Buying Own Materials And Engaging Contractor To Supply Labour And Project Management

[prism 0]

if u are going to let carpenter manage plumber, which i doubt any true carpenter will, u might as well get a contractor to do it for u...

if u plan to manage it yourself, u have to come out with your own schedule and dimensions for them to follow. Not easy but its not rocket science either.

Going via contractor route does not mean hassle free...certain instructions get miscommunicated and many times rectifications are needed.

To me, its just a matter of paying a contractor and having one point of contact or manage urself and having mulitple points of contact and paying less...

Cheers!

my idea was to divide the whole renovation into sub-projects, so there is one person responsible for each sub-part that has interlinked part. Who takes care of that sub-part will be the most expensive portion of that part. i.e carpenter for the kitchen cabinet since the plumbing should be the "cheap" part. hence that idea of letting the carpenter earn the mark up on the plumbing but at least carpenter not marked up by another contractor. So what i meant is let the carpenter get his own sub-con plumber, then he's responsible for the sub-con liao. In a way, the expensive parts dun get marked up this way. similarly, tiling and hacking wall let a tiling guy handle then hold him responsible for that area. Any thoughts on this?

[gimz63251073 0]

my idea was to divide the whole renovation into sub-projects, so there is one person responsible for each sub-part that has interlinked part. Who takes care of that sub-part will be the most expensive portion of that part. i.e carpenter for the kitchen cabinet since the plumbing should be the "cheap" part. hence that idea of letting the carpenter earn the mark up on the plumbing but at least carpenter not marked up by another contractor. So what i meant is let the carpenter get his own sub-con plumber, then he's responsible for the sub-con liao. In a way, the expensive parts dun get marked up this way. similarly, tiling and hacking wall let a tiling guy handle then hold him responsible for that area. Any thoughts on this?

not sure why u would want plumber to coordinate with carpenter for kitchen..?

Should be a straightforward case.... u get plumber to run the pipes and then carpenter to follow up with cabinets. After that plumber comes back to install sink and tap.

A true blue carpenter does only carpentry and its not their forte to project manage. Thats the reason they remain as carpenters, doing what they are good at.

If u are saying hacking and tiling same guy, i can still understand...as they usually come together.... so u can manage just one group of people to hack and tile. But mixing carpenters around may not be the best idea to go around. U could try though, afterall, u never know till u try right?

The trouble is often finding enough contacts to do the tasks and u really need to know what needs to be done. Otherwise, u might end up asking them back for more trips and incurring extra costs...

[prism 0]

not sure why u would want plumber to coordinate with carpenter for kitchen..?

Should be a straightforward case.... u get plumber to run the pipes and then carpenter to follow up with cabinets. After that plumber comes back to install sink and tap.

A true blue carpenter does only carpentry and its not their forte to project manage. Thats the reason they remain as carpenters, doing what they are good at.

If u are saying hacking and tiling same guy, i can still understand...as they usually come together.... so u can manage just one group of people to hack and tile. But mixing carpenters around may not be the best idea to go around. U could try though, afterall, u never know till u try right?

The trouble is often finding enough contacts to do the tasks and u really need to know what needs to be done. Otherwise, u might end up asking them back for more trips and incurring extra costs...

because i'm trying to avoid the tai chi for plumber saying the carpenter broke the pipes or the carpenter say plumber broke the cabinet etc. if i can get the carpenter to be the contractor for that kitchen cabinet project, i can make him responsible for fixing cock ups regardless of who messed it up. heh heh..thoughts?

[gimz63251073 0]

because i'm trying to avoid the tai chi for plumber saying the carpenter broke the pipes or the carpenter say plumber broke the cabinet etc. if i can get the carpenter to be the contractor for that kitchen cabinet project, i can make him responsible for fixing cock ups regardless of who messed it up. heh heh..thoughts?

well similarly, a plumber may drop his tools and crack your floor tile. Or scractch ur wall and damage the painting...

not possible to cover tai ji.

