How to Run a Building Project

You can enjoy great savings compared to using a builder and have much more control — but is project management really for you, and where do you start? Jason Orme explains

Buying Materials

GET A FIRM IDEA ON QUANTITIES AND COSTS FROM THE START

The starting point for any serious shopping trip for all the materials you’ll need or your construction project is something that’s rather grandly called a ‘Bill of Quantities’12. Most builders and industry types will refer to it as a ‘take-off’, but whatever you call it, it’s essentially a long list of the quantities of materials you’ll need along with a price. Years of experience are not easy to replace but the good news for novice self-build project managers is that there are a few new tools available in different forms that will do the same job.

First of all, investing in one of the project management software programs would be an undoubted help. Easy Price Pro’s Self-build NHE Estimator offers to price up a job, state required materials, advise on lead-in times and estimate a build schedule. It costs £19913 + VAT. HBXL’s Estimator Xpress offers build cost estimates, scheduling guidance and cash-flow charts from £50014. Even better, it uses Jewson to provide real-life estimates and has even pre-negotiated discounts.

It’s worth establishing a relationship with a local builders’ merchant — in addition to materials they will be a useful source of information, guidance and experience, not to mention credit…

“Establish a relationship with a local merchant from the start…

you’ll be able to arrange the best credit terms”

For those just after a simple cost estimate and take-off for materials then the local builders’ merchants might well be prepared to offer free take-offs from building-standard plans. It will take a couple of weeks and provided you are after standard solutions (available, of course, through the specific merchant) then it’s a good starting point.

BUY YOUR MATERIALS FROM THE RIGHT PLACES

Where Can I Buy?
Merchants (General, DIY or Specialist) Direct/Online
Cement Stone

Merchants Establish a relationship with a local merchant from the start. As someone managing a construction site you’ll need quick and easy access to, at the very least, the simpler building products such as building sand, timber, blocks, cement and so on. The merchant is still the preferred route for the vast majority of building materials (everything from timber to bricks) and so if you want to buy those materials, you will need to use a merchant. While it’s wise to shop around initially, it usually pays to establish an account with just one local merchant — you’ll be able to negotiate the best discounts through the promise of quantity of sales and you’ll also be able to arrange the best credit terms (you’ll be paying on invoice – terms up to 60 days – through merchants, rather than upfront as you would through conventional retailers). There are, of course, specialist plumbing and electrical merchants who should, in theory at least, supply all of the requirements and much more choice besides. It’s a rather fun experience for the novice – a bit like wandering into the ‘Four Candles’ sketch from The Two Ronnies15 – but you’ll be able to rely on exceptional free, usually friendly, advice. That said, local merchants can occasionally be intimidating places for novices to use, which brings us to…

DIY Sheds Although they are not having a great time of it at the moment, thanks to the perceived end of the DIY boom of the 1990s, the major ‘sheds’ (as they are known in the industry) do offer something to the novice project manager. They have prices clearly on display, which is a big help (even if the prices aren’t particularly competitive) and staff who at least in theory can offer some useful advice, although this advice is aimed very much at the accomplished DIYer rather than serious local builder — most of whom wouldn’t be seen dead in one. That said, the new crop of merchant-lite ‘Warehouse’ stores from B&Q certainly helps to address this issue, and it’s worth checking out the so-called ‘Trade Counters’ at these stores, along with Wickes (which is owned by Travis Perkins and always has had a more serious feel). Last but not least, Screwfix (owned by the same people as B&Q, SEE BELOW) is a favourite of the building trade and offers upfront pricing on all manner of materials, complete with guaranteed next-day delivery. At the very least it’s an exceptionally good resource for comparing prices.

Direct/Online Whereas, traditionally, building materials suppliers would target merchants and rely on them to promote their wares to their customers, the industry is changing and many manufacturers are beginning to work on retailing their goods directly. It’s all a bit hit-and-miss but it’s fair to say that all of the advertisers in this magazine would be happy to sell direct to you.

“Builder? Pah!”16

These self-builders took on project management roles — to great success

Caron Pain built a five bedroom house in Norfolk (completed 2006) for just £110,00017 – and in just five months – thanks to taking on the role of project manager. She sourced all the materials herself (often in creative ways, through the internet and local DIY stores) and managed all the labour for the project. “My main tool was an A4 pad,” she says. “Everyday I would just write down everything that was needed for the job and I made dozens of phone calls.”

Terry Morgan and Sarah Lay not only project managed the construction of their four bedroom home in Oxfordshire but designed it themselves too. It cost them £134,00018 to build.

