What’s inside
Where do I start? The book answers that by taking you through a home project in the order it really happens, from the first viewing to the year after the builders leave: planning permission and permitted development, surveys, build over agreements, party wall notices, specifications, builders’ quotes, stage payments, snagging and handover. Here is every chapter, the questions it answers, and the free tools that go with it.
Four questions run through every chapter
- What will it really cost?
- Am I allowed to do it?
- Who is responsible for what?
- What happens if it goes wrong?
Part One: Before You Commit
The decisions made before you buy, or before you start.
- Chapter 1
Three Projects, Three Scales
One want, a better kitchen, followed at three scales: a refit in place, a knock-through and a rear extension. See which permissions, professionals and risks each one brings before you decide how far to go.
Questions it answers- How much more does an extension involve than a kitchen refit?
- Does a knock-through need a structural engineer and building control?
- Chapter 2
Building Your Professional Team
Who you may need, from a builder's own drawings to a registered architect, structural engineer or surveyor. For each one: can they do the work, and if they get it wrong, who pays to put it right? Includes the insurance that protects the house during the work.
Questions it answers- Do I need an architect, or can the builder draw the plans?
- Do I need a structural engineer to take out a wall?
- Who insures the house during building work?
- Chapter 3
What to Look for at a Viewing
What to look at when you view a house, the questions to ask the agent, and a viewing sheet to take with you. How to spot the age of the services and the signs of covered-up problems, and how to test the change you have in mind before you make an offer.
Questions it answers- What should I look for when viewing a house?
- What should I ask the estate agent?
- How can I tell if an extension is possible before I buy?
- Chapter 4
Value and Cost: Working Out the Numbers
How to estimate what the house will be worth once the work is done and what the work will cost, using free public sources. Covers the ceiling price for your street and the improvements buyers tend to pay for.
Questions it answers- Will an extension add value to my house?
- What is the ceiling price for my street?
- How do I estimate what the work will cost?
- Chapter 5
The Costs People Forget
A full cost checklist covering the costs a first estimate leaves out, how much contingency to hold, and a stress test of your figures against rising costs and delays. Ends with ten questions to answer before you offer.
Questions it answers- What renovation costs do people forget?
- How much contingency should I hold?
- How do I stress test my budget?
- Chapter 6
Tax, Time and Money Back
Stamp Duty Land Tax in England and Land Transaction Tax in Wales, VAT on building work and when it can be reduced, grants that may be available, and what a project costs when it runs longer than planned.
Questions it answers- How much stamp duty or Land Transaction Tax will I pay?
- Can I get reduced VAT on building work?
- Are there grants for home improvements?
Part Two: What You’re Allowed to Do, and What You’re Dealing With
Permission, and the condition of the property.
- Chapter 7
Planning and Permitted Development
When you need planning permission for an extension or alteration, and when permitted development rights let you build without it. What can remove those rights, how to deal with work a previous owner did without permission, and where England and Wales differ.
Questions it answers- Do I need planning permission for an extension?
- What is permitted development?
- What if a previous owner built without permission?
- Chapter 8
Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
Four quick checks before you offer, what needs listed building consent, what changes in a conservation area, and protected trees. Unauthorised work to a listed building is a criminal offence, and the duty to put it right passes to each new owner.
Questions it answers- What needs listed building consent?
- What changes in a conservation area?
- Are the trees on my plot protected?
- Chapter 9
Leasehold and Flats
What you actually own under a lease, when you need the freeholder's consent for alterations, what happens if work goes ahead without it, and what else changes when renovating a flat or a leasehold house.
Questions it answers- Do I need the freeholder’s consent to renovate a flat?
- What happens if work goes ahead without consent?
- Chapter 10
Surveys, Reports and Searches
Which RICS survey level to choose, the specialist surveys that matter before building work, how to read a survey report, what conveyancing searches do and do not cover, and the free checks worth making before an offer.
Questions it answers- Should I get a Level 2 or Level 3 survey?
- How do I read a survey report?
- What do conveyancing searches not cover?
- Chapter 11
Drainage, Flooding and the Ground
Building over or near a public sewer and getting a build over agreement, drainage camera surveys, flood risk, septic tanks and treatment plants, and the ground conditions that differ between town and country.
Questions it answers- What is a build over agreement?
- Can I build over or near a public sewer?
- Will a septic tank affect my plans?
