How can you find a builder for your self build, renovation or extension, and make sure that you’re going to get a high-quality end result? When it comes to arranging building works, there’s more than one way to crack an egg.
Some of you might be planning to engage a main contractor to deliver the whole project to an agreed price, specification and timetable. Others might prefer to be more involved on a day-to-day basis – trading their time in the hope of saving some money – by self-managing and directly contracting some or all the individual sub-contractors (subbies).
Either way, you’ll want to be confident you’re hiring good people who’ll get the job done to the standard you expect. Here we’re taking a look at what you need to know before trying to find a builder, from where to start all the way to setting up a contract and paying your trades.
There’s a theory that a builder or trade is only as good as their last job. Most operate fairly locally, and word tends to travel fast, so they have a reputation to uphold. If they’ve done quality work for their recent clients, stands to reason they can do the same for you. So, it’s always worth asking neighbours, colleagues, friends and family who they used on their projects and if they’d recommend them.
But don’t limit yourself to this route. “Sometimes the chemistry worked for that client, but doesn’t for you,” says Calum Taylor, Build It’s MD and presenter of our project management Virtual Training course. “Perhaps the two of you simply don’t gel, the trade doesn’t like your particular type of job, or they’re too busy on other sites.”
A better resource could be recommendations from other partners on your build – the local merchant, key suppliers, your design team or other building professionals. For instance, if you’re building a timber frame home, ask the provider whether they’ve done other projects in the area and who was used.
The owner may well be happy to invite you around to look at their project and introduce you to their builder or trades. “The gold standard for recommendations, though, is to look at other live builds,” says Calum. “If you see a good-looking project that seems to have progressed smoothly, with a tidy site, then knock on the door and ask the client if they’re pleased with their builder.”
Looking for a plot of land for your self build project? Take a look at PlotBrowser.comto find 1,000s of UK plots and properties, all with outline or full planning permission in place |
CASE STUDY Timber frame self buildIn 2019, Fiona Henderson was looking at retirement and decided she wanted a new home where she could live more comfortably than her current property. Ruling out a move to a different area, Fiona decided to go down the route of self building a new home that would meet all of her needs. She already owned a five-acre plot of land, located up the hill from her previous home in Aberdeenshire. It was here, surrounded by open areas of woodland, that she envisaged the site for her new home. Fiona worked closely with Eoghain Fiddes of Fiddes Architects to develop the home’s design, which sailed through the planning process. Fiddes architects had a long, positive working relationship Alan Buchan Contractors, which is what encouraged Fiona to hire them. “I got a good feeling right away about them right away due to how honest and hardworking they were from the outset,” she says. |
If you can’t find a personal recommendation for a trade, it’s time to go online. The Federation of Master Builders’ (FMB’s) Find a Builder Service is a useful tool – enabling you to search locally by trade or job type. The FMB does some pre-vetting for you when trades join the organisation, and provides all its members with contract templates.
The Accreditus Register takes things a step further; submit your job details and their team will match you to vetted builders on the register, provide you with feedback from past customers and send a detailed quote. Accreditus also offers free background checks (including looking at that trade’s credit history) and quote comparisons, and monitors customer satisfaction on an ongoing basis.
You’re probably aware of the big trade listing websites, such as RatedPeople and MyBuilder. These can be handy for finding individual subbies, but bear in mind these online services often operate by charging trades to access the jobs customers post. If they need to pay to gain leads, that may suggest they’re not finding it easy to win work in other ways – perhaps they’re new and haven’t built up a local reputation, for instance. Check, too, whether lead-focused services like this will actually support you as the client (eg with independent mediation) if a dispute comes up.
Once you’ve identified some likely-looking candidates, the next step is to try to get a price out of them. Good trades tend to be busy doing the actual work, so it can be quite time-consuming and frustrating to get them to give you a proper quote. The trick, then, is to make it easy for them by being crystal clear about what you want.
That means preparing a detailed but easy-to-digest brief, complete with any drawings needed to quote accurately. A main contractor will want the whole lot as part of the wider tender process (when you invite them to quote), but this won’t suit individual trades.
“Cut the waffle,” advises Mark Stevenson, self build consultant and the expert behind several Build It Virtual Training courses. “If you have 100 drawings in your Building Regs pack, don’t send all of them. The roof tiler only needs the drawings associated with the roof tiling, for instance.”
Pack your spec with unnecessary information, or fail to provide everything that’s needed, and you’re making the job more confusing to price – which will lead to an inflated quote. But unless you’re in the industry yourself, you can’t expect to understand every element required. A good approach is to ask the trade to quote exactly to the spec – but to also include a section below highlighting, line-by-line, anything they think is missing from the spec and a price for it. “This will give you a much better quality of quote, as it makes it easier to compare differences and minimise the risk of extras being added later,” says Calum.
If you’re self building, you should find it relatively easy to get fixed price quotes for each trade’s chunk of the works. It’s a little harder with renovation projects, because they can’t be sure exactly what’s needed until they start to strip the house back. So, in some cases, a day rate and expected timescale might be more appropriate than a fixed cost.
