What would you do ? (floor plan included)

[CollegeDoctor86]

In need of much-needed advice and HIVE wisdom. DH and i have just purchased our dream home. A 6 bedroom Victorian villa the house was lived in by a lovely couple for 50 years. So you can imagine there is work to be done.
It's taken 4 weeks to strip all the wallpaper off the ceilings and walls, the walls are in pretty good condition so will only need reskimming.
Works that need doing include

1. sorting out cracks in the walls and arches
2. reskimming all 6 bedrooms, hallways and dining room
3. Replace electrical sockets, switches and light fittings
4. Replace boiler and 11 radiators
5. new carpet in all bedrooms
6. Painting and decorating all rooms
7. New Bathroom

8.Sorting out A DAMP ISSUE IN THE DINING ROOM AND LOUNGE, the joists on one side of the lounge are likely to be rotten as the floor dips the corner of the room.

So we've had 4 quotes to skimm all the walls
1st builder wanted £10,000
2nd builder wanted £6,700
3rd builder wanted £7,000
Plaster wanted £4,200

We initially chose builder 2 as his prices seemed reasonable and with all the other jobs added in came to about 35,000.
We said yes via text but are yet to receive a contract.
However, we want to save money and it seems the dedicated plasters is alot cheaper. We're really finding it hard to justify spending £2500 extra, when its likely the builder has subcontracted and has put his own payment on top.
However, if we go for the plasterer we , don't want to ruin the relationship with builder 2 as we still need to do other building works. Also there might be things that a plaster might not be albe to manage, with the cracks in the arches etc.

What would you do ? Or what have you done in the past when renovating? Hire different trades and project manage or hire 1 builder who will take care of everything and may subcontract.

I've generally hired different trades because I've built up contacts. However, managing a workforce, especially if they are all men and you are a woman, is hard. And I am not a wallflower by any means.
I remember walking in to my house with six guys having a tea break and you could cut the testosterone with a knife. Plus personality clashes (a fight almost broke out between plumber and decorator, the plumber was ordered off site) requires a thick skin. You also need to make sure materials are in site when needed, things are done in the right order, scaffolding, skips and permits are taken care of, and trades don't get in each others way. Not for the faint hearted.
My next project I don't have any contacts so I'm getting one firm to do the lot (with a lot of input from me - you have to choose everything from light switches to lights - do not let the builder decide).

You need to get rewiring and central heating stuff done before the skimming otherwise you will end up having to patch bits. I would go with the plasterer. It is business, the builder is not your best friend so don't worry about putting his/her nose out.

You will need to take the radiators off to skim behind anyway so it is a good time to replace or move them.

How exciting. We are (hopefully as not yet completed) on the path to getting a similar house, also only lived in by one lady and nothing been done to it for 50 odd years. Our layout has a bathroom where your bed 4 is and on the top floor where it says storage - then our bed 3/bathroom is switched around which we need to change. All the extensions were done in around 1950 and have that see through plastic stuff on top!

I think it depends how you feel about managing the job. Tbh for £2.5k extra I would almost rather have someone who managed the whole thing and the timing around that (but I work FT as does dp so it is really hard for us to find time to project manage). One thing that's difficult with different trades that you manage is getting the timing right for every one (so if your electrician runs late and then the plasterer starts another job etc.) but if you have time to manage it yourself, it is definitely more cost effective doing it that way!

Btw do you know where you are going to put the downstairs loo as that's something I'm grappling with at the moment!

yes we are going to place it just after the dining room and block up the side access.