Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Who would have brought an established home in hindsight. 24Feb 25, 2009 5:52 pm Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Who would have brought an established home in hindsight. 25Feb 25, 2009 6:18 pm King willy Thanks for your replys. Seems a mixed bag. Some say yes some say no. I think it comes down to personal choice. The problem is the lack of any transparency or accreditation standards in the industry (apart from the variably followed building codes). There are master craftsman and there are weekend warriors. It can be sometimes difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff. Some of the experiences come down to things partly out of your control or predictability - weather delays, a disorganised construction manager, unreliable suppliers, an inattentive site manager or obstreperous subbies. To mitigate some of this you need to be: a) Do some preliminary research of your builder - get as many references as possible. Not just 'my mate thought he was pretty good'. The time to ask the hard questions now. b) Disciplined about controlling costs - tempted to 'upgrade' c) Have your contract examined by a lawyer d) Be willing to devote a lot of time to the project - a co-site manager e) Be fairly clear in your mind what you will will and won't tolerate. f) Being firm but always keep smiling Whilst budgetary control is important, don't try to nail everything down to the lowest bidder or margin. It won't pay off. Remember you do get what you pay for. If you want to pay peanuts then expect to get monkeys. Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 30522 Bought in Nov 21 at the height of the market (classic). Good area, atrocious floor plan. BUT has land out to the left-hand side that we can extend out on (see second… 0 6694 |