2019-07-01 Homebuilding & Renovating

homebuilding.co.uk 167

image: getty images

O

vertime,theparticularskillsof

individualshaveevolvedintothe

varioustradedisciplinesthatwe

knowandrecognisetoday.Butthetrouble

hasalwaysbeenthe‘greyareas’which

fallbetweentrades,andthedebates

aroundjustwhois responsibleforwhat,

particularlywheretasksundertaken

byoneorseveraltradesabutsanother.

Thisproblemhasbeenexacerbated

inrecenttimesbytheintroductionof

newtechnologiesandnewmethodsof

doingthingstothepointwhere,insome

instances,entirelynewtradedisciplines

havegrownup.

Forthoseoptingfora turnkeysolution

oremployinga projectmanagerormain

contractor/ buildertooverseethebuild,

thesegreyareaswillbesmoothedover

andmanagedforyouforthemostpart.

However,forthoseprojectmanagingpart

ofortheentirebuildand/ortakingonDIY,

it paystobeawareof,andplanfor,these

greyareasfromtheoutset.

Theself-builderorrenovatorinthis

positionneedstounderstandthese

anomalies,tolookoutforthemandto

makesurethattheyarecoveredbyat least

oneoftheinteractingtradesandincluded

intheirquotations.Toaidwiththis,I’ve

listedsomeofthosekeygreyareaswhich

falloutsidetheremitofthetrades,and

explainwhatyouneedtoknow.

lSettingoutthefoundations

A surveyormaywellsurveythelandand

producea topographicalpictureofyour

plot,detailingthemeasurementsandthe

variouslevels.Anarchitectordesigner

maytakethatplananduseit toformulate

thedesignofthenewhouseorextension,

andthenthebuilderorgroundworkerwill

undertaketheconstructioninaccordance

withthoseplans.Butwhois responsible

forsettingthebuildingoutonsite?This

involvesmarkingoutthelocationand

outlineofthehousebeforethefoundations

aredug;a taskwhichmustbedone

accuratelyforobviousreasons.Theanswer

is thatit doesnotautomaticallyfallwithin

theremitorthecapabilitiesofanyofthe

aforementionedprofessions.

How to

address

the grey

areas

between

trades

Serial self-builder

David Snell reveals

the key tasks which fall

between trades, what

this means for your

project and how to

prepare for them

david snell

Theauthorof

BuildingYourOwn

Home,david is a

serial self-builder

and has been

building homes

for 50 years

The Build Trades by David Snell