advice on building a roof and employing a builder.

I need some advice concerning the building of a new roof/loft and employing a builder.

Our house has a concrete flat roof with a shallow pitch roof later built on top. We would like to remove this roof and put a higher pitched roof on top and then convert to a new bedroom. I have contacted the local planning department and they have said to send in rough plans to see if all is OK before having proper plans drawn up to avoid unnecessary expense. We spoke to a builder who says he can do the job, and he has plans from his own house that he converted in the same way, and it is the same layout as our. I am to receive these plans this evening to send off for the nod from the local planning office before they are redrawn in our name to the specification of our house (where different).

This is what I would like to know.

Do I leave it to the builder to get the drawings re-drawn or do I organise this myself? If I am to do it, how and who?

What insurances does the builder need, how do I know they are real?

What other agencies need to be informed of the job and when?

If we agree a fixed rate for the job how do I make sure it does not go over this?

What % of the builder's fee do I pay up front?

Is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Reply to
Trevor
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Insurances Public Liability at least 2 million pounds cover (now minimum standard on most contracts) Employers Liability If the builder is designing anything then Professional Indemnity Insurance) Other Agencies Other than your local authority for planning and Building Regs probably none Fixed Price Produce a complete specification for pricing Once you have employed a builder do not change anything yourself. The thing that I find makes the price go up more often is for example the specification asks for standard 75mm chamfered softwood skirting and when it comes to be fitted the client says change it for 150mm moulded hardwood for varnishing, or many other things such as that. Also many clients do a "while you are here could you just ....." All these add up and will change the final price. Even so I may have a specification to price and I may qualify in my tender various unknowns again for example foundations may state down to 1200mm or to the satisfaction of Building control. I will qualify that by saying I have allowed to take the foundations to 1200mm deep. If the Building inspector requests they go deeper then I may charge more. When working on old/existing properties, there are many items that cannot be seen and may have to be qualified in the tender documents. Personally I do not usually charge any fee up front, some builders may do so. The only times I may charge a fee up frontis either the client hhas a history to me of being a bad payer or part of the contract is say for specialist items eg purpose made joinery, Kitchens or similar, that are specified in a the tender to come form a particular supplier and that supplier wants a deposit. I do a valuation on all works lasting more that 14 days and require payment within 7 days after valuations.

Reply to
Mike Taylor

I would raise one question: what type of roof construction do you plan on using? A Mansard roof would be especially well suited, giving you far more room than most other types.

Is your present house 1 or 2 habitable floors? If 2, there may be some other work required on the other floors as well.

Regards, NT

Reply to
N. Thornton

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Trevor)

Another point that is less likely to get used: if you remove and replace the upstairs ceiling structure, in some houses there is enough spare height upstairs to put the new loft floor in at a bit of a lower level, which would greatly increase the amount of usable space up there.

Regards, NT

Reply to
N. Thornton

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