the book
important points about this book …
● it is not an expert guide but is written by me, a retired doctor, who has done a fair bit of property restoration,
● it describes the choices and decisions I, the author, made in the build process,
● it illustrates that the whole build processes can be carried out by a person with limited initial experience, supported by trusted builders and the necessary expert advice rather than handing the whole process over to an architect and contractor,
● it shows that projects can be done whilst in full-time employment,
● it illustrates that using a range of solutions the build cost can be brought down to well below half of the typical widely-quoted averages while at the same time preserving or enhancing the heritage of a building,
● it shows that often, less is more.
how the book is laid out
The content of each chapter does not need much explanation; this should be clear from the chapter titles. After the introduction, the book describes some of the solutions and ideas we used to achieve the best possible cost-effective (not the cheapest) final result, using a number of case studies. Together, these cover most types of build an owner may be faced with.
Chapter 1: Introduction
The introduction is self-explanatory: it examines the aims and structure of the book, what it is (a description of practical approaches to build solutions from case studies) and what it is not (a technical guide). It also looks at the assumptions made about processes and costs.
Chapter 2 Towards cost-effective solutions
This chapter considers a wide range of principles and ideas which can be implemented to minimise unnecessary costs and optimise the final result of a build, often using relatively inexpensive solutions, in particular:
● Funding and grants
● UK Value Added Tax (VAT)
● Building design, plans and planning
● Finding builders
● Old versus new and repair versus replace
● Materials: new and reclaimed
● Renewables and other secondary heat sources
● Maintenance and running costs: impact of building decisions
Chapter 3 Case studies: background and descriptions
This chapter describes the background of the individual case studies, illustrated with numerous colour photographs and plans, together with some background to the buildings themselves.
Chapter 4 Case studies: the builds in practice
This chapter describes our actual experiences and how we applied the various principles and solutions, described generally in Chapter 2, to our own projects; from design to completion. It looks at:
● the problems (and discoveries) we were faced with,
● how we resolved them, and
● the specific impact the decisions made had on costs and results.
This chapter is, therefore, essentially Chapter 2 in practice. It also includes a description of the renewables and secondary heating sources we used and why we found some to be far more viable than others, despite all of the media coverage.
Chapter 5 Overview
This chapter gives a summary of our actual experience across the different projects, broken down into the various solutions along similar lines to Chapter 2 but broken down further:
● Risks and rewards
● UK Value Added Tax (VAT)
● Building design, plans and planning
● Build specifications
● Finding and working with builders
● Small versus large
● Old versus new and repair versus replace
● Materials: new and reclaimed
● Impact of renewables and other secondary heat sources
● Maintenance and running costs: impact of build solutions
● Modern versus old approaches to the buildings
Chapter 6 Results in practice
This chapter considers the end results of the projects and the effects of using the thoughts and ideas listed in Chapter 2.
- Were the intended results achieved?
- How much did they all cost?
- Where were the savings made?
- The top and bottom 10 decisions
Chapter 7 Footnotes: things that happened along the way
Finally, I leave you with a few anecdotes about things that happened along the way, some of which carry salutary lessons and others simply because of the amusement they caused (at least in retrospect as some may not have been funny at the time!) I hope this will provide some light relief after the detail of the book and enrich the read.