Help with my very first Renovation Project

[aralexiao]

We live in Lewisham/Blackheath border and bought a house last year and would like to renovate whole the house. We are planning to do the following:

1. Re-roofing - including change the guttering
2. Repaint the external wall
3. Rewiring
4. New central heating system
5. New Kitchen (I am thinking the following companies: John Lewis, Hand Made Kitchen Direct, Howden, Wickes, and Benchmarx. Any advice?)
6. 3 Bathrooms
7. A small extension for a laundry room( permission obtained)
8. Plastering and painting the internal
9. New floor ( not sure whether to use wooden floor or carpet for first floor)
10. Concrete the garage roof ( Some part of the garage roof is concrete, but some not)
11. Build a roof garden on the garage roof As this is our first house and we haven?t got any experience of renovation, any advice would be welcomed. I am particularly concern the following:
12. The cost of the project
13. As this is a fairly big project, what should we do first?
14. We would like to have a project manager to manage the whole thing. What would be the cost? What would be the main issues to consider? Can somebody recommend?
15. How to find a good local builder? What would be the main issues to consider? Can somebody recommend?

That?s all I think about at the moment. Can anyone help?

I honestly think you are a bit bonkers trying to do all this with your first house to be honest!.If you are serious, try and find a really good builder who has a list of contacts who will give you fair prices for each of the jobs and not rip you off.Decide the most important job and do each job in turn unless you have masses of cash to hand.Good luck!

We've done most of these things to our house - though not the garage roof & garden... it took 11 years!

Start with new central heating and rewiring but make sure everything allows for your future plans (eg size of boiler to cope with extension)

Get your plans drawn up by an architechtural technician rather than an architect unless you have a listed property - it'll save you a fortune. They may well have contacts with local builders.

Thanks for the advice. I know there are so many things on my list. Maybe I am too ambitious. So I am a bit worried at the moment. We have already the the plan drawn by an architechtural technician. As we are busy and inexperienced, so we have decided to find a project manager. The biggest problem right now is: How can we find the right project manager and the right buider to do the job? Any advice would be really helpful?

Thanks for the advice. I know there are so many things on my list. Maybe I am too ambitious. So I am a bit worried at the moment. We have already the the plan drawn by an architechtural technician. As we are busy and inexperienced, so we have decided to find a project manager. The biggest problem right now is: How can we find the right project manager and the right buider to do the job? Any advice would be really helpful?

Gosh...that's a lot of stuff to do!

Honestly - one of the hardest things to do IS finding the right person/ company to work with you.

I agree with everone else...you need to break this down into managable chunks. We've also done all of this to our own house and created roof gardens and green (sedum plant) roofs for clients. Like to say our house is finished...but it's not

First find your builder! Easier said than done.

We run a building company and most folk find us through word of mouth - dull I know - but true! Personally I'd ask about for recommendations...I'd be brazen and look at extensions / projects I like the look of in your area and knock on the door and ask...or drop a note through the door asking them if they have details!

ASk the arch technician if he knows of reputable builders. We've had a a few jobs in the last year or so from people we have trade accounts with...so you could ask some good suppliers if they can recommend. Trade accounts are not as easy to come by as they were - so if your builder has them then he's usually credit worthy...which is a start!

Get a number of builders round (probably more than three for projects this size)and ensure you give them all the same spec or else you'll get varying quotes. I know nothing of project managers...a good builder or building company may know of some...but we tend to manage it ourselves. HTH

It might be easier to get a medium sized building firm to manage the project, rather than a separate project manager.
Perhaps get some help drawing up a detailed spec, so you have something in writing detailing the work you would like done and the finish you expect.

I've done a few property developements so i konw a little about what you're going through.

i found our builder through speaking to friends who had done renovations but this is also a good site to look at : www.mybuilder.com/

I project managed myself so i'm not sure on cost but an architects would be a good place to ask. You need someone you trust to get the job done. I had the time so i just decided to do it myself. Turns out i'm quite good! For me having a budget and sticking to it is important. i secured a loan on my house to get the funds to start (from Imperial Blue Finance) so i knew how much i had to spend and then budgeted from there.

i do interior design as well so i do all the interior design as i'm going through the project so that everything is in place and comes in on time. preparation is the most important thing you can do. also future proof the whole place. since you're wiring, put in a network of cat-5 cables. soooooooo much faster than wifi. technology gives a house a great selling point. i use lutron lighting and crestron automation to really give everything a boost but it depends how much you want to spend.

if you can, don't go for anything 'off the shelf'. get a bespoke kitchen (i use pedini www.pedini.co.uk, bathroom etc. design it yourself and your builder can fit it. get the tiles, f&f's for the bathroom separately and you'll save hundreds. plus it's bespoke and when you come to sell it, people will see that, especially the quality.

anyway, hope my ramblings help in some way. start out with finance then budget, plan design then build!

We did most of that apart from re-roofing and we also took out and moved some walls. We didn't live in it while it was done and it took around six months, would have been shorter but some bits dragged for various reasons.

If I'd had to live in it I would probably would have done one floor at a time.

We managed it ourselves but we used a carpenter I trusted and had done a lot of work for us before and he recommended his builder friend who I'd already heard good things about and seen some of his work. Good recommendations are very imprtant I think.

Thanks everybody for all the information. They are very helpful.

Thanks Jbond to provide some really useful website. I have just visited www.mybuilder.com. This is very good. For the kitchen that you mentioned, could you please let me know how it works? And where did you get the tiles, f&f, bathroom? Would you be able to provide more names?

Jbond....you seem to mention 'that' finance company in a lot of posts...are you on commission?

Personally I recommend 'dosh4u' as seen on 'The Hustle' last night

op - I live about 15 miles from you and we had major renovation and extension work done last year. We had our architect project manage the build and one firm of local builders do all the work.

We moved out for 7 months whilst the bulk of the work was done,and the architect project managing was invaluable.

pm me and I can give you exact details if you like.

jeanejeannie - yes i am!! 5% for any introductions . very helpful, especially when I don't have any property to work on. plus i've got finance from them before and they were very good. not just the secured loan which helped me start but also business loans. i try and suggest useful companies, mybuilder etc who have worked well for me in the past. plus i like companies who have a hefty amount of experience. they've been going for 25 years and know everything about property developments and lending against it. i'm sure they would give the same commission to anyone.

i get comms of loads of companies i introduce work to, like my local furniture company (hill cross furniture). i know alot of people who design bars and hotels and they supply furniture. i put the 2 together for a fee. everyone wins!! i feel like the amanda staveley of the design world!!!

Oh - I see. Just that I've been on MN for years and never seen anyone be so upfront about being on commission - especially for finance companies. Cheers for being so open about it...just that it looked 'odd'.

i find it's much easier to be open! and it helps others as well if they know a company will give commission. spread the love i say! so if anyone else knows businesses or people who want loans, sent them there and you can get comms too!

just like i reply on people to recommend me for interior design jobs, they rely on me to pass on business.

anyway! slightly off topic.