Imagine spending a year planning your perfect project. Engaging an Architect, developing plans that you love, submitting for planning, waiting months for a decision and then progressing with Building Regulation drawings – paying out thousands and then finding out your project is 50% over budget when builders price it?
Your next move is to spend more money re-working the plans to something affordable or simply having to make serious compromises, or worst case put the project on hold.
You may think, ‘I’ve asked a local builder to provide budget figures and these costs seem fine, isn’t this enough?’ The short answer is no. A brief visit from a local builder won’t provide an accurate figure and the issue is many people consider this initial ‘finger in air’ price as gospel which simply leads to disappointment.
This is where a ‘Cost Plan’ is essential. And it needs to happen before the Architect submits anything for planning.
But why?
Well the answer is simple, there is very little point submitting something for planning which is massively over budget. Set expectations early and align the size of project with something you can afford. If the ‘Cost Plan’ shows you are 20% over budget then work with the Quantity Surveyor and Architect to implement changes to bring the project cost down by 20%. This might mean reducing the size of the proposed work in terms of scale, compromising on the budget allocated for items such as the kitchen (by selecting something cheaper) or simply deciding to cut back on the finish. Or looking at ways of phasing the work.
Re-working the plans and making changes to bring the ‘Cost Plan’ down to a figure you are comfortable with, will mean all the work that follows will be on the right track.
So the simple answer is don’t rely on ‘finger in air’ quotes, utilise the expertise of a Quantity Surveyor to perform a ‘take off’ and calculate based on actual areas/rates. Then you are safe to submit for planning and avoid the shock many people experience when their project comes in massively over budget!
