your Survey Results are in:
When we surveyed all you lovely builders a few months ago, one of the questions we asked was what type of work you are doing so we knew how we might best help you.
We was really surprised to see that renovations were the highest percentage.
Maybe we shouldn’t have been given New Zealand if full of people who have a love affair with their homes!
Pricing renovations is really niche as you have to consider the existing structure and make sure your price covers not only to items on the plans, but also the consequential and ‘make good’ areas.
A lot of that sort of information end up coming from the clever builders head based on years of experience, and it can be super difficult to quantify when the homeowner wants a quote.
the experts reply
A few things to consider when putting together a quote for a renovation;
There are effectively three different categories of items that need consideration.
There is the tangible, so all the things that are on the plans that you can see, the measurement of new timber, plasterboard etc, etc. This is the easy stuff! Its also where your list of sub-trades comes from.
The next thing on the list is the consequential.
This is the list of tasks that will enable the renovation work to take place.
It might be that you have to clear a side garden for access for a digger, or partially remove flooring for access to a subfloor, or remove joinery to get to a wall.
The list goes on, and often these items are not identified on a set of plans and rely on your knowledge and task analysis.
The last item is the ‘make good’.
This is the list of things you will need to do to bring the property back to how it was once the new parts are complete.
It may be things like repainting windows after taking them out and refitting them, or putting a garden bed back down.
Again, these items are unlikely to be listed out on a set of plans.
If you were to make a list of everything in these three categories, it will give you an excellent starting point for coming up with a pricing document for your client.
laying it all out
Based on the above, another hugely important thing when pricing a renovation is your tender letter.
It is reasonable to appreciate that opening up a house can be like opening up a can of worms, who knows what you might find?
If you were to write your list of tags and clarifications as you were considering each of the items detailed above, you will be able to create some ‘edges’.
By ‘edges’, We mean descriptions that advise what you have and haven’t covered in your pricing.
Sometimes it will be items that you have allowed a provisional sum for because you don’t know what you will find, or it could be sum’s that have been allowed for items yet to be chosen.
Make sure you also include the tags and clarifications of your sub trade pricing here!
Why go to this trouble you ask?