, calculations and any other information to the local authority in order to obtain planning approval/consent, there may also be additional disbursement costs that you will be liable for.

It is worth obtaining estimates from the various professionals before engaging in any form of contract, as their charges can vary drastically depending on their workload. Architects and designers are market-led and in boom times may have many months’ work booked in advance. They will therefore have the upper hand when negotiating fees, so be patient and shop around. Consider speaking to friends and relatives who may have had similar work carried out on their properties, as they may be able to point you in the right direction on a number of aspects of the project.

Do remember though that it is you who will be employing the various different people. So you must feel comfortable about them and carry out the reference checks where necessary.

MINIMISING THE INITIAL COST

You can minimise the initial costs by putting together as much information as possible. This will cut down on the amount of time the professionals would normally spend in extracting your ideas from you, and is where speaking to other people who have had similar work carried out may be of help.

It is easy enough to explain to someone what you want but, as the saying goes, ‘a picture paints a thousand words’. Basic sketches can help to avoid misunderstandings and will help to avoid redrawing plans and incurring costs for abortive work. You may like ideas that you have seen in magazines or photographs – these are all visual aids that will assist in the initial concept of what you are proposing.

This will also help to speed the whole process up, as some professionals will use the design element as a pretext for taking their time to provide drawings, particularly if they have a heavy workload. Remember, though, from conception to on-site development may take more time than the building process itself – this is generally the case with small domestic projects.

DRAWING UP A TIMETABLE

It is advisable to draw up a timetable of things to be done which will help you to keep track of the dates for issuing information etc. It does not matter that you don’t know the actual timing of some of these elements, but it will give you a format to work with which will soon become a workable programme that you can adjust as the known delivery dates become apparent.

As you can see from the sample planning programme shown in Figure 1.1, by entering dates for certain elements you should start getting actual feedback from the service providers involved which will in turn help you with the adjustments required to make your planning programme more accurate.

Your service providers should be able to give you actual dates or advise you why your planned dates are not achievable. If you start off in this manner, the service providers will see that you expect the dates they supply will be realised.

You can also see from this example that this type of programme will assist in the preparation of documents etc.

(Note, however, that these timescales are not based on actual timings. The response times of local authorities will vary, as will those of all other service providers.)

PROGRESS REPORTS

Do not be afraid to ask your architect or designer etc. to keep you informed of progress on a regular basis.

Unless the project has been submitted and you are awaiting approval, it would not be unreasonable to request a weekly update.

One of the most frustrating elements of home building and renovating is when you are not kept fully informed of what stage certain elements are at. This includes the input from professionals.

INSURANCE

It should be noted that all professional consultants are required by their governing body to carry professional indemnity insurance to cover any claims made against them for failures in their services/designs. It is therefore important to have any agreement in writing and to ensure that you have read and understood the small print (if applicable). We will cover the building contractor’s legal contract in Chapter 6.

Non-qualified designers (one-man bands) may be less expensive, but may not always be competent and could prove difficult or impossible to recover money from if sued. Whoever you decide to use for your professional work, ensure that you obtain or at least see a copy of their professional indemnity insurance.

PROFESSIONAL FEES

As far as professional fees are concerned, you should look at paying around 5-15 per cent of your budget (construction costs), depending on the complexity and value of the project. You may find that in the case of a project which is technically difficult, requiring a high level of structural calculations, these percentages are exceeded.