Best policy is to be there while they are doing their job and give clear instructions with drawings or markings. Then check that they have done their work properly and then check if they had accidentally spoiled ur other stuff or not before saying bye bye to them.

a carpenter who manages the plumber would not be any different from a contractor. In fact, you might be charged even more...he may simply check the classifeds and anyhow grab a plumber without even knowing if they can do a proper job. Contractors tend to have regular sub cons and would possibly offer a better work in this case.

to project manage, u have to take some risks... i would say getting carpenter to coordinate would be worse off than coordinating it urself. Instructions passed down twice is more likely to be wrong as compared to instructions being passed down once.

[marshmallow 0]

i guess many here are trying to say that carpenter and plumber are pple of very different trades and usually don't contact each other, so it is really strange to have the carpenter coordinating the plumber. Carpenter may not know plumbing stuff well enough to coordinate the plumber too.

unlike the case of hacker/tiler who usually work as a team.

[blue_skies 3]

I am thinking of semi-DIY approach to my reno. Thinking of doing carpentry for kitchen cabinets and worktops and toilet cabinets. But it will involve plumbing works also like kitchen sinks and shower things. Can I get the carpenter to manage the plumber and let the carpenter be responsible for the whole area (of course let him earn mark up on the plumber services). This way I can don't worry about the taichi of who broke who's stuff and yet cut down on mark up on the carpenters work if i get a main contractor to manage whole house for me. possible?

If you want to DIY or semi-DIY, you really need to have a good idea of what comes first, second etc. Sometimes even simple things that are not done properly can mess up your place big time. And you need to be there at the reno site almost every alternate day, at least, to check on the progress and make sure the people turn up. If you deal with contractor, just call them and ask them what's going on. And you can go there when you are free, maybe once in 3 days still ok.

One other disadvantage of co-ordinating the work yourself is that it will generally take a longer time for the works to be completed coz these sub-cons will sometimes fly kite and although they are supposed to start today, they only come two days later etc. In the end, your reno works will be something like 2-3 wks overdue if everyone comes 1-2 days late. If you cannot tolerate this type of thing, then better to let contractor handle the work. Otherwise sure to get high blood pressure and sleepless nights!

I got a contractor to handle plumbing, hacking, tiling, L-box, windows and electrical works. Then a separate carpenter to do my carpentry stuff for kitchen cabinets and bedroom wardrobes. So far everything on schedule. Total reno time approx 1 mth.

[Vincent1909 0]

As a flooring supplier , I have seen many owener trying their hand at arranging revo work themselves .

Unless u have some experience or relative in the construction industry . or else u will be heading straight to disaster .

u can get the work done but what is the duration ? and who will do the repairs when defects happen ?

[gimz63251073 0]

The common belief that "let contractor handle to prevent delay" is largely untrue as well.

More often than not, i see people having much later handover dates even though its handled by contractor or ID.

Having self coordinated the majority of the renovation, it is really time consuming. It helped that my wifey had a 4 day work week and i had lots of leave to clear, plus we are in no hurry to move in (of course u cannot tell contractor that).

Nonetheless, it was extremely fruitful. If i shift house the next time, i would manage it myself again if time permits. Its much more fun and most importantly, much cheaper!

[samantha.lkh 0]

The common belief that "let contractor handle to prevent delay" is largely untrue as well.

More often than not, i see people having much later handover dates even though its handled by contractor or ID.

Having self coordinated the majority of the renovation, it is really time consuming. It helped that my wifey had a 4 day work week and i had lots of leave to clear, plus we are in no hurry to move in (of course u cannot tell contractor that).

Nonetheless, it was extremely fruitful. If i shift house the next time, i would manage it myself again if time permits. Its much more fun and most importantly, much cheaper!

totally agreed. i would love to co-ordinate every trade myself but only if we have the time!!

i work with a contractor company mainly build condo. i would have save lots of $$$ if i co-ordinate our reno myself. nevertheless it is simply impossible for me to take off every alternate day to co-ordinate work with diff sub-contractors.

[GianCann 0]

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