Commercial Consultation
Fixed FeeFor Self Builders2 working days
The self-build service's general help line: one structured session on whatever your build has thrown up, at any stage - from we have just bought a plot to the builder has sent the final bill - with a quantity surveyor who acts only for you. Book it whenever the next question comes up, at the same fixed fee each time, and you leave with a straight answer and the next step in writing. It is also how the Self Build Commercial Management Course gets taught: if you want a stage walked through on your own paperwork rather than read, you book a session for exactly that.
The problem
Something about your build does not feel right, and everyone you could ask has a side. The builder wrote the number. The designer wants the design built. The internet is guessing. And the worry does not care what stage you are at: the plot just bought, the quotes just in, the build half up, the final bill on the table. What is missing is an hour with someone who reads building money for a living and has no stake in what the answer turns out to be - someone to say that the quote is missing its scaffolding, that the contract should not be signed as drafted, or, just as usefully, that everything is normal and you are fine.
The solution
One structured call, bookable at any stage of the build and as often as questions come up - the same fixed fee each time, quoted in writing when you book. You send what you have and tell me the worry in your own words; I read the paperwork before we speak, so the call is spent on answers rather than orientation. Where an answer is urgent, you get it on the call; everything follows in a plain-English note within two working days - what I looked at, what I found, and exactly what I would do next in your position. Each session's fee is credited against any self-build service taken within 90 days - once, against one invoice, never stacked.
What you receive
One worry, taken seriously, answered by someone on your side of the table: what the paperwork says, whether the number is right, and what I would do next in your position, in a plain-English note within two working days. If nothing needs doing, that is the answer you get - and the fee is still credited against any self-build service taken within 90 days - once, against one invoice, never stacked. When the next question arrives, at whatever stage, you book it again: same format, same fixed fee.
The Handover Pack accompanies the work with its dates and sources, likely outcomes and responses, scope boundaries and ready-to-send correspondence where needed.
Turnaround: two working days.
The working days start when the agreed scope and required inputs are available. Optional items do not hold the start unless the agreed scope says otherwise.
How it works
You tell me the worry and send what you hold
In your own words, however unformed. The paperwork behind it comes as it stands - nothing needs tidying first.
- A
The worry, in their words
EssentialWithout it: There is no worry for the call to answer, so it cannot go ahead as booked.
Where to find it: This is yours to say, not a document: a few sentences in your own words, sent with the booking confirmation.
Why I need it: Decides the call's frame and who else should be on it
- B
The route: how the build is being run
EssentialWithout it: The provisional view is formed against an assumed route, and the note may advise on a build that is not the one being run.
Where to find it: This is yours to answer, not a document: the seven intake questions in Self Builds Routes.md, asked at booking and copied into the message above. Give the primary route and a secondary one where the build is a blend, say what work you are doing yourselves, and say whether it is a new build, a conversion, a renovation or an extension.
Why I need it: Decides what the worry actually means. the method: "the builder wants more money" is one conversation on a single administered contract and another entirely when the household holds twelve trade accounts and nobody is certifying
- C
The paper behind it
ImportantWithout it: The call opens blind, with nothing read beforehand, so more of it goes on finding out what exists than on the answer.
Where to find it: Whatever exists: the quote, the contract, the budget note, the payment request. Send it as it stands, from your email or the folder your architect or builder shares with you.
Why I need it: Read before the call, so the minutes go on the answer
- D
Where the project has got to
OptionalWithout it: The opening minutes go on establishing the stage instead of the worry, which is time taken off the answer.
Where to find it: This is yours to say, not a document: a few sentences in your own words, sent with the booking confirmation.
Why I need it: Places the worry on the build's timeline, so the call opens on the question rather than on the basics
Copies are fine. Send what you have and I'll tell you what's missing. Download the client request PDF or editable Word version to pass to whoever holds the files.
- A
I read it before we speak
The call starts with me already inside your paperwork, so the time is spent on answers rather than orientation.
I take the call with you
Your questions, in any order, in plain English. Where an answer is urgent, you get it there and then; where something needs proper work, I say so and say what.
You get the note within two working days
The answer, the reasons and the recommended next step, in writing. If that step is a self-build service, this session's fee comes off it - and when the next question comes up, you book the next session the same way.
I give you a straight answer
Tips that raise your odds of success
Questions I get asked often
If the honest answer to your worry is that the whole subject needs learning, the Self Build Commercial Management Course teaches it end to end, free, and you can have it as one document or read it a stage at a time. And if what you want is the money side run for you rather than explained to you, this session's fee is credited against Commercial Management like any other self-build service - credited once, against one invoice, never stacked.