SECRETS OF SUCCESS
Chapter two: preparing for demolition
When we heard from first-time self-builders Sarah and Andy Ball in the last issue, they were at a crossroads, unsure if their Derby build would go ahead. Things have changed however, and the demolition notices are in
W
hen we left you last time, we were on tenterhooks. A decision had to be made about number 41. We were living in a house that needs to either be knocked down or have major surgery. After losing two builders we had to decide whether to abandon plans to rebuild and refurbish the existing house instead. There was a third option, although very unlikely, which was to find a project manager to oversee the build.
It was our architect Dan who came up trumps. He was working with a project manager called Paul on a modern house build just two miles from our plot, and better still there was a chance he would be available. We didn’t hesitate. We asked Dan to set up a meeting straight away.
While all this was going on, Andy and I were also working on Plan B. We were
in talks with a local building company who seemed keen to refurbish our house. After two meetings, discussions of plans and a site visit to a property they had completely refurbished, we were hopeful that they would be able to bring in a proposal on budget. Anyway, we met up with project manager Paul and he seemed up for building the house. He charges a flat fee and works with a team of people he trusts.
At the first meeting, he reckoned he could build the house within our budget. He did some calculations based on the house that he’s currently working on. We decided to take it to the next level and get some more accurate figures. Meeting number two went well. The first things he worked on were coming out at the right prices and it looked pretty likely that rest of the
There have been a couple of issues on the later costings – Brexit has hit us, and steel prices are up
costings would follow suit. Paul is now our project manager. He got started on fleshing out the pricing and started the ball rolling on getting the house ready for demolition – including moving the gas and electrics a safe distance away from the action. There have been a couple of issues on the later costings – Brexit has hit us, and steel prices are up. There was
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www.sbhonline.co.uk
july/august 2017
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