We are going to go with APR, had a final chat with Richard who put some of our fears at bay and we signed up to the building work in his quote.
We are going to do all the building and electrics and plumbing. Not on the quote was the kitchen, tiling or bathrooms/kitchen and hard wood flooring. These can all be added later money permitting. Doors and minor alterations to create cupboards and bits and pieces on our hand out sheet were included so its not all bad news at least we get the carpentry we wanted including our galleried landing which should give us more light on the landing.
He will be starting around February time so this blog will be quiet until then......bye for now!
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Last Orders
All the quotes are in except for Steve Gilbert, we are awaiting that hopefully on Wednesday and from there will make a final decision. APR have come out the cheapest and having spoken to Richard Fox he appears to be the builder I would be happiest coming in to do the work.
The quote came in low but some things were not added, despite that the final quote was still more than we can afford in one go so now its a case of deciding that parts of the construction are required and what parts are luxuries we can do without.
At the moment I am leaning towards leaving the porch untouched and leaving our crappy kitchen in one piece until we can start on that at a later date. The main things for me are a water tight property with good electrics, working boilder with decent plumbing and finally a shower so we can still live there after stage 1 is complete.
Richard is coming round tonight to discuss our options at this stage so if we get Steves quote on Wednesday we should be able to make a decision on our builder at long last.
October-November looks like the starting date.
The quote came in low but some things were not added, despite that the final quote was still more than we can afford in one go so now its a case of deciding that parts of the construction are required and what parts are luxuries we can do without.
At the moment I am leaning towards leaving the porch untouched and leaving our crappy kitchen in one piece until we can start on that at a later date. The main things for me are a water tight property with good electrics, working boilder with decent plumbing and finally a shower so we can still live there after stage 1 is complete.
Richard is coming round tonight to discuss our options at this stage so if we get Steves quote on Wednesday we should be able to make a decision on our builder at long last.
October-November looks like the starting date.
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
The calm before the storm
We have only had 1 official quote back yet from Peter Ashcroft who came in higher than we were looking for which was a shame as we had several people recommend his high standards of work.
But fear not we have more irons in the fire and more to come back to us, Baxter & King have made rumblings closer to the figure we were looking at which included all the work on our 'wishlist' so I will be interested to see their final quote.
The other 3 are quiet although Richard from APR is awaiting the calcs before he will submit his final quote.
On the point of the cals, John Goodliffe has done them and they are winging there way to us as I type this so fingers crossed we can get them out to the final builders who are holding back waiting for the calcs to come through.
Things are starting to hot up. I will put up some photos on my Picasa to show you how the house looks before we put digger to concrete!
But fear not we have more irons in the fire and more to come back to us, Baxter & King have made rumblings closer to the figure we were looking at which included all the work on our 'wishlist' so I will be interested to see their final quote.
The other 3 are quiet although Richard from APR is awaiting the calcs before he will submit his final quote.
On the point of the cals, John Goodliffe has done them and they are winging there way to us as I type this so fingers crossed we can get them out to the final builders who are holding back waiting for the calcs to come through.
Things are starting to hot up. I will put up some photos on my Picasa to show you how the house looks before we put digger to concrete!
Monday, 23 July 2007
Don't worry!
Things are still in motion although slowly, we have a structural engineer now doing our building calculations on beams and other bits that keep the thing up when its built.
After some words of advice from various sources and some calls around to my original list we have a final list of people quoting:
After some words of advice from various sources and some calls around to my original list we have a final list of people quoting:
- Steve Gilbert Building Services
- APR Carpentry And Building Services
- Burmor
- Baxter & King
- Peter Ashcroft
Friday, 6 July 2007
Quote Time
We have had 2 visits, one from Steve Gilbert Building Services and one from APR Carpentry and Building.
Both guys seemed to know what they were talking about but both came up with different solutions to our concerns and requests, I guess there is more than one way to skin a cat and a lot of it comes down to personal opinion and experience.
Anyway both have now gone off with plans and we are looking for a third quote, probably from Burmor. We also now have Bob Barwell on the case to sort us out with an engineer to do some final calculations for the carpentry and beams required and then I can pass this info on to the quoters to get some final figures back.
