How would you decide between a general builder, small firm, or individual trades?

[Poppie2023]

We’ve recently bought a Victorian house that needs a fair bit of work, and I’m trying to work out the best way to approach it.

There’s a mixture of jobs: plastering around the house, some joinery/banister work, a new bathroom, radiator replacements/repositioning and some electrical work. There’s also a kitchen renovation, although I may leave that until later.

It’s the mix of work that I’m struggling to work out how best to organise. For example, would the bathroom normally be handled by a dedicated bathroom fitter, while other jobs go to individual trades, or does it make more sense to have a general builder/small multi-trade firm coordinate everything?

Some of the quotes I’ve had are already quite substantial for labour alone, before materials, so I’m wondering whether I’m approaching this in the right way.

For those who have taken on similar work, how would you approach it? Would you use one builder, a smaller multi-trade firm, individual trades, or a combination — and would you tackle everything together or split it into stages?

Just to clarify, there will be various works throughout the house, but I’m not gutting the property or changing the existing layout — there’s no knocking through walls, extension or major structural work involved.

I am part way through this OP and have gone with individual specialist trades for each aspect. It quite quickly became very clear to me that with an older property people with the knowledge of these are crucial.

Yes it takes more time to find them.
Yes it takes more coordination and project management on your part but I am very confident this is the best way for the property.

Mine are all small, vat registered, have provided their insurance documents for my own insurers and so on.

I have also found some of them I have found on recommendation of some I’m already working with.

Always get at least three of each discipline out and listen to what they say and how they would approach the tasks in hand.

happy to answer further if you have more questions

I didn’t answer tackling altogether or in stages.

If you follow my route you are unlikely to get everyone there at the same time. Start with the core infrastructure first. In one sense I have tired to do all together knowing that I won’t get everyone together but there is overlap and it’s coming together!

The way I'd frame it: with no structural work, you're not really choosing between builders, you're choosing whether to pay someone to be the coordinator. A general builder is essentially project management plus a markup (often 15-20%) on trades he'll sub in anyway. For a list like yours - plastering, joinery, radiators, electrics, a bathroom - individual trades in the right order usually comes out cheaper, at the cost of you doing the sequencing.

The order matters more than the choice: first-fix electrics and plumbing before any plaster goes on, then plastering, then joinery and the banister, then the bathroom fit, and decorating dead last. Book the bathroom fitter early even if the job is months away, because the good ones are the pinch point in the whole chain.

On the quotes, ask each one to break out labour and materials separately and to say whether it's fixed price or day rate. Quotes that look 'substantial for labour alone' often turn out to be padded materials lists or day rates dressed up as fixed prices. It's much easier to compare like with like once everything's in the same shape.

And your instinct on the kitchen is right - leave it. Renovating around a kitchen you already know you'll replace is the classic way to spend money twice.

When I first started out, I used individual trades, for small projects, then moved on to the next. If you like their work, you can ask them for recommendations for other trades, and build it up from there.

For whole house renovations, I have mainly used one firm. Get several quotes that include all the same work/areas. The only thing I tend to do separately is the kitchen fitting, because I want something very specific. The kitchen designer and fitter won't do the initial groundworks or first fix, but I find that most larger building firms will coordinate well with the designer/fitter so everyone knows where everything is going before they start.

I'm very picky, so I buy in all the fixtures that I want, unless the builder can get the same exact thing more cheaply.

One problem with using lots of small trades, aside from the coordination involved, is that there is a risk that if something goes wrong somewhere, one trade can blame the others. Small trades also have a risk of going under, then you're left with no heating engineer, for example.

Larger firms often can offer more flexibility in how you can pay, so, for example, putting a deposit on a credit card of more than £100 can protect the rest of your payments (even cash) in the event they go out of business. They often also don't demand funds upfront to purchase materials. They should have comprehensive public liability insurance, as well.

The major problem with very large firms, I have found, is that they always have several projects on the go at the same time. It's beyond irritating when they pull builders off your project for a week so they can go deal with someone else's project!

So, I suppose it depends on how much money you have at the start, how much time you have for the project (if you can't live in it, you'll likely be paying twice as much council tax, for example), and if you already have trades that you trust to work with.

As we speak I have trades downstairs in my Georgian house. I have renovated a fair few times now and have always gone with separate trades. The guy who fitted my last kitchen also does tiling, bathrooms and joinery so he has done a fair bit for me. I also have a brilliant plasterer and electrician. Finding decent trades is the key to any project and they can guide you. Timing things can be tricky as one job will have a knock on effect to the other and it can become quite stressful at times.

Re the order of things: one thing I learned the hard way, work from the top down, and the back of the house to the front, out the front door, to the front garden and street.

