Hi all as the subject suggests need to get a builder for a 2 storey house extension. Anyone in my area know/had experience of any good ones or can tell me any to avoid.?

cheers Pete

BOB!!!!!

My little girl says he's great!

Write down a detailed spec and give it to the builder before he quotes. It saves a lot of arguments during the build. Add lots of detail - the type and colour of paint, the floor finish, the number of electrical sockets - everything.

We're currently having an extension built and it turns out they wanted to nail pipes to the plaster rather than hiding them and all sorts of stuff because the detail wasn't in the architects drawing. It was only the fact that I kept a daily eye on what they were doing that I spotted these things before it was too late. We've had to pay for a number of extra items that weren't in the original quote.

^^^ can't reiterate this enough ^^^

Detail absolutely everything you can think of and then get someone else to add anything they can think of. In my experience, most builders are pretty genuine, but they do overlook the fact that what they do day in/day may not be common knowledge to the average homeowner.

Examples...

Wall sockets, skirting, architrave etc. - make sure you specify you wan the same as already fitted in the rest of the house.

Gutters, downpipes etc. again make sure they'll match what's already there (our builder got this wrong round/square and go a bit nippy when he had to change it).

Hope this helps!

Another point is to make sure whoever the builder uses to do the electrical work is fully registered and able to test and self certify his work. Otherwise you'll find yourself in a pile of poop when it comes to getting your completion certificate from building control.

Liam

I'd seriously consider hiring someone to draw you up some proper plans before you start - for one thing it will make Planning (if you need it) and Building Regs approval MUCH easier plus you can properly spec what you want doing. Me and a mate of mine do this (you're just a little out of our 'patch' unfortunately) and it probably wont cost you nearly as much as you think in the current economic climate....... plus we usualy know a couple of decent builders too

I recently needed my roof fixing as it was leaking between my slates and the neighbours tiles. I don't know any builders so I tried this website.

I used mybuilder.com and am happy with the result.

Get a good archictect,get him to tender the job and supervise it . Believe me its money well spent, and this comes from a (retired) building contractor