Hiring a builder
What a written scope should contain
The document that separates a real quotation from a number on a text message — and the eight things people forget to check are in it.
Why the document matters more than the number
Two builders can quote wildly different figures for what looks like the same job, and the difference is almost always what is inside the scope rather than what either of them charges per day.
A price without a scope is not a quotation. It is an opening position, and every omission in it becomes a variation later, priced when you have no leverage because the walls are already open.
What should be itemised
Preliminaries: skips, scaffolding, licences and permits, welfare, protection of existing finishes. Demolition and strip-out, including waste removal and who holds the waste transfer notes. Structural work with the engineer's beam references. Drainage, including any diversion. Windows and doors by specification, not just 'double glazing'.
Then services: electrical points by number and location, plumbing, heating, and who supplies the fittings. Finishes: plaster, decoration, floor build-up. Finally, making good — the item most often missing, and the one that decides whether the job feels finished.
What should be explicitly excluded
A good scope says what is not included as clearly as what is: kitchen units, sanitaryware, tiles, light fittings, and anything the client is supplying. Provisional sums should be labelled as provisional with the basis stated.
Exclusions are not a builder hedging. They are the difference between a fixed price and an argument.
Payment terms, and what to be wary of
The scope should state the payment schedule and what triggers each payment. Payment in arrears of completed work protects you: the incentive stays on finishing things.
A large deposit before work starts is the single clearest warning sign in domestic construction. Materials genuinely need funding on some jobs, but that is a specified materials payment against an order, not a percentage of the contract sum handed over before anyone arrives.
This guide describes national rules for England and was written to be accurate at the time of publication. Local designations can restrict them further, and legislation changes. Always confirm the position for your own address with your local planning authority, or ask us to do it in writing.
Answers
Questions we get asked alongside this
Do I need planning permission for building work in London?
It depends on the property type and what is proposed. Many single-storey rear extensions and loft conversions fall under permitted development, but those rights do not apply to flats and are restricted in conservation areas or where an Article 4 direction applies. We check the planning position for your specific address before quoting, and tell you in writing which route applies.
How do you price the work?
From a site survey, written up as a fixed and itemised scope before any deposit is discussed. If something genuinely unforeseen appears once work is opened up, it is priced and agreed in writing before we continue — never added to the final invoice after the fact.
When do I pay?
In arrears of work completed. You pay for work that has been done and inspected, not for work that has been promised. This has been how the company operates since 2008.
Do you handle Party Wall notices?
Yes, where the work requires them. Under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, notifiable work on a shared wall needs 2 months written notice to the adjoining owner, while excavation near a neighbouring structure and building at the line of junction need 1 month. We serve the notices and manage the award process as part of the job.
Will I get certificates at the end?
Yes. Electrical work is tested and certificated under Part P, and building control issues a completion certificate where an application was required. You receive the handover pack — it is what a buyer's solicitor will ask for when you eventually sell.
How long will it take?
It depends entirely on scope, and we give a programme with the written quote rather than a guess on the phone. What we will not do is start a job we cannot resource, which is the usual reason a build stalls halfway through.
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