Building your dream family home is something to get excited about – it can be a fantastic “once in a lifetime” opportunity to create your unique space. However with the excitement also comes anxiety.
There is the worry of the cost – everyone seems to have a building horror story of ever rising pricing and builders not turning up when required. So what should we do? Try and put up with the space that we have or take a fresh approach to the whole process.
How can you build the dream but avoid the building nightmare?
Recent research by ClearPlan Project Management highlights three different approaches to the process of creating a dream family home and avoiding those building nightmares. Homeowners who have recently completed builds were happy to share their experiences with us – these are their stories…
The Ugly…
Jas and Subash recently retired – having lived in their family home for nearly 30 years they wanted to remodel the property to make more “child friendly” areas for their grandchildren.
“We wanted a double storey extension which would also involve using the internal space differently. Our planning application was successful and a friend of mine recommended a builder. They had been looking to undertake major building works but had a delay so as the builder was ready to go, we decided to get under way with our project.”
As the builder was a recommendation and seemed to be a good guy, we didn’t even consider any form of building contract or independent management. Things started well and the initial phase of the build happened very quickly. The only concern was that the builder had a limited company but always wanted cheques made out to either him or his wife.Things soon deteriorated and the building nightmare began – with men being taken off site onto other jobs, sometimes weeks would go past with no one around. When someone did turn up they would do small elements of work and then be looking for another cheque. The structure was half built but not watertight and winter was coming on. The build that had been due to take six months eventually finished after 18 months.
The workmanship was dreadful – we have had permanent problems with leaks. None of the windows are properly sealed so the house is now cold and draughty and we are having problems with damp in many of the rooms. I have looked into pursuing legal action but the builder has put his company into liquidation and there seems little I can do.
Having spent over £200,000 trying to build a dream family home, we are bitterly disappointed and feel that we have had a complete building nightmare.”
The Bad…
Mark and Chantelle were moving from Central London into the area that he grew up in. Their renovation was their first experience of undertaking a building project. They did get a lot right but told us about what didn’t go so well…
“We started looking at houses not realising at the time that our family would shortly be expanding. We found a beautiful Victorian period property – the house was not our dream home but we realised that with some structural changes and extension work, it could become so.
We thought we did all of the right things – we researched items like bathrooms and the kitchens, planned our budget and then added in some extra money “just in case”.
Similarly with choosing a builder, we met with four companies – when pricing came back, there were some fairly significant differences. None of the quotes that we received provided that much detail which made it hard to see where the variations could be. We selected a company at the lower end of the price range .
The build did not go entirely smoothly – the project overran on time. We had expected to be able to move in September as our baby was due in early October. We finally managed to move in December but by the following March, not everything had been finished.
We waited for the builder to come back to repair a leaking roof that had previously been watertight. They proved reluctant to return to complete the work despite the fact we retained several thousand pounds of the monies owed.
We wouldn’t say that we have had a building nightmare but we still feel that we could have made our lives a lot easier if we had considered a different option of managing the build, perhaps through independent management of the project.”
The Good…
Nadia and Lee are a professional working couple with a toddler and young baby.
“We had bought our home knowing that we wanted to make changes for the family that we were planning. Ours was a comparatively modest job, a single storey extension to create a large open plan kitchen & family space, downstairs office and cloakroom.
Some local friends who had recently completed a similar building project talked us through the building nightmares that they had experienced. They felt that they never had a clear picture of the costs and trying to keep track of the progress of the build whilst working themselves proved hugely stressful.
One piece of advice that they gave which has been invaluable was to consider using a local independent building project management company. We did so and our build went like a dream.
From day one they provided clear structure to the project; walking us through each decision, offering friendly advice, dealing with third parties, tracking progress against timelines and ensuring that all aspects of the project had been considered. Where unexpected issues arose (such as the builders finding electrical wiring under the house) they investigated the implications, explained the options and advised on the best course of action.
We were particularly impressed with the weekly reports, especially as we were living offsite. The reports provided photographic evidence of the builders’ progress alongside the project timeline and expected delivery for the weeks to come.
The project team demonstrated a keen eye for detail – this ensured that the project ran to budget and all changes were tracked and explained whilst maintaining extremely high standards of finish. Additionally, they offered incredible value for money, saving us an amount in excess of the fee they charged through intelligent suggestions on how to reduce costs and ensuring all prices quoted were competitive.
If you want to know what’s happening, how much it’s costing and ensure that you get a first class building finish (without any building nightmares!) using independent building project management is the best decision you will ever make.”
It’s clear from the case studies that creating a dream family home and avoiding a building nightmares is a complex and time consuming process. Whatever building work you undertake has to be managed by someone. Which route you decide depends upon how much risk you are willing to take and prepared you are to accept a “bad” or “ugly” result!