Aim to gather two or three like-for-like quotes for each element of the project, which you can carefully compare against one another (including the small print!). A Build It Estimating Service report, arranged at the design phase, can help. For a few hundred quid (depending on the total budgeted cost of your project), this will give you an 80-page report of all the materials and labour an expert estimator thinks should go into the work. You can then use that information to interrogate which parts of a formal quote are cheaper or more expensive, and ask your trades why.
Be sure to recognise the difference between a quote and an estimate. The latter is fine at the very early stages of your project, when you probably don’t have the final technical drawings, but are trying to piece together a reasonable picture of your overall budget. You’ll need to go back to that trade or supplier with the final drawings to turn that estimate into a quote if you want to avoid a surprise uplift in costs mid-build.
Sometimes quotes come back high. This might be an indication your spec needs tweaking – and a helpful trade might suggest places they think you can make savings while still achieving the desired result. Occasionally, the builder is simply too busy already or doesn’t feel confident about the job for some reason – so they don’t want to take it on unless there’s a really good margin in it for them.
CLOSER LOOK The importance of employing good peopleThe price is just one piece of the puzzle when hiring trades. Ultimately, you want good builders/subbies who understand your project and will actually deliver what they say at the price, timescale and quality level they’ve quoted. The vast majority of trades are reliable, trustworthy and care about their work. But you still need to do your due diligence. So, what are the key steps to ensuring you’re engaging the right people? Follow up recommendations. Tell them you’d like to be introduced to a couple of past clients, and that it can’t be a family member or close friend – and then actually ask those clients if they were happy with the process and the result. Visit a current site. If it’s a mess, can you be confident this trade cares enough about the projects they work on to be an asset to your build? Credit check them. Financial solvency is pretty important if you’re handing over a big stack of money to someone. You’re perfectly within your rights to credit check them, and there are countless services enabling you to do it quickly and easily. Do they understand your project? Have they shown an interest, made positive suggestions, and does their experience marry up to what you want? Find out when they can start. Yes, you’ll want them to get on with it – but remember good builders tend to be busy, so if you want a reputable trade you’ll have to wait for them. Find out their availability and line them up accordingly. Ask who they subcontract to. Increasingly, main contractors don’t always employ subbies in-house. Find out who they’ll be bringing onto your site and what makes them a good fit for your project goals. Check insurances. You want to know they’re covered (ask to see the current certificate) but you can’t just rely on this – you’ll need your own insurance as well. How will they deal with health & safety? If you’re using a main contractor, they’ll be responsible for this. If you’re self-managing individual trades, technically it’s down to you – but a large part of the job comes down to asking your subbies to create risk assessments and method statements that become part of your contract with them. See more here. |
If you’re working with a turnkey builder, it’s likely they’ll be responsible for procuring most materials that go into your project – and ensuring they’re on site at the right times. After all, one of the reasons you’ll have gone with a main contractor is to take most of the work out of your hands.
Your core input with this build route, therefore, lies in agreeing key materials choices at the appointment stage. You might also get involved with items the builder can’t easily source themselves – if they’re bespoke, for instance, or otherwise difficult to find at standard merchants.
Any contractor will charge you a markup on products they supply. That’s both normal and appropriate; they’re providing a service and need to make a profit on it. That said, they’ll have access to established discounts at their local merchants. The question mark will be whether those discounts represent the best price, particularly if that trade negotiated a flat percentage discount 15 years ago, but isn’t regularly interrogating the actual price they’re paying.
“This is where sourcing materials yourself can help save money – assuming you focus your efforts in the right places, and do it well,” says Mark. Spending weeks poring over the plumber’s pipework and connector list isn’t likely to be a good use of your time. But you might be able to get a keen deal (or a product that suits you better) by buying the bathroom suite yourself. Similarly, your roofer will be the best bet for standard tiles and all the sundries needed to install them. If you want a handmade tile blend, however, you’ll probably source that direct from a manufacturer – with the roofer still supplying the sundries.
If you’re self-managing your project, it can make sense to source some of the big-ticket elements on a supply-and-fit basis. This might include windows, glazed doors, ventilation systems, underfloor heating – even the superstructure, if you’re using a build system like timber frame, SIPs or oak frame. Packaging things up like this can take a lot of the stress out of a project. Just be wary that the cheapest, best quality product is only cheap and high-quality if it’s actually available when you need it on site – so vet suppliers, too, and make sure you understand lead times.
For self builders or those converting a non-residential building into a house, bear in mind that how you buy your materials will impact on the VAT situation. In general, where builders, trades or specialist companies supply and fit ‘fixed-in’ materials, or provide labour, you should be charged a reduced rate of VAT (0% for new builds; or a reclaimable 5% for conversions). Any materials you source yourself, however, will be charged at the normal 20%. You’ll then need to submit a VAT reclaim (under the VAT 431 scheme) within six months of finishing the build to get the tax back.
