SPOTLIGHT MEMBER VOICES
WHAT CLIENTS
Members who supported the FMB at the recent National Homebuilding & Renovating Show at the NEC in Birmingham reveal the question they were most asked by visitors to the stand V olunteering your time and expertise at the FMB’s stand at various public-facing and inquisitive visitors to the stand, Master Builder wanted to know what they were asked most frequently – and why they thought these were important questions to the public. For Lewis Curtis, Director of our biggest challenges as a domestic construction company is managing clients’
to meet the budget. It works a lot better when builders and architects collaborate with each other to manage the expectations of clients before the tendering or build phase.” On the back foot The challenge with a lack of collaboration is not the builder’s fault, but they usually have to deal with the consequences – and so does the client. Curtis explains: “Clients and builders tend to be on the back foot from the beginning of projects due to the client having to accept a reduced scope of works, and the builder having to repeatedly quote the same project until it is within budget. “This can strain relations from the beginning as both client and builder feel hard done by.” The question of costs came up a lot for Tony Hately from
expectations about what is actually possible, compared with their design, which is supposedly to a client’s budget. “It’s a frustrating case of a project moving too far along the design stage without having any input from a builder,” Curtis bemoans. “The main reason is due to architects having no real experience with paying for labour or materials,” he says. “This makes it incredibly difficult to design something
events can be valuable to your business and future pipeline of work, as it gives you a chance to interact with potential clients, answer their questions and share your knowledge. At the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show at the NEC in Birmingham on 21-24 March, several FMB members made themselves available to interested homeowners. While they received many questions from earnest, eager
at Cubit Contracts Ltd in the West Midlands, attendees at the show were most interested in matters related to building costs. Specifically, they wanted to know why builders’ quotes were “coming in way over budget” compared with designs from their architect. The problem, says Curtis, is all too common. “One
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