During this early stage they also demolished an exterior wall at the back to create the opening for large, sliding glass doors that would seamlessly link the house and garden. Paula and David relied heavily on Jamie’s experience and expertise to turn the architect’s plans into reality, after giving the architect ‘free rein’ to come up with a radical design. “It’s really important to have a good
relationship with your builders,” says David. “We relied on Jamie to do what he does best. You need to have a good rapport with your builder and know that they will do their best job, at the best price, on your behalf.”
Jamie also helped them to understand the
order of the build itself and to be exible when materials failed to turn up on time. While Paula and David were very happy with the way the build progressed overall, there were a few points of frustration and learning curves for both of them. Paula became particularly frustrated when she felt progress wasn’t being made – especially when the sliding doors took eight weeks to arrive. David, meanwhile, began to wish he had broken down the costings into
32
www.sbhonline.co.uk
more manageable sections, so he had a better overview of the spend – which ultimately came to around £300,000.
“In hindsight, I would have been less inclined to rush into things and taken more time over the detail. It’s not the big jobs which catch you out, it’s all the smaller expenditures which mount up, especially things like fixtures and fittings.” In spite of that, they made very few changes to the initial design.
Those they did make included swapping bi-folds for sliding doors across the rear of the property, changing the style of the units in the kitchen and swapping their original plans for internal Crittall doors to look-alike alternatives to save money. None of these changes delayed the renovation works, however, and the project – which started in September 2022 – took the best part of a year to complete. The entrance atrium at the front of the
property was done first. The original entrance comprised a single-storey porch set into a two- storey overhang at the centre of the main part of the house.
This was extended upwards and outwards to may/jun 2024
HIGH POINT
“When the build was finished, the process was still quite raw in my mind and it took a while to for- get the negatives, so the high point came about six months later when we came to truly appreciate what a fantastic house it’s become.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