CASE STUDY Using local contractorsHaving wanted to self build for decades, approaching their next phase of life felt like the right time for Brent and Linda Walker to fulfil their long-held dream. The couple chose local contractor East Fife Joinery to project manage and build their home, taking the pressure off them as they weren’t around. The company was able to appoint suitable subcontractors and knew the area very well, helping them to overcome issues with access and site limitations. |
An effective schedule is vital to the success of any major home building project. This is all about sequencing: what needs to be done, and in what order? Your builder or a professional project manager could put this together for you, or you might decide to do it yourself.
Talk to trades and installers to understand when they want to come in, and what needs to be ready for them to do their work effectively. This way, they can buy into your programme up front, rather than point out problems later. For instance, if you’re installing mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) into a self build, you can be pretty certain your provider will want to be the first trade on site once the structure’s up and watertight.
After all, they need to run big, rigid ducting up walls and through floor joists – so they don’t want to be navigating around the plumber’s 15mm plastic pipe or the electrician’s speaker cables.
If you’re using the Build It Estimating Service, you’ll get a suggested schedule as part of the package. Many people feel comfortable using Excel to create their own programme (attendees to Build It’s Virtual Training course on Moving Your Project Forward gain access to a template for this). It’s then about fleshing out each tranche of work by refining the datelines, noting when materials need to be ordered (and by whom), when trades need to be on site etc.
Build in breathing space – whether for a stress-relieving holiday or to catch-up when work progresses slower than expected. It’s better to plan a bit of slack in the programme than have to tell a busy plasterer you’re not ready for them, putting you at the bottom of their list and facing delays.
There are a number of useful web applications out there, too. You or your main contractor / PM will still need to build the schedule in the first place, but once it’s there, an app can help streamline everything. “Team Gantt does a lot of the hard work for you, for example,” says Calum. “Multiple people can input into it, and if you need to push part of the job back, all the dependencies will move with it.”
The first step here is working out the quality level you want, communicating it in the brief and then referencing it in the contract. Including photos can help to illustrate the level of finish you’re expecting; a good finish often goes hand-in-hand with quality and care throughout the rest of the works.
Another useful trick is to refer to a baseline level in your contracts, such as the NHBC Standards 2024. “This is a long, detailed document aimed at volume housebuilders, but it sets helpful minimum expectations,” says Calum. “For example, it says floors up to 6m across should be within a 3mm deviation per metre. You’re not going to put all of this into a contract, but a single line referring to it gives you a fallback.”
Do bear in mind that if you want to hit Passivhaus or a similarly high standard, then NBC guidelines might not provide the appropriate level of safety net.
During the construction phase, make regular site visits and be seen to take plenty of photos to record what’s been built – modern phones are a godsend here. You’ll need pictures for building control (or your approved inspector), but it also gives you a reason to check the works before they’re sealed up.
Plus, you’ll have them to refer to when you need to know where a particular stud is for fixing into… or a pipe you want to miss! Don’t be afraid to ask, either. If you see something that looks a bit shoddy, say so (nicely). The trade might simply say don’t worry, it won’t end up like that – but at least it shows you’re on the case.
Absolutely. You might be spending £100,000s creating your dream home. We’re not talking small numbers here, so it amazes me how many people I meet at the Build It Live shows who think their builder’s lovely, helpful and has insurance – so they don’t really need a contract, do they?
We all hope things aren’t going to go wrong, but for the few times they do, a simple contract can be the difference between a challenging situation and a disaster. If you’re using a main contractor, they’ll almost certainly want one, too, and may well give you a formal contract to sign.
You should have some form of written agreement with individual trades, too. “Establish the basis for this by having a pre-start meeting with them, and clearly writing down all the things you’ve agreed,” says Mark. At the very least, you should then bring all of this together into a straightforward email – accepting the quote, listing what’s included; how long it’s going to take; how many workers will be on site; who’s providing things like power, welfare facilities, skips; sorting out building control inspections; etc.
A more belt-and-braces option is to use a contract template, such as those available from ContractStore. These are typically no more than five pages and written in plain English. Simply slot in your requirements – what work’s going to be done; the cost; payment terms; how variations will be dealt with; what happens if there’s a dispute; etc – and you’ve got the basis of a very good contract that should be easy for trades to sign.
If you want productive site, pay people fairly and on time for work done. “That can be earlier than the terms, as long as you’re happy the work’s been done to a satisfactory standard,” says Mark. Before paying, scrutinise invoices – when are they due, and has the work described definitely been done? A good trade will have sufficient liquidity to buy most materials and get paid once they’re installed, though there may be some elements where a deposit is justified.
Keeping up with payments is all about cashflow. Pre-build, you’ll need to stack your schedule against when you’ll have funds available. So, keep a separate programme that cross-references when stage payment mortgage releases are due, the money you’ll have and how that compares to expected outgoings. “If you go to your builder or trade and say “sorry the money’s not been released yet,” that’s a recipe for a very quick breakdown in the relationship – and could be a major headache for your build,” says Calum.
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