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The Essential Guide » The Planning Stage » Planning a Timescale and Drawing up a Programme For Self Build | Renovation
The text below is “un-edited” and “un checked” in its original draft format. It is included here as, even in this format, it could provide some useful help and advice.
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Planning a timescale and drawing up a programme:
Many of you who are applying for a “Stage Mortgage” for your project will have come to this page because you have been asked to provide a “Programme of the works” by your Finance provider. – This is normally one of the standard documents, along with “costings” that you are expected to prepare and include as part of your application.
What I have done for this section is drawn up 2 sample programmes. One for a “new traditional build” and one for a “timber frame”. - You may be lucky and they may be “spot on” for what you need to provide for your lender, or, depending on the nature of your project, they may just form a basis for you to be able to draw up your own.
Although they are designed with “New Build” in mind, you should be able to adapt them to “Renovation” or “Conversion”. You will find that most of the subject headings will be the same apart from the “stripping out” elements and possibly some of the early sections regarding foundations. – Use them as an “outline format”, which can be adapted to our individual project.
To draw them up, I have imagined a standard 4 bed detached house on a level plot, with no “site problems”. - In other words, a “simple and straightforward job”. – However, NO JOB is simple and straightforward in the real world, so I would imagine that everyone will need to alter at least a few of the times for the individual sections and possibly even add extra activities in such as “Home Automation” ( first , second and final fixes), or possibly “Ground Source Heating” (Installation and connection to the main system).
One thing you may notice when you compare the two programmes is that the Timber Frame programme is 2 activities and 3.5 weeks shorter than the Traditional Build programme. The fewer number of activities happens because fitting the joist is one of the standard Timber Frame components and so is the roof carcass. The shorter timescale is due to the “Timber frame” going up a lot quicker than the “Traditional Structure”, together with the fact that work can start inside the building slightly sooner.
In reality this difference could be far more pronounced if there is prolonged bad weather whilst the “Traditional Structure” is being built. The time difference could easily reach 10 weeks.
I will briefly go through the stages and make a couple of notes on each. These may help you to work out how long each activity will take on your own projects. – A good way of getting fairly accurate figures for you timescales is to ask each of the “Contractors” and “Sub Contractors” you talk to, and who see the drawings, how long they think their section would take them to complete. If you then use the average figure for each activity you should be in the “right ball park”.
You will see that I overlap a number of the trades. This is quite normal and is done when there is scope to do at least part of one activity before the last one finishes. This can save weeks on a full project. For example, if there are areas of the house which are ready to decorate whilst the second fixes are being completed in other areas, (maybe bedrooms, living room etc) and the painters are happy to start, they could start on their first coat work in the areas which are ready for them.
1) Set up Site:
This is the time taken to get the site “ready to go”. Including bringing cabins onto site, protecting anything which needs it, maybe taking fencing down to make an access, marking out where the site strip needs to extend to, and anything else that you consider should be done before the excavator comes onto site to start work.
2) Site strip:
The excavator will take off (in theory) around 6” of topsoil from across the area where there is to be any development. This will normally be stockpiled somewhere out of the way, and spread out at the end of the project to prepare for lawns etc. This can be half a day’s work on some sites and a couple of weeks on others.
3) Set out and excavate foundations:
A Site Engineer, Project Manager, or possibly the Groundworkers will mark out where the new building is to be positioned, check it, and then excavate the footings. For a simple flat foundation this can take as little as one day, for more complicated digs in difficult ground it can take a week or more
4) Connect services:
I have assumed for this example that you have chosen to install the services at the start of the job. – You can also install them at the end ( see “What is the best time to apply for Gas, Electricity, water and telecom connections” section). You may need to connect the water and electricity supply in order to carry out the building works. – I have given this section a different colour to the previous sections to indicate that the actual time you do the work is flexible. The connections usually only take a day or so, - unless there are major connection problems outside the perimeter of your site. You can programme this work at any time within this period.
5) Brickwork to dpc:
One of the following: Site Engineer, Project Manager, Groundworker or Bricklayer will set out the main structure of the dwelling by marking the corner positions and giving a measurement from the top of the concrete foundations to the required dpc level. The bricklayers then build the cavity wall up to that level and the cavity is filled with “cavity fill” which is basically a weak and usually fairly dry concrete mix. Depending on the complexity of the work, the weather and the speed of the bricklayers this can take between less than a week and up to three weeks.
6) Form up and pour slab:
Once the brickwork to dpc is done then you can form up the concrete ground floor slab (it may also be a suspended floor in timber or concrete). The slab may need to be reinforced depending on various factors. You then pour the slab. On large or awkward sites this may need to be done in sections. A very simple job will take a couple of days to prepare the slab and a day to pour the concrete, with a couple of days left (preferably at the weekend) when nothing happens so that the concrete can “go off” and gain a bit of strength. Complicated reinforced projects may need up to three weeks for this section.
7) Drainage:
As with the services, you can leave this till the end of the job if it is going to hold up progress on the main structure. I have assumed you are going to install the drains at the same time as the service connections to get everything done at the same time. A simple drain layout around the house and connecting into “surface” and “foul” drains at about 3’ depth at the front boundary of a medium sized property can take about 4 days to complete. – This can easily go up to 3 – 4 weeks if existing drains are deep and if there are complications on site. If have shown this activity in grey because there is a “flexible window” of time in which to do the work without it interfering with anything else.
