Party Wall Surveyors - A Law Unto Themselves (Sometimes)

I'm going to have a go at party wall awards and the way in which surveyors can pretty much get away with charging what they like having been appointed by an adjoining owner.

Here's the background... (a real story). We appoint our own party wall surveyor who quotes about £1k per award (a fair and reasonable price), he then serves notice on the two neighbours. Subsequently they both appoint their own surveyor which is their right - I have no problem with this as I think it allows impartiality and protects homeowners. We quickly reach an agreement on one side and his fee comes out at £1k. There's a pattern here... £1k per surveyor per Award, nothing unreasonable and everything ticks along smoothly.

The owner on the other side (we have to underpin his wall) wants some more structural details and a few changes which we provide quickly and efficiently as we want to get on with the works rather than delay. At this point it's taken over two months, and the clock keeps ticking. Finally we have an agreement in place and we're ready to start work on the underpinning. But hold on a minute...

The adjoining owner's party wall surveyor has included his fee as part of the award. At no point during the discussions have we been told what his fee will be (despite several requests). What is a fair fee based on the fact that both other surveyors charged £1k each per award. Admittedly there were some changes so maybe a bit more than the £1k, maybe £1.5k. His fee is £3k... YES £3k!!! My initial reaction is that the surveyor's a Joker and should be on stage with Michael McIntyre.

Here's the problem, for the award to be legal it has to be signed by our surveyor. If it isn't signed we can't start work, if we can't start work we miss deadlines and the project timeline slips immeasurably. If it's signed we agree to his fee - see the dilemma? You can contest the award in court within 14 days if you disagree but then what happens: you go to court, time passes by and your incur more cost. So basically the surveyors have you over a barrel. If you want to start work pay up, irrespective of the amount - it's a joke. The party undertaking the works should be provided with a fixed fee before the award is commenced with fair and reasonable extra work charged at a fair rate, not a joker rate. This Joker has taken the P£$*.

Rather than the above we chose another route. We paid our surveyor his £2k (£1k for each award) and the other surveyor his £1k. Our surveyor had signed both Awards on our behalf so we started underpinning. In fact we've now finished the underpinning and we still haven't paid the Joker. We offered him £1.5k which he rejected, we offered him mediation / arbitration which he also rejected. Finally we have received a claim through the small claims court for £3k + interest (66p a day) + the court fee of £100.

We're going to contest it and see what happens... it will be a few months before it all gets resolved at which point I'll name the Joker so you can avoid him at all costs.

In the meantime we've finished the underpinning and all works to the party wall!

Basement Excavation - Post 5

The underpinning is finally complete, the side light well has been dug and the slab is going in on Friday. Not bad work for 10 weeks. All in all there will be an additional 1,000 square feet for a gym, study, games room, laundry room, plant room and shower room.

In fact while the basement is still being finished we've pushed on and put the floor in on the ground floor. In the space of 2 weeks the house has gone from being a bomb site to one that is beginning to show its potential. Another 10 weeks of work and it will be completed.

The next stage for the basement is the installation of the Delta membrane which will go in next week, quickly followed by the floor insulation (60mm Celotex) and the screed (liquid screed @ 40mm thick). It's then just a question of building stud walls and turning what used to be 300m3 of clay into a habitable environment. I'll post later this week when the slab has been poured.

Basement Excavation - Post 4

We're now getting to the end of the actual excavation as you can see from the below pictures. All the underpinning has been completed and there is just a small side light well to be excavated. By the end of next week all the soil will be gone and the heavy machinery will have left site. It then is just a case of casting the slab, installing the delta membrane, insulating and laying the screed. In another 3-4 weeks we'll be building stud partitions and getting the basement well and truly habitable. We should be able to hit the deadline of mid-June for completion.

In the meantime here are a few of the latest pictures which will show you just how big this basement is. In fact the finished floor to ceiling height is going to be approximately 3m - not bad for a basement!

When to ask for a Retention from your Builder

For smaller projects, i.e. those less than £50k a retention is not really something that makes sense for a builder as the profit margins are so low, approximately 10% if things run smoothly. Asking for a 6 month retention is not worth it from our perspective. For instance if the project is delayed by 1 week and/or costs an extra £4-£5k to complete the project is only break-even and the builder would be bridging the costs on behalf of the client which can seriously harm a small firm's financial position. On these projects you need to rely on the firms credibility, references, contract, and ensure that the final payment is only made once the project is finished to your satisfaction (i.e. you've run the dishwasher and washing machine a few times, tested the radiators, lighting circuits & sockets, received you building regulations completion certificate and generally feel comfortable with the quality of workmanship).

For larger projects the client has more control and should always ask for a retention of between 2.5% and 10.0%. ART Properties always offer a 6 month retention on larger projects (extensions, basement excavations, complete house renovations, etc.) because we are confident in our work and know that if something does go wrong and needs repairing then it is probably so minor that it will not cost too much to rectify; it's also our responsibility. As part of our retention policy ART Properties will return to the property after about 5 months and ensure that any defects that have appeared are rectified. We're usually on site for a further week and can schedule this whilst the client is on holiday to minimise any further disruption. It gives the client comfort and gives the builder a financial incentive.

For those of you looking for a good building contract for residential building work ART Properties would recommend the Federation of Master Builders contracts. They are written in plain English and come with helpful instructions for filling them out.

The simple fact is that a decent building or renovation company will offer a retention at the outset if they're confident in their workmanship!

Basement Excavation - Post 3

So we've now completed the front part of the basement excavation and are pushing on with the rear part. All the underpinning has been completed and the steels, which will pick up the new floor joists, are in. Give it another week and the floor will be in at the front of the house and we can move onto the first fix. We're still about 4 weeks away from completing the excavation but progress has been good. 

Here are the latest site photos.

 

Basement Excavation - Post 2

We're now 2 weeks into the basement excavation and progress has been good. We're simultaneously digging out the rear of the house and the front and we'll meet in the middle. The left hand picture below is the front of the house, whereas the next two pictures show the rear of the property. There was an existing cellar in the middle third of the property which has made the project somewhat easier but there is still a lot of underpinning to do.

Simultaneously to the excavation we're working away on the first and second floors putting up the stud walls and first fixing plumbing and electrics. By splitting the project like this we'll save 2-3 months of time and complete the project that little bit quicker. Most companies will dig the basement out first and then renovate the house but ART Properties doesn't think like traditional building firms. If we can complete a project quicker and more efficiently then we will - it just needs good organisation.

Basement Excavation - Post 1

Digging out a basement from scratch is one of the most challenging building works you can undertake. It requires careful planning, party wall agreements, a structural engineer who is on the case and a company that knows what they are doing. ART Properties knows how to renovate and restore period buildings but when it comes to digging out a basement we'll leave that one to a firm who does it every day of the week. 

We're digging out a 1,000 square foot basement whilst simultaneously redeveloping the upper floors of a large semi-detached period building in West London. We're working on renovating the first and second floors whilst our chosen basement subcontractor, Abtech Basements, digs, underpins and generally does the dirty work. It's the classic Upstairs / Downstairs...

Over the next 10 weeks (yes that's how quickly you can do it) I'll post photos of the progress along with a brief commentary.

Here's the end of Week 1, the front bay windows has been underpinned and excavated underneath which will allow a mini-digger to be lowered to lower ground level and begin digging at pace.

The front bay window receives the excavation treatment