What time of year is best to Self Build or Renovate?

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I have worked for many years as a “Site Engineer”, “Commercial Site Manager” / “Building Consultant” and “Housing Developer”. I have also completed my own “Self Build projects.

Having worked in all seasons and in all types of weather, and temperatures, I would have to say that:

 

You may come back immediately, saying: “Well don’t be daft. - The time of year will surely dictate how the weather is”. - That is not actually the case. – You need to remember that we live in the UK!

I have worked through whole winters where we have not really lost a day due to bad weather conditions, and through summers which have been a complete wash out, where we have lost “weeks on end” of progress.

If there is one area of the job which will be affected by the “time of year” you would think it would be Groundworks. In fact that is true, but maybe not in the way you may think:

If I am starting a new project, and I am programming the Site Clearance / Foundations and Drainage work for the “real winter months” of December / January / February, I will often make faster and better progress than if I am starting the work in spring, autumn, or sometimes even the summer.

For a start the “vegetation” across the site will normally have “died down” from what it was in the summer, so there is often not as much “Site Clearance” to do, and therefore not as much “waste” to get rid of, either by skip to a tip or by burning it on site (where allowed).

If I dig a footing (foundation trench) in a period of very cold weather,  I tend to find that the sides of the trench stand up far better, and very rarely “cave in” whilst we complete the excavation works and wait for the concrete. The reason for this is “ice”!

In Spring, Summer or Autumn, if your are excavating trenches on a plot with a high “water table”, or if it has been raining heavily just before you start to excavate, either the ground can become “sodden” to quite a depth, or there can be many pools of lying water in the “dig area”.

As soon as you start to excavate, this water will start to pour down the sides of the newly dug trench, quickly turning “soil” into “mud”. - Then, - if there are stones or rocks in the sides of the trench, what often happens is that these get washed out, and the sides of the trench start to collapse, covering the bottom of the excavation with mud, stone and rocks. - It can create a real mess! All of the mud and debris will then have to be removed (often by hand), before any concreting can start.

When that happens, not only does the extra work of emptying and “making good” the trench cost you time and money, but you could also end up paying hundreds of pounds extra for concrete to fill in all the “voids” that the collapsing banks have left you with!

If you are in the middle of a “cold snap” in February, there you are le4ss likely to have had rain, and there is at least a chance that the ground and any “lying water” will be frozen, and therefore water possibly won’t cause you ANY problems whilst you excavate.

So, my time of year “of choice” in the UK for excavating trenches would always be WINTER!

“Concrete setting” (or “going off”) is caused by a chemical reaction between its “constituent parts”.

As this reaction takes place it creates heat. – Concrete, whilst it is “going off” has qualities similar to a radiator! –A bit of ice or even rain isn’t going to hurt it! – Within a few hours of it being poured, any new rain will sit harmlessly on the surface.

Conclusion: Taking the two parts of the equation together it can actually make perfectly good sense think about starting the ground works in winter.

Laying bricks and blocks is a part of the building process which can start within a few days of moving onto site, and continue through to pretty much the completion of the whole project.

You start with brickwork underground up to dpc (damp proof course), then whether you are building in Timber frame or Traditional, you will usually still need to build at least one skin in brickwork or blockwork.

There may be internal walls to either “build new” or “make good”, - and there could also be drainage, garden walls etc.

Because the sections of the project which require bricklaying of one type or another are spread throughout the project, long periods of rainy weather could really put a spanner in the works.

If bricks are wet, they are harder to lay and can give you a messy finish. If it rains soon after you have laid bricks, water can start to run down the face of the brick and wash out the mortar. Mortar on the “spot board” can also get watered down (and any “colour dye” could be washed out of it). Bricks can get splashed with mud as vehicles pass close by, often resulting in some of them being thrown away and wasted.

Unfortunately in this country we can’t guarantee that ANY time of the year will be “rain free”. In fact the least likely time for rain over the past few years (in my experience) has seemed to be the winter! – Spring is usually fairly wet, summers have often been a washout, and autumn also fairly wet.

So, we all basically have to accept that. Although some areas of the country are “drier” than others, the weather is not going to be something we can “plan around” by building at one time of the year or another.

Instead, whenever we decide to start work on the parts of the project such as the brickwork which are going to be affected by weather conditions, we simply need to think about ways to plan ahead to minimize the disruption that can be caused.

If you read more of this guide you will pick up hints and ways to try to maximise the rate of progress of all sections of the project. – The faster your get to the point of being “watertight”, the less effect the weather will have on the project overall. – That in itself is one way to beat the weather, up to a point.

However, you need to try to keep progress going on sections such as brickwork, whatever the weather, you may want to consider “weather protection” methods, such as covering the whole of the scaffolding with tarpaulins to keep of the rain.

Conclusion: There is no real “best time” to start brickwork. – Being well organised and getting rapid progress when it IS dry, plus possibly weatherproofing the working area are the best ways to beat the bad weather.

Where the weather WILL have an effect on a project using a Timber Frameis where the“Erectiongang” are not physically able to work because the weather is causing “dangerous” conditions. Rain can stop them working altogether, especially if they are working at “height” and the timber has become slippery. The same goes for icy conditions.

Conclusion: Overall, there are not really any times of year that you would say “We can’t think about starting to build

In this respect Timber Frames have the advantage over Traditional building, because, once the floor slab has been poured, the Timber Frame can be erected in sometimes less than a week. - If you can then line up the roofers to quickly complete at least the felt and battening (which doesn’t usually take long), you can be at least partly “oblivious” to the effects of the weather. Then, even if the bricklaying is held up for 2 or 3 weeks, as long as you can be working inside, you need not lose any significant amount of progress over all.

Summer does tend to be the busiest time in the building industry. “Clients” don’t tend to want to start work when it’s cold and wet. So, whether or not the summer is a washout, Contractors and Sub Contractorswill tend to have a higher workload during the late spring, summer and early autumn months. Then there is the fact that in the summer, most people, at some stage want a holiday. - this can "take out" a significant proportion of the "available workforce" for about 7 weeks a year!

As I alluded to at the top of the page, there is really no “bad time” to start work on one of these projects.

One of the problems we face as builders in this country is that: “You can only ever be sure of the weather when you look back at it”! - We don’t get “sensible weather” like they do in some other countries where you know every day what tomorrow is going to be like – (It’s going to be like today!).

We have to think on our feet, and take each day as it comes. So really, it makes no difference whether you decide to pour the concrete in January or June, April or August, you stand just as much chance of “hitting good weather” as you do of “hitting bad”. – It’s purely the luck of the drawer!

You can take precautions to try to safeguard against losing time and incurring extra costs due to bad weather. You can cover the scaffolding, you can use “trench shoring” to stop the sides of your trenches caving in, you can wait until you get a good weather forecast before you start work on the footings, but for every problem you may think you solve by doing that sort of thing, you can bring in another “just as real” problem.

My thoughts and experience in building new works or renovating bring me to a point where I would give the following advice:

1) You will NEVER guarantee the weather, no matter what time of year it is. You will NEVER guarantee the temperature. You will NEVER guarantee that you can get the right people at the right time. - So why put your project back month after month, waiting for something that might never happen?

2) Plan for problems from the outset, watch out for them coming, and deal with them as they arise.

3) Make sure you leave enough in your budget to take care of any extra costs which occur due to seasonal or weather factors.