8) Scaffold:
For “Timber Framed” houses you will usually build 3 sides of the scaffold before you start. This will normally be 2 or 3 days work. The after the ground floor panels are in position, the front is closed in, taking another day. This does not necessarily have to stop the work on the timber frame if your erection gang plan it properly.
For Traditional Build, your bricklayers will usually build up to around 6’ of brickwork without the scaffold being in place. If they can then move to another section whilst the scaffold in the first section is erected, you won’t lose progress. If not then you may lose a day each time you need to work on the scaffold. Scaffolders will take 1 or 2 days to do a “lift”. I have not shaded this box grey as the scaffold is not a flexible within itself. – It is needed when it is needed! – It will be in use for about the length of time shown for a project similar to the one in the example.
9) a) Timber Frame:
Depending on the complexity of the frame, this could take between a week and a half and 5 weeks for a large complex frame.
9) b) Brickwork / blockwork:
Depending on the weather, the speed of the bricklayers, the complexity of the build, and the efficiency of the scaffolders, this can take between three weeks and more than a couple of months.
10) Roof carcass:
a) Timber frame: Done as part of the timber frame erection and within their allotted time.
b) Traditional: A simple trussed roof on a four sided house can be completed, with all fascias, soffits, barge boards etc, in about a week. A traditional roof will rarely be used on a simple structure these days. More complicated shape roofs will take up to 3 weeks for a “truss” construction, and you can add another one to two weeks for a “Traditionally cut” roof.
11) Windows:
Windows will take between one day and a week depending on a number of factors. Standard pvcu windows to a 4 bed house should all be installed and glazed within a day. – There is a little scope for flexibility shown in the progamme.
12) Joinery:
The time taken will obviously vary depending on the size of the property, and the complexity of the work. I have allowed different time for each of the first, second and final fixes, and there are also differences between “Timber framed” houses and “Traditional” built houses, for example in the first fix where the stud walls are included in the package and therefore do not need to be built separately. Taking the example as being a standard 4 bed detached house, you should be able to get an approximate idea of how the timescales of each section of your project would compare. Joinery may be able to start as soon as the roof receives its “felt and batten” i.e. When it becomes “watertight”. This will be a lot sooner on “Timber Frame projects than on “Traditional” projects
13) Electrical:
Electrical first fixes can, in theory start as soon as the building is watertight. You may risk vandalism if you start to run cables before you can secure the building, but you should be able to start to drill holes for the cable runs before then. Electrical first fixes and joinery first fixes can generally start at about the same time. You could the sample programmes as a basis from which to estimate your own timescales.
14) Plumbing:
As with the last two items, I have allowed different times for each section of the plumbing and heating installation. The sample programme shows you how and where they slot into the construction process and you should be able to compare the estimate for the 4 bed house given in the example to the project you are undertaking.
15) Kitchen / Bathrooms:
A basic kitchen can be installed in a couple days, an expensive one with lots of appliances, small fancy units and the like could take up to 2 weeks. Utility rooms would usually equate to the same complexity as a small basic kitchen
Standard bathrooms can be installed in less than a day, elaborate designer bathrooms up to a week. So multiply the number of bathrooms you have, by a reasonable estimate of where your bathrooms fit between being “standard” and “elaborate” to work out an approximate timescale.
16) Tiling:
Amateur builders their tiles! – Developers usually try to keep the tiling down to a minimum, but “individuals” can spend a fortune on them! If your budget only allow you to include the “developers” amount of tiling, i.e around the bath up to about a metre, round the shower, splash backs on the sinks, and between the worktops and units in the kitchen, then your Tiler will generally be able to complete the tiling and grouting in between 2 and 3 days. If, however you are tiling floors, full walls in two or three bathrooms, utility room, w/c etc, then this can go up to probably 1.5 weeks, possibly even 2.5 weeks for tricky work.
17)Painting / decorating:
I have allowed 5 weeks in the sample programme for an average 4 bed house. The range of times will depend on what sort of paint you use, how many coats you are using, how many colours you have chosen, and of course the speed of the painters.
I have estimated using 2 “average speed” painters, good quality paint for the walls (preferably “obliterating” or “new plaster” paint), which generally only needs two coats instead of the three coats that some paints need. For the woodwork I include for using a good quality primer, then undercoat and one top coat of a good quality gloss (you may need 2 coats of gloss, especially if the paint is thin).
I have also assumed that the fascias and soffits are plastic and do not need painting. – Allow another 3 - 5 days (or more if the work is complex) if they need treating with stain or painting.
External works:
You will see that the external works “bar” is in grey. This means that there is flexibility in this activity. – So it will cover most options on timescales. Whether you are simply seeding the lawn and spreading some gravel on the paths and drive or you are planning a reasonable elaborate landscaping scheme. Usually the landscaping can start as soon as the scaffold is down (as long as the drainage is already done), so you can pretty much choose the best time for you and / or your landscapers. If you programme the work to finish a few days before you complete you can make sure you are not trudging mud into your beautiful new house« return to guide contents
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