- Chapter 12
Ecology and the Calendar
How bats, nesting birds, newts and gulls can set your timetable. Some surveys can only be done at certain times of year, so this chapter shows how to plan around the survey calendar rather than lose a season.
Questions it answers- Can bats stop a renovation?
- When can ecology surveys be done?
Part Three: Specifying and Contracting
Agreeing the job before it starts.
- Chapter 13
Write the Specification First
How to write a specification of works, so every builder prices the same job and you can compare quotes like for like. What it should contain and how much detail it needs, with worked examples for a kitchen and a bathroom.
Questions it answers- How do I write a specification for builders?
- How do I compare builders’ quotes like for like?
- Chapter 14
Building Regulations: What Your Work Triggers
When building regulations apply, the two ways to get work signed off by building control, and three common cases: replacing windows, upgrading a wall, floor or roof, and ventilating a kitchen.
Questions it answers- When do I need building regulations approval?
- Do replacement windows need building regulations?
- What ventilation does a new kitchen need?
- Chapter 15
How You Start Is How It Runs
Why the way you behave while getting prices sets the tone for the whole job. How to spot a builder to avoid, whether to tell builders your budget, and which form of building contract suits which size of job.
Questions it answers- Should I tell builders my budget?
- Which building contract suits which size of job?
- How do I spot a builder to avoid?
- Chapter 16
Warranties, Defects and Avoiding Disputes
The five gaps behind most disputes with builders and the document that closes each one. Your rights when defects appear later, the different kinds of warranty and how to make sure they are activated, and what to do if things turn sour.
Questions it answers- What can I do if defects appear after building work?
- How do I make sure a warranty actually works?
- Chapter 17
Getting Quotes and Choosing a Builder
Where to find builders, how many quotes to get, how to compare them, the checks to make before you appoint, and the terms to agree on price and payment.
Questions it answers- How many builder quotes should I get?
- How do I check a builder before I hire them?
- Chapter 18
Agreeing the Small Stuff
Waste and your legal duty of care, deliveries, cleaning and subcontractors: the everyday details nobody agrees and everybody assumes. Settle them in the quote, with a table of who does what.
Questions it answers- Who is responsible for builders’ waste?
- Who pays for deliveries, cleaning and subcontractors?
- Chapter 19
The Written Agreement
The twelve things a written agreement with your builder should cover, what to do if a builder will not sign anything, and how it relates to your legal rights. Ends with an annotated sample letter of agreement you can adapt.
Questions it answers- What should a contract with a builder include?
- What if a builder won’t sign anything?
Part Four: Running the Job
From the first day on site to the year after the builders leave.
- Chapter 20
Before Day One
Lead times for everything that must be in place before work starts, from insurance and welfare to notices. Covers party wall notices, telling the neighbours, access over a neighbour's land and rights of light.
Questions it answers- When do I need a party wall notice?
- Can I use my neighbour’s land for scaffolding?
- What has to be in place before work starts?
- Chapter 21
Living Through It, and the Order of Work
Whether to live in the house during renovation or move out, the order the trades follow and why, and how to tell early if the programme is slipping. Includes a sample 12-week programme for a knock-through.
Questions it answers- Should I move out during a renovation?
- What order do the trades work in?
- How do I know if the programme is slipping?
- Chapter 22
Managing the Build
Handling variations, site visits and photographs, stage payments and retention, forecasting the final cost, building control inspections during the work, what to do when things go wrong, and keeping a project file.
Questions it answers- How should I pay a builder: stage payments or monthly?
- What is retention?
- How do I handle changes and extras?
- Chapter 23
Snagging, Handover and Retention
What practical completion means, how to run a snagging inspection, testing appliances and smart features, the documents and certificates to collect at handover, the defects period, and when to release the money held back.
Questions it answers- What is a snagging list?
- What does practical completion mean?
- When do I release the retention?
- Chapter 24
After It's Finished
What to check in the first year, comparing what the project cost with what you planned, which records to keep, what matters when you sell, and what to do differently next time.
Questions it answers- What should I check in the first year after the work?
- Which records do I need when I sell?
And at the back
A conclusion, a checklist for each of the ten stages of a project, a glossary of building and legal terms, and further resources pointing to the official sources. A maintained list of those sources is kept on the references page.
Use the forms as you read
Blank copies of the forms in the book, including the viewing sheet, the cost checklist, the variations log and the snagging list, are free to readers: answer one question from the book and the workbook downloads straight away.
Tell me when it’s out Get the free forms