Single contractor or specialists?

[darnsarf]

We bought our house in 31, near the border with Spain about 18 months ago. It's condition is 'OK' but inevitably it needs some work. Rather than do just what 'needs' to be done, bit by bit, we opted to have the whole thing sorted - roof timbers,tiles inspected, replacement rendering, new guttering, new heating, wiring, kitchens and bathrooms and replastering/decorating. The archtecte was painfully slow getting the drawings together and then preparing the specifications. It took 12 months to get to the point of seeking estimates (after a bit of a chat with the architecte about his responsiveness). In late May, several enterprises were shown around. But it took months for any quotes to arrive. And each of the quotes is from a specialist - so we've a quote from the carpenters, another from the plumbers and one from the electricians. Sadly, nothing from the masons yet and no quotes to compare one set of tasks against another. 

All this got me thinking about whether it might actually be easier/more practical to use a large building contractor who would take responsibility for the whole project (even if they actually sub-contract some of the tasks to specialists). The architecte will act as project manager (though I've reserved a decision on this because I am worried that he seems to move really slowly).

The total value of the project is about £150K (excluding the inevitable contingencies). For such a project do forumites believe that I should be talking to a large, general enterprise or stay as we are, struggling to get quotes from 'specialists'? My thinking is that, for a larger 'total' project we might get a bit more interest from builders. 18 months on, I'm getting a bit impatient!

 

 

[Deimos]

Cannot comment other than ask some questions (the answers to which might help you decide).

How many different artisans are involved ?

How related are their different jobs (i.e. one, then different one, then previous one returns, then another) ? How much when one has finished another has to do a bit before the 1st can continue.

How busy are those artisans ?

How reliable are they (in terms of arriving to do the work when agreed) ?

I have always found getting an artisan to turn-up and provide a quote hard enough, let alone getting them to arrive to actually do the work (irrespective of when they said it would be done). But then to coordinate different artisans - would probably be too much for me.

Ian