Member Article

When to start a building project?

There seem to be better times than others in the year to start a project, on paper and on site. One needs to consider weather conditions, our own work commitments, school holidays etc etc, correct? In reality we feel that there is never a bad time to start a project. Apologies, there is, and it is usually when construction starts, as this is most likely too late to make meaningful and thought through decisions. There are certainly better and less good times to start certain works on site.

For one, the weather in the UK is unhelpful to external works from about early October until early in the following new year, as there are more and more rainy days, and the days are getting shorter as well. Moreover, since a lot of people seem to want to “move in before Christmas”, which is of course completely understandable, a lot of good builders have their hands full and may postpone your project to after the New Year, unless you have secured their involvement early on. However, and us here at Vorbild cannot stress this enough, there is never a bad time to start thinking about an upcoming project.

The sooner you start thinking about the “what” and “when” and even possibly the “how much”, the better and in the end cheaper for you. Besides, we would not charge you more if designing your project would take you 6 instead of 1.5 months. The fee would just be spread out more. Think about it - let’s assume you are planning to do a rear extension to your house, and some redecoration here and there, and also there is this feeling you had that something could be improved in how your house “works” or “flows”, or you are simply in need of a visual change, interior design wise speaking of course.

You have researched that you need some planning permission for the extension (2 months), the drawings need some time as well (2-3 weeks at least), and knowing builders, they won’t give you a price sooner than after repeated reminders (another 2-3 weeks). This is a good start, the process is already about three to three and a half months. Again, this is a reasonable, completely doable, yet in our experience, unnecessarily tight timeframe.

Think about your work commitments - how often would you be able to spare an hour for a good concise meeting with your architect? You may need two or three before planning submission, and depending on the size of your project, more would help. Think about it this way - the more you tell us about your plans, expectations and ideas, the more the end result will be to your liking. Your time in this case is a very well spent investment.

Advice

If you are planning a change to your flat or house, or planning to make a purchase in a certain area, please give us a ring. I am happy to meet for an initial chat over coffee after seeing the site with you to discuss the best way forward - info@vorbild.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Michael Jacob Schienke .