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Hello Andy, hope you're well. Really sorry that it's taken so long to say thank you for the shout out in this video. We really appreciate it. Congratulations with the house.bit looks fantastic. Thanks again, take care.

Honestly - I can't wait for the adventures of Nugget coming to KZfaq.

I started mine in 2020 and am just about finished - the refurbishment took longer than I thought. Part of the delay at the beginning was lapsed planning, having to change everything, then husband dying, burning out at work, taking early retirement etc. Just snagging left. Nice to have the place finally start to look like a home, and then I'm moving nearer to my eldest son in your neck of the woods. Really don't want to do everything again. My brother did most of the actual building work, while I decorated, laboured and kept him drip fed with coffee and food. The only other people were the spark who came in for one day to replace the unit and test everything, and of course gas engineers - move the boiler, and then replace it. Living in a building site is over rated after a certain time, and some of the the delays were down to me having to move stuff from A to B, then to C followed by D and back to A. I donated a ton of stuff, but also picked up for free or very little money a load of stuff from my local FB group - the fake fireplaces have been much admired. I've enjoyed this series away from your previous stuff. Yes, I'm already subscribed to 6 of those channels, but have watched several of the others - never miss a Skill Builder, Roger's rants are the best. I prefer the building ones that don't always rely on having a full workshop, although make an exception for Matt Estlea and My Mechanics.

It kind of boggles my mind that I have been following this project for almost two years now. Thank you for sharing this process with us. While not 100% an apples-to-apples situation (I'm in the US), it has been educational and I appreciate the level of detail you have gone into along the way. Looking forward to your next series!

Most of the sites you mentioned your viewers/followers also watch I can agree with. But GB News!

I follow about 5 of those sites. Interesting series. Love the level of information you provide Andy. Thanks for that. One of the best channels out there.

Excellent as always Andy, With the exception of GB News (never), I would agree with that list. Love Mr A builders, a new find for me in December, and local to me too.

Great vid and ALL of those channels are fantastic! Nice to see I'm in good company. And yes, electricians are obviously essential to all builds lol.

Another brilliant video, Andy, thanks for your open and frank sharing of the details of your build. You and your wife should be very proud of your hard work. I am very interested in your comments re hourly rates and have to admit I'm surprised at the rates you think people should charge. I decided to retire early at 55 after working as a senior electrical engineer for a power utility in the UK, degree-qualified with operational safety authorisations, for over 30 years. Discounting overtime, I reckon my hourly rate was realistically between 32-37GBP, depending on how you calculate it. I have considered starting my own business in the same field but reckon to make it worthwhile (and bearing a lot of capital costs and insurance costs I didn't have to consider as a salaried member of staff) that I would need to charge my time at around 110GBP per hour, although it is a very specialised role. My wife has her own business and aims to make 15GBP per hour. However, working on her own with lots of hours of work needed to market the business and create new products but, at the same time, having to remain competitive with online sales of her products, she barely makes half of that in reality. I think a lot of people don't realise just how hard it is to run your own small business and actually make a living - unless that's what they are doing too, of course! Off to watch your 'how much to charge' video now. (edit) - GB News!? Seriously!!?

Hi Andy, I greatly enjoyed following the self build series right through, I’d be really interested in a video about your switch from IT to handyman.

Great series, so true re balance of ceiling price v extension cost and trades rates…a real juggling act for customer in the middle of a build like me..looks like I’m going to have to start diy ing again to stay in my budget… thanks for the inspiration 👍

Why-aye man - Drills and hammers, diggers and picks, mixing concrete, laying bricks! Really enjoying the reflective round-up videos for this build, Andy - thank you for taking the time.

Been watching on and off, did a 45 sq m extension on my garage a few years back and a lot of the issues you had with quotes and quality issues with contractors all ring very true. Good series and excellent end result!

Thanks for the heads up buddy…..👌🏼😉….. it’s made me go and see what other channels my subscribers are watching👍🏼

Congratulations to you Andy and Mrs Mac. You have more courage than I have. Loved the series.

came across one of your videos quite by accident several months ago.i have since followed this build,enjoyed it immensely,well done both you & Mrs Mac.

You are amazing I always thought you were a builder !!! Well done you and your family

Very handy accounting - even though I'm in Tasmania - used to live north of Hadrian's Wall - it does help knowing what these costs are & how much time you guys spent on the build along with professional costs. Yes, there's a HUGE skills shortage - I keep trying to encourage anyone interested - to go into the Trades rather than wasting their time & money on a degree! I didn't realize you knew that about us - I actually came to you from a window co. in Houston, I do watch Robin & Scott and GB News, so I found those analytics very interesting. I also see my hubby's in the wrong business!! I hope our extensions aren't going to be too painful - we still haven't quite finalised The Plans, but have a building co looking at them - fingers X'd... Thanks for all your meticulous work.

Great vid Andy. Now your extension's done, I for one would love to see more of your cats!

Interesting note about the spark on teh team at the end there. As an advid DIYer myself probably my best skill is as a sparky. Although I'm not a time served one I've worked on home domestic electrical installations since I was about 12 years old, I just loved everything electrical! I expected I'd be a sparky when I grew up but I actually ended up doing an apprentiship with GEC who put me through an HNC and a degree in EE so ended up working on power stations, transmission and distribuition for a fair few years. But I've always done my own home electrics (yes yesy sparks that are going to ask, I actually do own an MFT, earth Megger leakage clamp and know how to use them, lol). But I never suspected there was a skill shortage in most trades. Maybe I should sell out hobby at the weekends!

