Practical Advice To Help You Profit From Rental Property
Tips On Getting The Renovation Work Done
Organise the renovation work in detail. Timing is crucial when renovating a property. Good quality building work, electrical work or plumbing work etc.,at the right price, is useless if you can never get the tradesman to do the job because he is too busy with other work. Make a note of what needs to be done and the best order that can be arranged for doing it. Arrange for your tradesmen and deliveries to be in place at the specified date - remember, some tradesmen will be booked up well in advance and some items e.g. fitted kitchen units may have a long delivery time.
Find a good local builder. Do not simply select a builder from Yellow Pages or worse, your local free paper. Get recommendations from local estate agents or letting agents or friends who are happy with work they have had done. Obtain three quotations (not estimates) with written specifications that include all the work to be done. Also ask for a couple of references from recent customers. When you have selected your builder agree how payment is to be made. Either pay at the end when the work is complete or in stages as the work progresses, but not upfront.
Don’t be surprised if the prices quoted by builders etc. vary enormously. If they are very busy, or for some reason are not too keen on the job you have, you will get a very high tender. This is intended either to put you off or reward them handsomely if you choose to go ahead. When you ask for the quote make clear that you are running a business and will be seeking other quotes. You may find that some builders who know their prices are rather high will not even bother to come back to you with a quote.
Where possible, always obtain your tradesmen by recommendation. Ask other people about their experiences with tradesmen. Ask about reliability and timing as well as quality and cost. Ask at builders merchants or tool hire depots for the names of reliable tradesmen. Don’t take the advice of people in the same trade.
Look out for 'extras'. Be aware that it is common practice for builders to make a good part of their profit on ‘extras’. These are additional things you ask the builder to do after he has started work on the project. At this stage the builder is in control of the prices he charges. This is why it is important to have a complete specification at the outset.
It is the builder’s job to co-ordinate the work being carried out on your house by subcontractors or tradesmen. He will also co-ordinate with the building inspector to make sure that the work is in compliance with building standards. If you use direct labour it can be much more cost effective than using a builder but you take full responsibility for organising the work.
It is cheaper to act as your own ‘main contractor’ and employ the different trades yourself. But you have to spend more of your time organising and checking the work.
Watch out for grey areas between trades i.e. whose responsibilities the plumber or electrician will be wiring up the boiler.
Look at previous work and try to speak to previous clients. Look out for untidy work and unsatisfactory shortcuts: plumbing - quality of joints, pipework runs; carpentry - standard of joints, fitting of doors and door furniture.
Make yourself as aware of prices as possible in each trade. Talk about how to deal with the costing of extras that might occur.
Agree a lump sum price rather than daywork or time taken rates wherever possible. Daywork rates are a disincentive to speedy completion.
Prepare a schedule of your work and check that your tradesman can fit into it. Check he really has the time to do your job. Learn from experience.
Don’t pay in advance, always pay in arrears when the work has been done. With big jobs you can break the work down into stages and pay when you are happy that each stage has been completed to a satisfactory standard.
Using tradesmen is about trust and about assessing who you can trust. It’s not something for long written contracts.
Don’t constantly change your mind about what you want. Consider carefully first what you want.
Don’t get in the way if you are doing some of the jobs yourself.
If a problem arises don’t just carry on - sort it out there and then. You might need to stop and discuss a new contract and price rather than just treating it as extras.
If you make the wrong choice in tradesman finish him. If he is unable to do a good job, or is unreliable, he’s probably used to it. Pay him for the work he has already done and don’t use hire again. It will cause you delay and probably cost you but it was your mistake in hiring him in the first place.