Advice & Guides

How to read a builder's quote

The single most useful skill when appointing a contractor is knowing what a quote should contain. A figure on one page is not a quote, it is a guess dressed up as one.

What you want is a schedule of works: every item listed in sequence, priced by trade, so you can compare the plastering line on one quote against the plastering line on another. Without that, comparing two contractors is impossible, because you have no idea whether the cheaper one has included the same work.

Look specifically for what is excluded. Common omissions that reappear later as extras are waste removal, scaffolding, making good after first fix, structural calculations, building control fees and the temporary works needed to prop an opening safely.

Why projects run late, and what actually prevents it

In our experience the three things that push a project past its date are almost never the construction itself. They are consent, party walls and decisions.

Consent has statutory timescales that cannot be compressed. A planning application takes eight weeks as a target, prior approval notification takes six, and neither starts until the submission is valid. Party wall notices carry response periods, and if a neighbour dissents, surveyors have to be appointed and an award prepared before work can begin.

The third is the one within your control. Decisions on tiles, sanitaryware, kitchen finishes and lighting positions all have lead times attached, and a decision deferred by three weeks frequently costs three weeks on site. We front load those decisions into the schedule so they are made before they become critical.

Permitted development, in short

Many single storey rear extensions and rear dormer loft conversions in south west London do not need a planning application, provided they stay within defined limits on depth, height, volume and materials.

The exceptions matter more than the rule. Flats have no permitted development rights at all. Conservation areas restrict or remove them, and much of Chelsea, Kensington, Brackenbury, Wimbledon Village and parts of Fulham are designated. An Article 4 direction can remove them street by street. Listed buildings need consent for almost anything.

Because designations do not follow neat boundaries, the only reliable answer is to check the specific address. We do that before we quote, so the route we price is the route you can actually take.

Living through building work

A loft conversion is the easiest major project to live through, because the scaffold gives roof access and most of the noise happens above your ceilings. The disruptive phase is the staircase installation, usually a few days.

An extension is manageable until the rear wall comes out, which is a short but significant period, and you will be without a kitchen for part of the programme. A full house renovation is genuinely difficult to live through and is usually both faster and cheaper if the property is empty.

Whatever the project, agree the practicalities before work starts: where the temporary kitchen goes, which route the trades use through the house, what gets sheeted and protected, and what time work starts each morning.

What to check before you buy a house that has been extended

A great deal of the stock in Battersea, Wandsworth and Fulham has already been altered, and not all of it was done properly. Three questions are worth asking before you exchange.

First, did building control sign it off, and is there a completion certificate? Second, do the structural calculations exist for any steels that were installed? Third, was a party wall award made, and does it record the condition of the neighbouring properties?

Missing paperwork is common and often solvable through regularisation or indemnity insurance, but it is far easier to deal with before you buy than during your own sale years later. We are happy to look at what a vendor has provided and tell you where you stand.