Homebuilding & Renovating (H&R) September 2008, pp 96-97 (http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/)

RECOMMENDED SITES:

TASKS

  1. Why is it worth establishing a relationship with a local builders’ merchant?
  2. Why can local merchants occasionally be intimidating places for novices?
  3. What are DIY sheds? What is the difference between paying upfront and paying on invoice? Which one is more beneficial for the novice builder?
  4. DIY sheds vs. local merchants and retailers vs. direct/online warehouses. Give an example of local companies that may be included in each group.
  5. According to the article, is there any advantage in managing –and possibly designing– the construction project ourselves? Justify your answer.
  6. What should we expect when we see and ad about a “5-bedroomed house”? Is dining-room/living-room included in that description? What is the usual description for houses in Spain? Give some examples.
  7. Words such as: attic, backyard, conservatory, dormer, entresol, fence, garden, greenhouse, hedge, intercom, larder, lift, loft, pantry, patio, stairs, studio, terrace roof, etc. may be found on any housing ad description. Try to complete the list, adding their Spanish equivalents.
  8. The following comments were taken from the YouTube homepage (The Four Candles sketch). Do you agree? If possible, try to tell a similar experience or anecdote you may have experienced.
    1. “I used to work in retail, and yes, we had people like that. It would be a lovely job if it wasn't for the customers!”
    2. “In small communities in the middle of nowhere, back when car ownership was as prevalent as it is today, the local shop would often be "a general store", which stocked a little of everything. A kind of "superstore" in miniature. These days, though, most everyone has a car and a freezer for keeping food for long periods, so folks mostly do a "weekly shop" at a large supermarket instead, as it's more convenient. So you don't see these kinds of shops - the "general store" - very often anymore.”

We have dozens of stock house plans ready to build

We have years of experience working in the planning and decision making phase and over these years have built up this great collection of house plans. Stock house plans for all type of lots, families and tastes. If you find a plan that is close, but not quite what your need, we can take that basic plan and customize to suit your needs. We will help make your dream a reality.

We use state of the art design techniques and are familiar with the latest technology on building materials and methods. We are able to provide you with blueprints to get competitive quotes from trades and provide service and support through your construction process.

Have a look through our gallery of recent stock home plans, each displays an elevation view and floor plan. You can download a PDF file of each house plan by itself, or download our entire stock house plan catalogue and browse through it.

Once you find the house plan you want, you can order the plans online or call us to place the order.

http://www.plantechdesign.com/stock.php

Adobe House Plan - The Adobe style is similar to the Santa Fe and the Southwestern style of home design. This is a style, not a construction type.

Coastal House Plan - The Coastal style usually features an open house plan that may be elevated off the ground. Coastal homes are similar to other styles such as beach homes, waterfront homes, or Cape Cod homes.

http://www.housedesignideas.com/house-plans.php

TASKS

  1. Define the following concepts:
    1. Blueprints
    2. Customize to suit one’s needs.
    3. State of the art
  2. Define the following house styles:
    1. Adobe House
    2. Beach House
    3. Cape cod House
    4. Coastal House
    5. waterfront House
  3. With the help of Houseplans.Com (http://www.houseplans.com/), compare the above house pictures with the styles used in the Canary Isles (both old and new). Do you spot any similarities? Are there any differences?

THIS UNIT’S QUOTE: “I hear and I forget. I listen and I understand. I do and I remember.” – Chinese proverb

THEORY: Grammar review: How to write a coherent text. The IMRAD pattern and other structures. How to present bibliography, references and other sources. Special summary techniques: Outline. Abstract (informative, descriptive, evaluative). The Index/Key Words. Précis. Report. Developing skills. Shapes. Dimensions. Materials. Material properties. Measurements, quantities and numbers (dates, fractions, money). Writing a complete description of a building. Defining buildings by class, colour, size, parts, purpose, etc. Making an oral presentation of a building.

RECOMMENDED SITES:

TASKS

  1. Work on your assigned glossary on Construction Engineering / Quantity Surveyor by adding new vocabulary from the text. By the end of this week you should already have 60-100 terms.
  2. Watch the following You Tube video-clip: «Global Warning»

(http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=C3pujlkSTqo&mode=related&search)

    1. What have big corporations and politicians done about global warming & climate change?
    2. What alternatives to oil-energy sources are offered?
    3. Is there any reason why this clip is called “Global WaRNing”, instead of the more logical “Global WaRMing”?

  • Skimming & Scanning: In each paragraph, spot the term that mostly condenses the idea dealt with or explained there.

  • Now, proceed to deliver the main ideas as developed in each paragraph (précis).
  • Once provided with the extracted information above, work on and write down the text’s structure.
  • Write a possible abstract19 (informative and/or evaluative) for How to Run a Building Project article.
12. Bill of Quantities (BOQ): Bidding document prepared usually by a quantity surveyor, it is an itemized list of materials, parts, and labour (with their costs) required to construct, maintain, or repair a specific structure. (BusinessDictionary.Com) ↩
13. £199: approx. 250 € ↩
14. £500: approx. 628 € ↩
15. The Two Ronnies – Four Candles (Plot): ↩
16. Pah: A word to show disregard for something. Urban Dictionary ( ↩
17. £110,000: approx. 140,780 € ↩
18. £134,000: approx. 171,400 € ↩
19. Abstracts: brief summaries of a scientific or technical paper addressed to a specialist public, often used to help the reader quickly evaluate the paper/conference importance. Abstracts may be grouped into three classes: Descriptive, Informative and Evaluative. Descriptive Abstracts, becoming very rare, usually present just the gist of the text, in two or three lines. They can be seen as a content table in paragraph form. Informative Abstracts, are more elaborated, and show a detailed outline of the whole text, usually following the IMRAD pattern, and including citations and bibliography. Evaluative Abstracts are devised as a piece of literary criticism to sell a product. They usually start with a description of the product/text, followed by technical details, to end with the specialist’s opinion and/or proposal. ↩

results matching ""

    No results matching ""