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Scotsnet

Welcome to Scotsnet - discuss all aspects of life in Scotland, including relocating, schools and local areas.

Builders/Contractors in central belt - how long?

14 replies

HurlyBurlyyy · 09/09/2021 09:09

We’re considering buying a house in Glasgow that would need a lot of work: knocking down walls, new kitchen, new bathrooms… and possibly some damp work Grin
Just wondering how long the wait is to get decent tradesmen at the moment? Have seen a lot in the media about long waits but would be interested to hear the reality.

OP posts:
readsalotgirl63 · 09/09/2021 13:16

Following with interest as was just coming on to ask for recommendations for painters/decorators

RunnerDown · 09/09/2021 13:19

We are getting our garage converted. Got the quote late April and work starting in the next 2 weeks. Decided on our kitchen and paid a deposit mid July. Works starts in November.

Galacticat · 09/09/2021 13:24

My husband is a painter and decorator and has been booked up until the end of October, this is since March.
We are in South Ayrshire and he's even been to Falkirk to do a job.
If they are good then you'll get a wait otherwise its the 'my man will do it for £50' types off Facebook.

HurlyBurlyyy · 09/09/2021 13:43

Thanks for the info. I did think that might be the case… just not sure we can really move in without some of the work being done!

OP posts:
readsalotgirl63 · 09/09/2021 18:39

@Galacticat - did think I'd have to wait but was curious about how long that might be. I'm assuming some of the work your dh has been doing had been delayed because of Covid ?

Invisimamma · 09/09/2021 20:47

There is also the problem of getting certain materials at the moment. We had a wait of 4 months for pretty standard UPVC windows because of the backlog.

The company who did a building project for us last year can no longer guarantee the price of him quotes for more than a couple of weeks as the price of materials is fluctuating so much, its making it difficult to quote accurately for a job.

Galacticat · 09/09/2021 21:49

@readsalotgirl63 Yep. He couldn't go back to work until restrictions were lifted as he would be going into people's houses which wasn't allowed from November .

Mantlemoose · 10/09/2021 13:06

3-4 months for a decent contractor.

HurlyBurlyyy · 10/09/2021 13:44

Thanks everyone, not sure it’s the right move for us sadly

OP posts:
mapleleavesreturn · 10/09/2021 13:54

Most of the kitchen places have delay notices up - December/Jan if we booked now.

Tomorrowisanewday · 11/09/2021 12:42

I work in construction consultancy, for a split of domestic and commercial clients, and I'm currently advising waits for start dates of at least 3 months from when you manage to engage a contractor. Part of this is down to material delays, but decent contractors are currently booked up for at least three months.

HurlyBurlyyy · 11/09/2021 14:12

Thanks, that’s really helpful

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IM0GEN · 11/09/2021 16:45

Remember that you may also need a building warrant if you are knocking down walls. And you need that BEFORE you start the work in Scotland. It’s not like down south.

And it’s not as if you can hire your contractors on day one when you get the keys . First You need to engage an architect / technician / whoever is advising you on the reconfiguration of the property and get plans drawn up.

Unless it’s a very very simple job it’s worth paying a bit extra to get advice on how to use the space better . Builders will tell you if you can knock down a wall. They are not experts at looking at eg the whole ground floor of a house and working out how it can best meet your families needs.

If you are taking away walls You also need to Hire a structural engineer / other approved certifier and submit plans to council for BW.

Then you can get quotes for the building work involved . As a PP said, they won’t guarantee the price of a quote for anymore than a few weeks due to increasing prices.

Then you need to Engage your preferred contractor and get an estimated start date.

You can’t really get the plumber, joiner, plastered and electrician until you have a date for the building work to start. Any quotes they give you will be very short term.

Theese trades all know that your builder won’t start on time, let alone finish on time. So they are not going to block out two weeks next March to decorate your house.

So unless you have quite a lot of experience, I wouldn’t advise managing this yourselves. Better to get a bigger contractor who will do the whole job and manage it.

It’s tough at the best of time but even harder now due to shortages of materials and trades people.

It’s much harder if you are living there and you have to keep some sort of functional bathroom and cooking facilities. Also water, power, heating and drainage need to stay on or be reconnected each night.

WhatWouldTheDoctorDo · 15/09/2021 09:19

We're currently getting quotes for an integral garage conversion in the central belt. Builders wouldn't even make an appointment to come give us a quote before we had our building warrant. Everyone we've seen so far is looking at early spring for availability apart from one chap who was suspiciously cheap that thought he could squeeze us in before Christmas. I wasn't encouraged by him though!

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