Are you self-building your dream home? Many people have a dream of owning a beautiful home. Lots of people pursue this dream and work hard to achieve it. Here are some tips from Take off Bill to help you achieve your dream. Just in case you don’t know who Take off Bill are, we are a team of Measurement, Quantification, and Cost experts. Read on below:
The reason why many embark on a self-build is to save cost on their project, this is a good idea in principle but be careful where you choose to save costs, many areas where people cut costs, especially early in a project, come back to bite and actually result in spending more money that would have been initially required.
We see many people attempting to build off a set of planning drawings, this is not a good approach as planning drawings contain very little detail and are not construction drawings. They do not contain sufficient details, specifications, or guidance for your builder or supply chain to follow. An approach to building off Planning drawings can lead to ambiguity, different parties interpret details differently and this can lead to massive cost escalations.
Invest in a complete design, get a full set of construction drawings, study them, and then settle on a design and home you want. Do not change your mind after this, as this will most likely lead to increased costs.
Once you have your design, it would be recommended to get a Bill of Quantities produced by a firm like Take off Bill. This will basically be a list of the work required to build your dream home based on the detailed design. You will receive this in Excel Format, with the associated Measurement Sheets and Mark Up drawings.
Self-building your dream home?
It would be recommended to price at least 3 different Contractors per trade using the Bill of Quantities, that is 3 different roofers, three different block layers, three different electricians, etc.
Why would you do this? To determine if you are getting good value. The Bill of Quantities will allow you to get your prices returned on a like-for-like basis and save you SIGNIFICANT revenue.
The services of a Professional Designer and Quantity Surveyor to produce a complete design and a Bill of Quantities may seem like a cost that you can avoid and you can if you want, but these two services will stand to your project and lead to significant savings.
The Bill of Quantities will contain the descriptions of work to be executed, the quantities of work to be executed, and the subcontractor’s rate (price) per activity and this all leads to an accurate and set price.
So if you are Self -building your dream home, make sure you take the right steps to achieve your dream.
Learn about Take off Bill at https://takeoffbill.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/take-off-bill.mp4
Learn more here about Measurement, Quantification and Bills of Quantities on our Linkedin page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/take-off-bill
