Advice from Craig
How much contingency should I keep for a build?
The short answer
Craig’s rule of thumb is 10%. On a £100,000 build, for example, he would make sure £110,000 is available. The reason is the ground: until you dig, you do not know what you will find, whether that is drainage or even an old well. He advises holding that 10% until the build is out of the ground. After that, unless something in the wider world makes material prices swing, which he reminds us has happened before, you are fairly safe to spend it on the finishing touches. Every Madisons project is priced individually, and projects start from £25,000. See how we plan house extensions from the ground up.
Transcript
Contingency, contingency, contingency. A massive question around building.
Now, I would say, if it was me and I was doing a build, I would 100%, if I’ve got a 100 grand build going on, I would make sure I’ve got 110. And the reason for that is, when you’re digging in the ground, you don’t know what you’re going to dig into. You could dig into drainage, you could find a well, you just don’t know. So I would say keep 10% as a good contingency plan until you’re out the ground.
I think once you’re out the ground, unless you have something like really seriously go on in the world where materials are going to fluctuate, which we’ve been through, so let’s not forget where we’ve been and where we are now. But I think once you’re out the ground, you’re pretty much safe to spend that on niceties, rather than worrying about what you’re going to find when you’re digging a hole.
Transcript lightly edited for reading: filler words and false starts removed. The captions on the film are word for word.
Related advice
Talk to us about your project
We respond to every enquiry within 24 hours. No obligation.