Builders

So I had a recommended builder and two of his "Polish crew" in the house this morning, measuring up so they can give me a quote. He's already brought his plumber, electrician and plasterer in to see the "state" of the place and these big fellas were his "building crew" - the heavy lifters for the loft extension and the rear extension. There are no stepladders in the house so when it came to making an inspection of the loft, they reverted to human gymnastics to get up into the hatch. Big fella 1 acted as anchor and braced himself in the hallway whilst Big fella 2 clambered up the man-mountain and hauled himself through the loft hatch. Once up there and armed with a lamp on a cable, he was able to do the necessary surveying in the dust of the attic. The process was hilarious to watch; swear words in Polish are just as obvious as their English counterparts...

Anyway, builders in general. What is it with this industry? We're about to engage some builders in a pretty big project - this is a big purchase - probably the biggest purchase above the house itself we've ever made - so we'd like a contract in place to make sure we're protected. And I would have thought the whole "quote" process was quite a simple, well practiced one but it's proving to be so variable. Do we really have to choose a builder or building firm on face-merits and work out all the details later? Basically gamble?

Sensibility would suggest that putting together a list, room by room of the work which needs doing, perhaps with measurements and details might be a sensible thing (in the end, I've done this). And then to iterate on this list a couple of times till you get it right. Then it should be simple to estimate each piece of work... Sensible, if you're a builder so you can build in contingency and understand what is being done and what skills you'll need. Sensible for the client so they know exactly what is and isn't included and so that there are no hidden surprises.

The best quote we've had so far has some level of detail but not nearly enough to know exactly what we'll end up with. Will repairing some of the windows rather than replacing them knock substantial amount off, will they be able to fit a television socket at the same time as the rewiring to make it easier? What's the difference in cost for tiling versus wooden floors in the downstairs hallway? Will they sand back all the woodwork?

Why can no one supply a decent list of "works to be done" and put our minds at rest? They'd win the deal.