Before the build

The budget keeps changing and I don't know what is safe to spend

Each new choice changes the total, but there is no clear baseline to show what the build can carry.

The builder quotes look different and I can't compare them

The bottom-line figures look decisive, but the scope, exclusions and allowances behind them do not line up.

The contract is in front of me and I don't know what I'm agreeing to

The document sets the rules for payment, changes and risk, yet the practical effect of its terms is still unclear.

The builder wants money up front and I don't know my exposure

The payment is due before the work or goods are in your hands, and it is hard to see how it adds to everything else already committed.

The professional fees look comparable but the scope isn't

Similar-looking proposals can cover different stages, duties and extras, so the cheaper fee may not buy the same work.

Professional Appointment Review

Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Self Builders5 working days

The appointment terms your architect, engineer or designer asks you to sign, read properly before signature: up to three proposals levelled onto one basis so the fees can genuinely be compared, a plain-English note of what each fee basis does when the build changes, and the questions to send each consultant before you commit.

Deposit & Advance Payment Review

Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Self Builders5 working days

Every payment your build asks you to make before you have the thing you are paying for, added up in one place before the money moves: the most at risk at any one moment, what would actually protect each pound if a supplier failed, checks on the companies holding the largest amounts, and the changes to ask for before you sign.

Budget & Cost Plan

Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Self Builders10 working days

Your build costed properly before the design is frozen: a budget built from your drawings and your site rather than a square-metre rule of thumb, split into the packages you will actually buy, with a cashflow forecast and a contingency sized to your real risks.

Contract Selection & Review

Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Self Builders5 working days

The building contract chosen to fit your build and read properly before you sign it: what you are promising to pay and when, what happens when things change, what cover actually sits behind the builder, and which clauses decide who carries each risk.

Tender & Quote Review

Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Self Builders5 working days

Builder quotes rebuilt onto one basis so they can actually be compared: what each one includes, what each one quietly leaves out, where the provisional sums and exclusions sit, and which price is realistic rather than merely lowest.

Total Project Cost Checklist

Everything a build costs that is not the building.

Feasibility Budget Calculator

Can we afford to build this, answered before you buy a plot or appoint an architect.

Plot Cost Risk Checklist

The twenty questions that separate a plot bargain from a plot trap.

Budget and Cost Plan

Your total broken into the packages you will actually buy, with the contingency standing on its own line where every use of it has to be a decision.

Cashflow and Drawdown Forecast

When money actually leaves, against when your funds arrive.

Builder Enquiry Pack

The scope, the pricing schedule and the questions that make three builders price the same job.

Quote Comparison and Levelling Sheet

Three prices rebuilt onto one basis.

Contract Review Checklist

Twenty-five questions to answer about a building contract before you sign it, each from the document rather than from what you were told.

Professional Appointment Comparison

What each consultant's fee actually buys, which work stages are in and which are not, and what nobody has been appointed to do at all.

Deposit and Advance Payment Register

Every payment you are asked to make before you have the thing you are paying for, added up in one place, with the peak read off the dates rather than by adding the payments together.

Build a budget you can defend, not a hope

Know when the money leaves, month by month

Compare quotes on one basis before you compare prices

Read the blanks in the contract before you sign it

How much contingency should a self build budget carry?

Enough to match your build's real unknowns - the ground, the design's maturity, the market - rather than a token percentage picked to make the total look affordable.

Should I sign the contract my builder has put in front of me?

Not before it has been read against your interests. A contract chosen and completed by one side tends to suit that side, however decent the builder.

Why are my builders' quotes so different from each other?

Because they are not pricing the same job: each quote includes, excludes and guesses different things, so the bottom lines are not comparable as they stand.

What is a provisional sum in a builder's quote?

An allowance for work that cannot be properly priced yet - a placeholder, not a promise, and the place where quote totals most often grow later.