Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jan 24, 2010 9:53 pm Hi all, First time poster, but regular reader We've drawn up plans to extend out the back of our post war home in Brissie and have rung around some renoavtion specialists out of the yellow pages/local papers. We've already decided on a design over the past few months and have drawn it up on http://www.floorplanner.com so we're not looking for anyone to come in and design anything but we havent had proper plans ie. draftsman and engineering plasn drawn up yet. Now from what I can tell we have 2 options. 1. Take our design and pay a draftsman and engineer to draw up the plans and then get renovators to quote on these plans? The problem with this is that we risk paying twice because the specialists might come up with ideas we havent and we might end up paying to get plans drawn up twice. 2.Get the renovators to organise everything, this may cost more but should be easier. We're leaning to option 2. but obviously no renovator is going to do work for free. The first guy came out yesterday and was really good. He mentioned that they would work with us to get the detail on what we want, draw up concept plans and a detailed blow by blow of the items/costing which he said is normally within +/- 2-5% of the eventual fixed price for the work. Now this seems fine to us but we're going to get opinions on 3-4 builders before we do anything. I'm assuming the $$ for concept plans thing is normal, but we only want to pay for this once so what do other people do... pick a builder on gut feel and hope the quote is good ? Would we own the concept plans if we decided not to go with them and of so. im guessing these would be good enough for other builders to give quotes off ? Here's the current plan http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/856/currenthouseplans.jpg Here's the final plan http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4862/houserenov4.jpg Thanks in advance. Re: New Renovation - Where to start ? 2Jan 25, 2010 8:45 am I'm always interested to know why people think maximising space and designing a house is something easy? Aren't you even slightly concerned that you've got it wrong? That your layout is poor? That you haven't maximsed all the features of the property? That there are ideas you simply aren't aware of? etc. Professionals may seem like an unnecessary cost but they can and do add value. Why don't you engage one professional (architect) to draw up a concept you like? Brief the architect on what you want and pay him a fixed price to produce a concept and continue to refine it until you are happy. Renovation Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38489 Re: New Renovation - Where to start ? 3Jan 25, 2010 1:05 pm We've owned this house for > 10 years and know exactly what we want to achieve from this renovation. We've run it past friends and family who are builders and home renovators and gathered little ideas from everyone. If we were building a new house then sure we wouldnt know where to start, but this is adding a deck, bedroom, bathroom and laundry all within the set lines of the existing house. We have considered the idea of an architect but didnt see the value. Re: New Renovation - Where to start ? 4Jan 26, 2010 7:34 am My processes was ... - pay an architect friend to do plans (throw away money and plans) - pay draftsperson to do crap job (throw away money and plans) - pay architect ... to design something stupid and then just make him go with my own plans (I should have trusted myself!) - send out plans to builders recommended by a number of people - review quotes - select builder with architect managing the contract/build (in other words, architect turns up every couple of weeks, walks around and comments on how pretty it is, then walks away!) I do have to admit ... even though the final architect seemed particularly useless when it came to designing and the actual build, having a third party to be involved in contract negotiations and disputes is FANTASTIC and well worth the money paid!!! When anything goes wrong - I don't have to deal directly with the builder, the architect can do it! If there are any issues - we get to blame who ever isn't there The cost to go to the draftsperson was relatively inexpensive (compared to an architect) and if you know your stuff and know exactly what you want .... then that might be a good way to go (I didn't when I was at that stage, even though the final plans were mine). Another issue with getting the building company to draw up plans etc ... is that I assume you can't really get a clear quote until the plans are done ... one of the areas I have concerns with after my reno is that it is easy to THINK everything is included in your contract ... but when they have allowed $50 for a tap and you find you like the $300 tap, then you've got problems! If you do decide to go with a builder - pick as many of the items you want in the house BEFORE ... so that you can actually specify particular items in the contract (oven, toilets, basins, benchtops, tiling, floors) ... I know it probably seems a bit silly to be getting to that detail before you've even got plans in place, but those are the surprises!! Biff Costanza makes an interesting point ... no one can know everything about design, and I'm sure there are some hiddeous designs out there done by home owners and not professionals ... but from some of the stuff I saw from the two architects I used, I'd rather my own plans. Who needs to go through 7 doors and the main living room to get the shopping in?!??!?! I thought using professionals would help me find some great ideas ... nope ... reading and studying magazines was more helpful. Knowing your own lifestyle and house make up for a lot of missing formal education. I bet relliksalta knows more about where the sun comes in, which parts of the house are issues in the morning rush for them etc etc. My architect thought I was wrong to insist on a particular roofline ... now it is built he says he understands why I insisted!!!!! Re: New Renovation - Where to start ? 5Jan 26, 2010 10:06 am Lucy it sounds like your architects came straight from the ACME school of design! How horrible. To question your architect on a roofline tells me you should be doing his job and he should find a different career! In my opinion you only need to watch TV shows like Property Ladder to understand how wrong most people get it. Even if you do understand your own lifestyle and the way you want to use the space you have, an architect should be able to assist you in translating that into a great design. This is of course subject to the extent of the work you are undertaking. If it is just internal layout then using an architect would probably be overkill. However realising the maximum value from a property is not something that is easy. In regards to translating the plans into a building contract we have deliberately excluded things like kitchen appliances, taps, basis, toilets etc from the preliminary quote. Even though they have been selected and integrated in the plans it helps give me an idea of where I can move a little in regards to cost. If things become too expensive I know I can downgrade the toilet suite for example. This is good for renovations but obviously new builds work differently. Renovation Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38489 Assuming the structure of your cabinetry is good then I would DIY everything as follows: - replace your counter tops entirely, - replace all drawer runners with soft close… 1 4776 Hello Josh, This is Irving from PRIMA, we are a manufacturer of the staircase, railings, kitchen cabinets, windows, doors from China. If you have requirement to purchase… 0 5450 Coming back to your old stomping grounds, huh? Renovations on a budget can be quite the journey. It's like giving your house a new lease on life. The twist of not knowing… 1 3473 |