Putting in a brand new driveway and front door, then having work done in the kitchen or downstairs loo, risks the new driveway and door. Doing the front garden and new extension, then remembering you need to do the roof, can risk the new extension (especially if it has a lot of glass) and ruin the landscaping. Ask me how I know this!

Thank you so much for your advice. Honestly, this is the way I’m leaning now too.

I’ve been going back and forth in my head about whether to use a contractor or individual trades, comparing quotes and what’s included in each, and it’s become quite overwhelming. While it would obviously be a relief to hand everything over to someone else to coordinate, I don’t know that I can justify the additional cost and I think it might stretch me. I’m starting to think I’d rather take it one stage at a time and hopefully build up a good relationship with individual tradespeople I can go back to. I’ve tried to go with recommendations but most are so busy to even take on my job or don’t even get back to me even though I’d be prepared to wait.

The only thing I’m still trying to work out is the timing. The house is currently stripped back, so I plan to get the plumbing and electrical work done while access is good, and to avoid undoing/re-doing things later. But with winter approaching, I’m also wondering whether it makes sense to hold off on some of it until the spring/summer, particularly as I’d want to have a plasterer lined up to come in at the right time soon after the plumbing to do the 2nd fix.

I’m still weighing up but the bathroom needs doing now.

I would advise marrying a builder, its worked well for me!

Do you know anyone? Personal connections are great. My husband is mates with people in various trades and they come and help out doing bits, my husband does all the prep and then they're usually just in for a couple of hours at a time pulling cables or whatever, I never see any money changing hands but then he helps them with stuff too.

You could get on with the bathroom now and then the rest of the electrics/plumping in spring. So get your trades to quote for each task independently, and let them know they have it all just spread out. I've just done a bathroom but told them they can come back in march time once they are quieter for the rest of the heating/plumbing work.

Plumbers and electricians tend to be busier now through to spring as this is when heating systems and boilers and things break most. So work with them on timing to help the quote!. I've found being flexible with dates and timings has been frustrating for me but beneficial to my relationship with them too.

I would focus on finding the right people and work with them.

This is actually the best advise. Does your husband have a builder friend who’s single 🤣

Hiring a single main contractor will always be more expensive as you're paying them for "project management" and co-ordinating the other tradies, but it should be quicker and generally more efficient.

Getting separate tradies will soak up your time and energy, not only to find them and deal with visits for quotes etc., but also trying to co-ordinate them, but should be cheaper overall, but take a lot more time start to finish as there will be "down" time between tradies doing their bit and waiting for others.

The other risk with separate tradies is the potential for doing things in the wrong order, requiring re-work/rectification etc if a subsequent tradie needs to route pipes/cables through, say a tiled wall, or newly fitted floor, etc.

Though this can be ameliorated to an extent if you use tradies who know each other, i.e. get your plumber to recommend an electrician or plasterer that they know well (they WILL have tradie associates to do the jobs that are multi-disciplined, i.e. a heating engineer will have a "tame" electrician to call on at short notice to do the electrics when fitting a new boiler etc as they can't complete the job and sign it off without the power! Likewise a kitchen fitter (usually a joiner by trade) will have a tame plumber AND electrician as they can't finish their bits without water (and maybe gas) and electric supplies. We've had some really good tradies by simply asking for their card whilst they've been in the house for relatively short times doing "bits and pieces" for other trades, i.e. our current joiner and plasterer never advertise so we'd never have got to know them had they not been called in by the window fitting firm who replaced our conservatory to do the "patching" up as taking the old one down had caused a lot of mess and damage!

Another good tip if you have the time and aren't in a rush is get them to come and do "small" jobs first, so you can gauge how communicative they are, how reliable they are, and quality of their work. Then you may have more confidence for giving them the bigger jobs.

Thank you. Really good advise although I don’t know that I have enough smaller jobs to test trial.

Yes, I’m definitely starting the bathroom now and may have to postpone some jobs until the spring. Thanks again for your advise.

“The way I'd frame it: with no structural work, you're not really choosing between builders, you're choosing whether to pay someone to be the coordinator”

This 👆 is a much better way to frame it. And I’ve decided that I’m going to go with individual trades people. The market up prices and labour heavy quotes has really thrown me. I’d end up with a blank canvas and first fixes with no material for the 2nd fix in sight 🫣Thanks for your helpful advice.

Glad that framing helped! On the blank canvas worry - once your trades are booked and the dates pencilled in, you can start ordering the long-lead bits straight away. Bathroom suites and radiators are the classic ones with silly lead times, and most suppliers will hold delivery if you ask. It's much less stressful to have the second-fix materials sitting in a spare room (or the garage) waiting than to have a plumber stood there with nothing to plumb.

Each trade will tell you exactly what they expect you to supply versus what they bring, so ask for that list when they quote. It also stops the "we had to pop to the merchants at your expense" surprises later on.