What do you want?

Research and Define

Research and really think about what you want. The more you are well prepared the better. Don’t leave the tradesperson to guess.

Small Projects

These are jobs requiring a single tradesperson, like routine maintenance. This can also be a small specific piece of work like replastering a whole room or knocking through a wall to merge two rooms.

Identify and write down what you want in simple, straight forward terms. It is worth taking some time to research what other people do as you can get tips you may not think of.

Write down if you have critical dates or timescales. Don’t take a guess at how long the job will take or how much it will cost. You cannot be the buyer and the seller. That information is for the tradesperson to provide and from that you can measure what the average is.

Don’t mention your budget.

Medium to Large Projects

These are projects where you are using significant savings and / or taking out a mortgage to pay for the works.

If you are working on a larger project with a Principal Designer (ie: an architect) on a larger project write down notes on how you would like the changes to your home to improve how you use the house.

You may wish to develop a mood board to help you visualise your goals and for a Principal Designer to understand the design you are hoping for.

Indicate your rough budget; the architect should be able to advise if your hopes are affordable within your budget or not.

Top Tips

• Ensure you establish the fees that need to come out of your budget (ie: architects, building control, planning permissions)
• Be prepared to flex your ideas (or your budget) accordingly.
• Demonstrate you have thought this through and are clear on what you are trying to achieve.
• Demonstrate you are organised and willing to wait
• Be prepared for a tradesperson to turn your job down. They don’t have to work with you in the same way you don’t have to work with them. They may not verbally state they don’t want the job but just vanish, or they may come back with an inflated price hoping you don’t appoint them.

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