Home Refurbishment Mistake -Construction Company in London
19
Jun

Home Refurbishment Mistake : No Preparation Time

Are you up for a home refurbishment project? When do you plan to get started? And are you all prepared before you start your home refurbishment process?
Ask these questions to Design and Build Construction Company in London if you plan for a home refurbishment. Before that make sure you know what it means when we ask you whether you are prepared or not! Preparation doesn’t only mean getting yourself mentally ready and making your home ready for a refurbishment. Preparation is much more than that. It is just that clients are unaware of how much time is actually involved in the preparation and that’s where they make the mistake.

What is Preparation Time?

  • Preparation time is all that you need to get all the things done right before the work starts. It includes a whole lot of things which will take weeks before you can actually start with home refurbishment.
    If you need a Bathroom Installers in London, it is not just you need to prepare your bathroom ready for a renovation or getting yourself a spare bathroom. Or when going for any loft extension, just making your roof available for all the construction is not what is meant by preparation. Preparing for any home renovation work is much more than what you actually know.

So let’s know how long things actually take from quoting to starting on site.

  • Quoting: When you call for a building contractor and ask for a detailed and informative quote, it will itself take 2 weeks before you get the quote.
    Analyzing and making decisions may precisely take about 1 week.
    Surveying the site and preparing drawings will take about 3 weeks, if not more
    Analyzing drawings and suggesting amendments will take about 1 week.
    Submission of drawings for planning permission, prior approval and permitted development decision will take up to 8 weeks.
    Submit drawings for building regulations approval if needed will take another 6 weeks.
    Party wall notices can take 2 weeks or even more depending on how your neighbors are.
    So when you count all the time needed, you can easily see that the potential work can actually start on site after 23 weeks from the initial quote.

This may come as a shock to you if you have never known this earlier and you thought you can start the work soon after getting your quote. However, the reality is this is how long it can take to actually get the work started.

Preparation Time may Even Get Longer!

The time given upon is the very basic time we usually need before starting the work. The truth is this time period can even get longer for complex or non-standard submissions. But you don’t need to worry, if you have a simple work project, your work could be fast-tracked.

When you contact larger building companies they may have in-house surveyors and the drawing preparation may only take 1-2 weeks. If your property doesn’t require any planning permission and needs only a Permitted development application, then this can speed up the time. The builders can start work even before this has been granted but only if the architect is confident enough they have complied with the Permitted development rules. However, this can be risky and it may cost you more money if you rush ahead and start the work without getting the certificate and later the application gets rejected. So it’s better to wait a while before you get the certificates.

What can actually increase your preparation time is the Party wall notices. When you are up for a loft extension, party wall notices become necessary. Since many loft extensions will need consent from your neighbours. If you have a good relationship with your neighbors and they get on well with you, and agree to your work, then you can start after 14 days. However, if they disagree with your work, it could take 2 months or even longer whilst surveyors sort out the legal paperwork and get the permissions. Waiting for 2 more months can be really a nightmare!

Now You know!

So as you know now, how much time it actually takes to prepare for a home refurbishment yet there are ways you can bring down the time from initial quote to starting the work on site.

But wait! Things are not done yet and there can be a lot of problems waiting for you if things go wrong or if you hire an inexperienced builder or architect who may not fully understand the latest regulations. It’s better to always get professional and experienced builders to get things done right. Search for the best residential building contractors or the design and build construction company in London to get your work done. You can also contact us at Propertize Construction, we are the building construction company in London, and get the best services of all time.