"Matters for consideration when doing Additions and Alterations Works"
A home is a major investment, so it’s important to get the fundamentals right from the start. (Also refer to How to choose the right builder.) To get good value and achieve cost controls over your A&A works, engage a reliable contractor who has in-depth hands-on knowledge in construction.
In A & A works, it is important that the builder have a thorough feel of the inherent quality of your house – for example, whether your house crumbles at every stroke of the hammer, or whether you have light weight walls or heavy concrete roof tiles etc. The feedback is valuable as he should then plan and apply appropriate careful methods of construction detailing to suit the constraints. In many circumstances,the run-of-the mill detailing could prove problematic over the middle term.
The dark side of it is that, a lot of construction companies use what should be a judgemental need for ‘constructional appropriateness’ as an avenue to charge for ‘changes in construction’, to gain a few bucks. In the traditional client-consultant-contractor process of appointment, this could add a significant cost outside the original contracted sum.
( The turnkey process takes a collective approach to resolve this issue – so whilst there will be unavoidable costs to address the shortfalls, these would have been accounted for within the original budget, and not come as an unexpected and new addition. )
