Category Archives: Contractors

Main Contractor Appointed

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After much discussion with the contractors on my shortlist, following up their references and refining the specification for the house in order to fit within my budget I have finally decided on a Main Contractor for the build phase – Steve Yardley and the team from Burton Building Solutions. As with all good contractors they’re booked up for the next few months but they’re forecasting being ready to start work on site before the end of September.

My main reasons for choosing this particular contractor were:

  • They’re pretty local and work with a good team of local subcontractors. They also know the local Building Control and Planning people.
  • They impressed me with their attention to detail throughout the tender process. I’m confident they have quoted for exactly what I asked for and they won’t substitute items without prior agreement.
  • They have a proven track record of delivering Passivhaus levels of performance, especially with regard to Air Tightness which is particularly sensitive to the quality of the on-site workmanship. I’m happy they understand the importance of the high standards they need to achieve and that they will be able to deliver them.

Apart from the small matter of getting confirmation of a very substantial mortgage, everything is now lined up to turn my plans into reality.

Budget Challenges

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It’s been roughly 3 weeks since the quotes came back from the contractors who were invited to tender. In the end there were not as many responses as I’d have liked, but still enough to provide a sensible comparison.

My main conclusion is that it’s not going to be possible to build the house I’d ideally like for the budget I have available, so some compromises will be required. I’m sure everyone else who has been in my position has faced the exact same issue!

The outbuildings are the main area where there’s room for compromise. The basic plan for those is to reconstruct the old barn, stable, hay loft and cow sheds that were previously part of the farm complex, for use as storage rooms, garages and workshops. They’re sizeable and cover quite a large area, and hence they’re really quite expensive to build. (I’ve just realized they’re going to cost almost exactly as much to build as I sold my old house for!) I was hoping it would be possible to construct the outbuildings as a water-tight shell for me to fit out later, but to do that would mean making lots of compromises with the specification for the main house which I suspect I’d come to regret. I’ve therefore decided that I’m only going to build the main house at this time and to build (some of) the outbuildings “later”. It took me a few days to come to terms with needing to do that, but now I’m happy it’s the right thing to do.

The contractors on my shortlist are revising their quotes accordingly. Once the amended quotes come back they should (just!) fit within my overall budget, after allowing for contingency etc. which will then leave me with the problem of deciding which contractor to choose.