Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 May 29, 2014 4:57 pm We are thinking of getting some extensions plus some renovations done, but we are not handy people in the least so we definitely have to get professionals in. I’m wondering if we could save some money by organising some trades ourself. Eg Have the new bathroom pre-plumbed by builder but source our own fixtures and have another plumber/tiler/glazier to install everything direct through us, we could organise the renderer to the front house ourself, also for renovating a kitchen could we get a kitchen place to install but our own plumber/electrician. Would these things save much money or is the builder/kitchen companies margin to organise these things on our behalf small enough that its worth while? Thanks in advance. Re: Builder’s Margin/Organising Trades Ourself? 2May 30, 2014 4:29 pm We did a mixed renovation - one builder working in the "old" part of the house and a volume builder working in the "new" area. The builder's sales rep talked us into getting in our tradespeople for cabinetry etc to save money. We had our own tiler, painter and cabinet maker which saved a lot of money and gave us in my opinion a better service/finished product than the builder. However, the site manager was not happy with having tradesmen on site that weren't from his company and made it very difficult for us and would say we couldn't have our tradespeople on site on certain days - often the builder's workers did not turn up on those days we were told to not have other people on site which meant delays for our workers and it was made difficult for us to co-ordinate work. I would advise speaking in detail with the builder - not just the sales rep but also the building manager/site supervisor - before signing the contract to make sure that they will work in a mixed tradespeople environment. Also consider how compliance certificates will be done as it may be easier just to have one plumber etc. Re: Builder’s Margin/Organising Trades Ourself? 3May 30, 2014 6:39 pm On a small extension, most builders are not interested as their supervision costs are disproportionate to the value of work being done. In this case it may be better to go down the sub-contracting path. On large $$$ projects and complex projects such as roof conversions use a reputable general builder. Re: Builder’s Margin/Organising Trades Ourself? 4Jun 30, 2014 6:02 am You will always save money sourcing your own sub-contractors, every time... The problem is finding good and reliable trades people that do good work. Building companies have the advantage here as they continually use the same contractors. If you can find good suppliers and contractors you will save 30 - 40% quite easily. A little secret when finding subbies is to get referrals and check the testimonials. steve@everlastpatios.com.au www.everlastpatios.com.au Re: Builder’s Margin/Organising Trades Ourself? 5Jun 30, 2014 9:08 am +1 to what Steve said. I'm OB and have found that getting referrals is the best way. I did go down the way of these service seeking and other similar sites, and all I got was failures. They didn't read plans and quoted rubbish that was relevant to my build. They came back with quotes, then afterwards came back with revisions that required extra payments, fortunately this was before they started, so I went elsewhere. So far I have had no success with those websites that refer business. I have got all of my subbies from going around house building sites and asking questions and getting referrals. What I have got have been doing good work so far. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Always get multiple quotes, no matter how reasonable/cheap you think it is. I remember getting a few quotes for a pool fence, roughly around the same price, thinking the… 5 9686 "Losers" "humanity" "off time" "your" "top notch" "love symbol" Sounds like ponzo is done using other people's toilets 36 23886 |