Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
Its 8.30 a.m on Monday morning you have several tradesmen drinking tea. All-knowing their separate jobs and what they have to do all masters of there own trade. Chances are first fix or second fix if all the trades are there at once or even two or three different trades. They’re going to be in each other’s way. With no foreman or general in charge of your army, how do you think you’re going to do on your Design And Build?
9.00 am people are still drinking tea chatting about how well they’re going to work together. Really orderly and most productively, right? Wrong there still talking about the weekend, what they did where they ate where they’re going on holiday. If there on day rate your losing money, if they’re on price chances are they have already left. this is because nothing is ready or people are going to be in their way which will slow them down and they haven’t priced for that situation.
When people with not much building knowledge build they make mistakes, the biggest being organisation. I have seen lots of projects flooded with tradesmen. Only to be counterproductive and giving plenty of people places to hide in all the confusion. That’s what you don’t want on any Design and Build is confusion.
9.30 tools are out, but with no purpose, more of we better do something.
For example, let us say five trades are there for an hour and a half at £15.00 an hour each. That chat has cost you £112.50 if they do that every morning for one week, that’s over £600!
That’s one aspect the other being the organisation of stages. If every stage is not planned, you will be counterproductive. You will want block layers, then carpenters then plasterers plumbers and sparkies. In whichever order that Design and Build Requires. Think you can organise that twice 1st fix then 2nd fix??
Our advice and what we do if we are taking on a big Design and Build involving a few trades is we would hire a Quantity Surveyor.
A Quantity Surveyor will save you money
Now the common disbelief is that means it’s going to be more expensive and it’s quite the opposite. They usually work for a percentage of the whole job, for example, let’s say 15%. I have seen jobs lots of jobs waste 30 or 40% of the whole job on bad decisions and lack of planning.
Kevin McCloud
You all must have watched an episode of grand designs with Kevin McCloud the designer. He advised people through there Design and Build and the reoccurring theme in this show is that they usually don’t take his advice. They try and save money and organise the job themselves, they change their minds in designs etc. At the beginning of the show he will ask how much are you spending and whats your finish time, and at the end of the show, guess what? massively over budget and massively behind on schedule, which is very important if your planning to move in.
Now some people like building their own house and inevitably wasting a shed load of money. If that’s the experience you seek go for it. I personally hate waste of any kind. Fair play to Kevin though he always sums it all up very nicely you can almost hear him as he walks away under his breath “told them to get a Q.S ejits..!!”
Kevin also is a fan of hemp in buildings and Designed and Built a rather plush little estate down in London. Great material here’s the link, I get the feeling Kevin does not like waste either and nowadays we have to check our footprint too. We also have done a few hemp and lime projects and think it’s great stuff.
Also if a Q.S gives you a time and he does not meet that schedule, I believe they might take less off a percentage or have already agreed on a fine so pressures on them and they will save you money.
Builders and Contractors
Don’t get me wrong there are reputable builders, that have a great team. They are so experienced and used to working together, probably got a working foreman that counts nails in his sleep. Now those outfits, if you’re lucky enough to find one, will still be the same price as if you went through a Q.S
Either way is the best way and either way you want contracts detailed and design’s agreed on. However, if you then change your mind on a design it’s your pocket not there’s.
The design is very important though, as a joiner if I can draw it I can make it. The drawing and the cut list makes the job more efficient. You can see it before it’s made because it has to look right on paper, same with a house or a garage or an extension.
Numbers and Design
Also a big fan of the old school, inches scale rulers a and a pencil. I then have to convert the inches back to metric. A lot of older architects still do this, now I know the age we are in and sketch up is the latest great tool. We have used it, and you can go on google maps and actually put plans onto your house and see it in CGI. Which is very cool and we can do that. It’s just the finer details for me, as an extra joist to save putting in grounds afterwards. Kitchens not detailed enough, and the ones you buy kit form there all computer generated plans that never fit exactly. You’ve always goto add a corner post take out a gable mess around 20 or 40 mm which is a lot in a kitchen.
When you draw something you ‘ve already made it. Already dreamt about making it, astral planed to the workshop of infinite possibilities and solutions and observed every different scenario. Maths is totally sacred, like the geometry that exists in the makeup of our reality. The geometry in a building is the same. If it’s done properly. Hard to explain but when I create furniture and it looks fab. Its the symmetry that makes it look fab like Patrick Swayze r.i.p. Not the biggest guy in the world but his body symmetry was near perfect making him attractive. Like a piece of furniture when your actually making it cutting rebates, and mortices. Whichever, you want to see the same numbers, and I do on my jobs and that’s when you know it’s an organic design and it’s going to look right.
Subconscious Planning
That’s a subconscious thing when you design something like there’s no way I could work out I’m gonna get a master number like 33 or 44mm. To turn up on all my rebates and on maybe two or three other different joints or endless fractions of that number on the whole job. mindblowing stuff!
Example Jimmi Hendrix didn’t write music properly, in fact, he didn’t play the guitar properly. Or orthodoxy should I say, in fact, I believe he struggled to remember songs he had written. Versus just banging out a brand new one off the cuff, that’s creativity, right? He never planned his notes to be harmonious and be oozing number mastery cos numbers are in the music too its everywhere. He did have a plan, maybe it was some lyrics written somewhere or just a riff in his head. But it was a plan in some form.
Point is anyone can now copy that tune, probably not in the same style, but same notes.
Like a plan for a piece of furniture, I can draw it hand it to a joiner, and he makes it. Doesn’t even have to think just follow the plan, the same as if someone hands me a plan. I will check it briefly but chances are I can price the job off the plan work out how long it will take and see any other additional work that’s not on the plan.
Precise Planning
I planned a garage, around the door, a couple had been given a brand new door for a garage. I designed the garage to have a room upstairs as well as meeting planning guides and making this door fit. Without planning measuring etc You’d have no chance, but mm correct I knew the door would fit. Someone else fitted the door in the end and I didn’t have to worry and neither did they because it was all planned…
We have also been council approved for plans for a Design and Build in Royal Leamington Spa. Not just for new build’s if your windows or shop front are listed. If you want to replace them you also will need to submit plans to the council which we can do for you.
Any advice or queries please don’t hesitate to contact us
Thanks, Martin