Project Managing own rennovation & extension ...

[SASASI]

Who has done it? Any pearls of wisdom?

Planning permission is now through. Architect is going to put out to tender to a few builders but we are toying with idea of doing it ourselves & employing trades individually.

We live round the corner from the site. I am extremely organised. I will be working part time but with a baby I can't attend the building site at a whim. Husband has 4 days off in a row every week. My dad is retired with decent building knowledge & is interested in the project.

Are we wise? I just think of the £ we could save but it's weighing up if the stress factor is worth it - sthing we won't know until it's too late!

I used to work in tendering & I know how we were basically taught to provide the cheapest possible version of what met the spec so I am coming from a distrusting position giving the project to a builder - rightly or wrongly!

We did it, DH is in the business. We saved ££ and came in under budget but don't underestimate the amount of time it takes.
Ours was a big renovation that took a year and I'd estimate about 20 hours a week were spent doing it.

Our builder managed our extension and I'm bloody glad he did. The stress would have killed me.

The main thing that he had which we didn't, and never could have, was an existing and ongoing working relationship with all the trades. He could call on the carpenter to 'just come back tomorrow to do this for a couple of hours in between jobs' as the carpenter knows he will get a steady stream of work from the builder. I don't think he'd have been as willing to drop everything and do a couple of extra hours on a Saturday for someone he was only ever going to do one job for.

There was a huge amount of overlap between trades and if we'd tried to manage it ourselves we would have ended up with a lot of dead time. At one point we had a week of '7 trades in 7 days'. We had on site in that week:

• gutters/fascia installers
• window installers
• roofers
• tackers
• carpenters
• electrician
• plumber

Our two-storey extension took exactly 6 months from the day the first people arrived on site to the day that Next delivered the sofa. It woul definitely have taken more than double that time if we'd managed it ourselves. 6 months was long enough...

There is a reason that you have to down a shot in the Grand Designs drinking game when the client says 'we're going to manage it ourselves'..

You see TV shows showing homeowners coping with it all - but they don't film at 3am when the stress is keeping them awake !
If you really really really are organised - and you have designed everything to the last light switch placement ( so you can hang art work etc) ie you have pre thought of absolutely EVERYTHING then you might be able to take it on - but Underfoot made a very valid point about the trades fitting things in better for one of their own than a one off client ! It's a big consideration ! There's a lot of juggling involved in a build ! You can't pre empt everything !

I am an architect and I have project managed international billion pound projects.... One of the most stressful jobs I have project managed was our own house renovation.
You can't walk away and have down time from it like you would if it were your job and you also find it far far harder to be objective and sometimes that is needed. This is because it's your house, your cash, your time and that matters an awful lot to you and your family - this is good because you care so will do your best to get a good job BUT it also ramps up the stress and doesn't always help when there is a problem - and there will always be problems.
I don't think an amateur saves money over a good professional - efficient planning of the trades, knowing what to do when things are going wrong, knowing when things have gone wrong and not accepting them, good contacts and general construction knowledge are invaluable in saving time, money & stress.

Some great points, thanks all.

Very good point about a building contractor having discounts etc in placebo actually maybe the mark up wouldn't be considerably more when everything is all weighed up....so much to consider.

Will know if we can even afford a contractor to project manage when we get quotes in.