if you want to keep anything, label it clearly as the message may not be passed on to everyone and you may end up losing things that you wanted to keep, such as original features, doors etc.
Also, if you’re hoping to re use original doors, don’t assume that they will build new door frames that will fit those doors. Be clear about what size you want them to be.
Cover up anything that you don’t want to get damaged or dirty. This may sound obvious but don’t expect your plasterers to cover up your bath properly for example and it’s very difficult to get plaster off things!
Buy cheap mugs so that your nice ones stay nice!
Think in advance about areas you can save money on such as portaloo hire, number of skips etc as your builder is unlikely to. We were happy for our builders to use our downstairs loo (protected theFloor from muddy feet) so sent back the portaloo and saved ourselves £150 per month and asked them not to put any wood in the skip, instead we chopped up and used loads for firewood and had a bonfire for the rest. This saved loads in skip hire. We also had scrap metal merchants take away any metal for free.
Don’t assume that your architect got it right. Ours miscalculated various measurements and this impacted the costs.
Also our builder had some better design ideas which we are so pleased we listened to. This is because we made it clear up front that we were willing to listen to any ideas he might have.
Make as many up front decisions as you can to avoid having to make decisions on the spot. We have made countless rushed decisions and purchases because things were sprung on us even though we asked that plumbers, electricians etc gave us prior warning.
Find out when sales are coming and ask about discounts. Ask your builder what discounts they are entitled to and you can take advantage of.
If you’re doing a big build with one builder who is project managing the build and using their own trusted trades people: Talk to the individual trades people. They are often a wealth of information and can tell you what other customers have done well and show you photos etc. Find out where they buy things from - we saved loads on door handles which looked the same as the v expensive ones we’d originally chosen because our carpenter always used a particular ironmongers website. The same for our radiators with our plumber.
If you don’t talk to them, they will often assume that’s what you want, whether they think it’s a bad idea or not.
Find out what you can do yourself to save money such as chip off old floor tiles, pull out old kitchen units etc. And be clear about whether you’re paying trades people for the day or the job. If you’re paying them for the day, what else can they do that day when they’ve finished what they came to do?
Ask your builder up front what time you can expect people to arrive and leave. We were initially horrified that all of the builders left by 2pm every day. No one explained that this would happen or why.
Sorry for the brain dump but these are all things we will know for next time