The Housebuilders Bible outlines how to choose a builder on page 88.
This will, in part be determined by the building method.
Simon Crabb (planned project administrator) has suggested that in terms of managing the project cost, to get each of the contractors to provide a separate quote for the groundworks as this could be done by an additional separate contractor.
It seems to make sense to get builders / contractors to break down the quote, so that they can be compared with others.
Contractors / Routes
- Hanse House have a UK network of local suppliers that combine with the factory in Germany to give you a high spec, SIP house. Their SIP panels do look impressive ! Check out this cool Hanse House video.
- Low Energy House team.
- BRE Consultancy, Passivehaus Consultancy, http://www.passivhaus.org.uk/page.jsp?id=35
Homebuilding & Renovating magazine are piloting a new service within My Building Project, and have teamed up with HBXL to create a unique network of builders local to you to help build your dream home. So when looking for estimates, a local builder etc. could be worth looking at http://www.mybuildingproject.co.uk/en/builder-network.html
Have a look at this blog post, on companies that will off-site build the house (usually with SIPs).
Suppliers:
- The Cornwall Sustainable Partnership (www.csep.co.uk) provided initial information on local energy experts and green roof suppliers.
- The Association of Environmentally Conscious Builders (www.aecb.co.uk) is a British-wide network that promotes sustainable building; find local professionals and product suppliers via its website.
- The Green Roof Centre (www.thegreenroofcentre.co.uk) is an independent research hub founded by the University of Sheffield that has excellent general information about green roof uses.
Partial Builders Short List:
- http://www.excelfibre.com/tradis.htm
- http://www.eco-fab.co.uk/ – built Annie, my Alexander Technique teachers house.
- Kingspan TEK system (SIPs)
- Builder being used by Pete & Jane
- Liam, (www.bigtreecarpentry.com) the builder who worked for Gill and Mark on the house to the east of Silver Spray.
- Facit Homes
- Dorset based Build It Green SIP team who built this Falmouth House (I have the PDF case study for this project).
- pdp Green Consulting Ltd in Truro
Also see this post re What to do, with who.