From what I have heard from both parties so far they are all looking busy and work isn't likely to start until October-November at the earliest.
Both guys seemed to know what they were talking about but both came up with different solutions to our concerns and requests, I guess there is more than one way to skin a cat and a lot of it comes down to personal opinion and experience.
Anyway both have now gone off with plans and we are looking for a third quote, probably from Burmor. We also now have Bob Barwell on the case to sort us out with an engineer to do some final calculations for the carpentry and beams required and then I can pass this info on to the quoters to get some final figures back.
From what I have heard from both parties so far they are all looking busy and work isn't likely to start until October-November at the earliest.
Sunday, 17 June 2007
So whats next?
Well I have a shortlist of builders but to be perfectly honest I don't really know what to expect next. My wife Lucie knows Steve Gilbert from church so thats the next step down the path I guess and see what he thinks based on the notes and plans given to us by Bob.
We started drawings up some papers on what we would like from the finished house including carpets and lighting etc. more for a final wishlist for us than for the builders but some of the items on there would be nice to be completed as part of the building works such as solid wooden flooring.
At the moment we are just chilling with no real rush, we have three years to start after all!
We will see what Steve has to say today before we make our next move.
We started drawings up some papers on what we would like from the finished house including carpets and lighting etc. more for a final wishlist for us than for the builders but some of the items on there would be nice to be completed as part of the building works such as solid wooden flooring.
At the moment we are just chilling with no real rush, we have three years to start after all!
We will see what Steve has to say today before we make our next move.
Friday, 15 June 2007
Its passed!
Third time is the charm.
After 2 refused applications and 2 architects we hit the nail on the head and our application has been passed. We moved into 127 in February of 2006 after a long time homeless and living with my parents. Although I love them dearly and can't thank them enough for putting us up it's not the same as having your own space and place to call your own.
Having been there 3 months we started the ball rolling using a local architect called Archie Knight to draw up our plans. The first application that was refused can be found here: http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/Planning/ApplicationInformation.aspx?ID=S06/0662
Refused due to issues involving the proximity to a Grade 2 listed building to our right we moved on with a second application: http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/Planning/ApplicationInformation.aspx?ID=S06/1445
After a second refusal we decided to take a break and have a think. We were told of a second architect called Bob Barwell and moved on with a 3rd application: http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/Planning/ApplicationInformation.aspx?ID=S07/0541
Finally getting planning permission I decided to start this Blog to post the progress of our contruction from the news of it passing all the way to completion. I will photo the progress as we go and get some pictures up here before we even stick a shovel in the ground so we can get a good before and after.
For now, its been passed and that is a good start for me! I will go into detail on the plans but at the moment I am chilling out and thinking about the builders I could use.
My current list of builders I could use:
After 2 refused applications and 2 architects we hit the nail on the head and our application has been passed. We moved into 127 in February of 2006 after a long time homeless and living with my parents. Although I love them dearly and can't thank them enough for putting us up it's not the same as having your own space and place to call your own.
Having been there 3 months we started the ball rolling using a local architect called Archie Knight to draw up our plans. The first application that was refused can be found here: http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/Planning/ApplicationInformation.aspx?ID=S06/0662
Refused due to issues involving the proximity to a Grade 2 listed building to our right we moved on with a second application: http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/Planning/ApplicationInformation.aspx?ID=S06/1445
After a second refusal we decided to take a break and have a think. We were told of a second architect called Bob Barwell and moved on with a 3rd application: http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/Planning/ApplicationInformation.aspx?ID=S07/0541
Finally getting planning permission I decided to start this Blog to post the progress of our contruction from the news of it passing all the way to completion. I will photo the progress as we go and get some pictures up here before we even stick a shovel in the ground so we can get a good before and after.
For now, its been passed and that is a good start for me! I will go into detail on the plans but at the moment I am chilling out and thinking about the builders I could use.
My current list of builders I could use:
- Baxter & King
- Burmor
- Robinsons
- Parmenter
- Steve Gilbert
The list is growing and I hope that more will write to me now that the application has passed.
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