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f you own your own home and are considering extending, remodelling or you need to undertake maintenance this article could be of interest to you. There are some hints and tips on how to go about obtaining prices for work and comparing the quotations returned.
Maintenance:
A property is an investment which needs to be maintained. Doing timely maintenance can save you money in the long run. Making sure your gutters are cleaned regularly and that the exterior is painted can prevent water ingress. Over time water getting into the structure of a property causes many other problems which can prove expensive to sort out. Some maintenance early on can help to stop bigger bills later.
If you are practical and comfortable using tools you can undertake maintenance yourself but that also depends on whether you have the skills for the task in question and the time to do it. If you have a full time job finding the time to keep on top of things can be difficult. You also have to consider your quality of life. If you enjoying doing maintenance jobs it’s not an issue but if you find maintenance tasks a chore then do you really want to work all week and spend evenings and weekends doing house maintenance?
Home improvement / remodelling / property extensions
Improving or extending your home can increase the value and provide more space or a better environment in which to live. You could do the work yourself if you have the time and skills, or you could project manage the work or outsource all of it. Either way you will need to spend money.
Getting the work done
If you decide to employ contractors to do the work you need to make sure that you use reputable trade contractors. If you don’t, you can end costing yourself a lot of time, stress and money getting work put right. Like finding a car mechanic it is better to use someone that you know who won’t leave you high and dry if things don’t go well.
When getting work done it is advisable to get at least three prices from different people if you can so that you know that you will be paying the right price for the work. This isn’t necessarily because tradespeople generally over price but if someone has a full order book, they could be charging you a premium to fit you in. Other people may have less work and therefore put in a more competitive price.
However, if you don’t know anyone, how do you know if a contractor has the right skills, is suitably qualified and the price is reasonable? If you want licensed contractors local to you to provide you with prices, complete the details in the form below and you will be contacted by approved local tradespeople in order to provide you with prices.
Comparing quotations
Before requesting someone to provide you with a price you need to be clear of the extent of what you want done and how you want the price to be returned. We would advise jotting down exactly what you want done, even if it is just bullet points and include questions like how long will the work take and when can the job be started if you selected them. It may also be wise to ask for each item of work (each bullet point) to be separately priced. This will provide you with a much better basis of comparison when the prices are returned.
Cost, speed and quality
It is worth understanding that generally time, cost and quality are in opposition to each other. This means that usually people want a high quality job carried out quickly but at the cheapest price. In reality a high quality job done very quickly is likely to be a higher cost. Therefore you should consider which of those three factors is most important to you when comparing prices returned. If you do this then you may not select the lowest price as the other two factors could be more important to you for the work that you have in mind.