Hi Andy, enjoyed the process review and thank you for sharing your hard earned lessons throughout the project.😀👍

Just wish to say many many thanks for sharing your experience. I watched many of your videos on extension building and I admitted it did sway my decision to buy maxed-out renovated home instead 😅 200ish sqm. It may be less expensive that way. I wish I had knowledge (or knowledge from close relatives) to manage extension like yourself though as the experience is definitely rich.

I'm only here for the cat !! Not really but he is a cutie. Our ginger Tom (Tigger) is a hunter so watch out for mice, moles, next doors pond fish, chops from BBQ's, birds & the like. We've had them all. Really good series of vids & hats off to you & Mrs. Mac for your hard work & diligence. So what's next?

Thanks for another great video, really enjoy watching your series, yes getting a builder is difficult. The other side of the coin of people who 'need' builders, is those of us who are disabled, I'm blind, so building my own extension, while might be fun, could result in a slightly undesirable outcome and possibly dangerous, though I'll generally have a go at anything, but I know my limits. which is annoying cos I reckon I could figure out what I would need to do, but I wouldn't have to ability to do it, so hence needing a builder. Got this place in 2021, taken a good year to get plans done, then finding and waiting for a builder, he starts Monday, says he will be done in 7 weeks, which will be impressive if he can, it's a whole team coming in, not a 1 man band. 3m extension and full ground floor reno with new kitchen, bathroom, electrics, heating and plumbing. My view now is, unless you can do a lot of the work yourself, having work done on your house is quite uneconomic unless you get your place for virtually nothing, I think I was quite naive to this and have certainly learnt a lesson, 'if' I move again, the place will need to be 'done', apart from decoration, I can handle that, but I wont take on major building works again.

Great channel, thanks, we’re currently doing our bathroom ,gutted it and finally found a builder. What a nightmare! We are doing every from scratch we only live in ground floor flat so unfortunately we can’t build on as we have a family upstairs and it would infringe on their building, such a shame as we have a huge garden roughly 60 x 30 ft. So it’s wasted land. Any way I came across your channel by luck and found it easy to understand so I’m going to check out other ‘programs’ and maybe I’ll become a master builder!! Keep up the great work. Will check out the final finished video if you have them.

I absolutely agree that skilled workers don't charge enough. I personally charge around £50 an hour for electronics repairs and people are more than happy to pay it

Just about to start my self build extension. Had builder quotes and most only would give day rate! £600 per day per man. 😮😮. Based on fact they spend 1st hour of day drinking free coffee in screwfix and then down tools by 3pm. Per hour rate? No way. Ill do it myself, it is not rocket science.

Enjoy watching, We're in the early stages of doing something similar but without doing any of the work ourselves. How long is acceptable to wait between seeing a builder in your home and going through plans to waiting for them to come back to you with prices etc. seen the first builder 4 weeks ago?

Watched this great video with my missus. I think it was an eye opener for her to see how long things take in a build.

Amazingly helpful insight into the timeline of the project. How did you know how much material to buy? I wish you’d become a property developer so we could watch more of these renovations 😂

Me and my cousin done it in lock down hardest thing was getting g materials. Both back to work by April still done it ourselves in 5 months. All for the price a builder wanted for a shell

Great video , brilliant information. Many Thanks

That list of channels connected to who watches/subscribe to yours.. that blew my mind 😳 like its wild how data can show patterns like that

Interesting stuff, thanks for this Andy !

Aaaaaand...... breathe! Good content, keep up the good work!

its takes time for self build , But the saving in the long run are loads and experience you get is worth it 👍👍😃😃

My dream (as yet not a home owner) was to build my own.. but the price of land has made self build out of the question unless I want to live somewhere really remote. I honestly don't know why (oh, wait!) self building isn't an option that government could push for FTBs, you'd literally be investing in your own future.. of course it would mean subsidising land, but there is plenty of ex government land that gets disposed of that could be legitimately used for this provided there are some protections on resale and FTBs only. Sigh..

Brill! Very informative! Thanks

Not sure why this video just finally popped up on my feed... come on KZfaq, you're better than that... or are you? Anyway, great video. Why is there always that ONE neighbour that has to be the fly in the ointment? Had it not been for the lockdowns, I could have flown over and had a little negotiation meet with your neighbour! LOL Loved this build, Andy. And to all the American folks reading this, yes, that's how we spell neighbour. And Colour. And... well, you get it.

NYC union rate is @ $85 hr minimum not including builder's profit. May net out to be $140+ hr. depending. Carpenters actually get $51 + benefits (net $85+) Benefits include an annuity fund, pension, vacation, medical insurance, and a bunch of smaller things.

I think I discovered Charlie, Nick Bundy and MJ Tiff through your recommended videos.

Thanks for the video Andy very interesting.👍👍

excellent info

On a side note... important side note... please can I have a Handypoint for noticing the JVC Back to the Future Camcorder 👀 cracking info, thank you 😊

Why wouldn't the neighbor sign off and what did you do to appease the situation?

The most important person on site; the tea boy!

I don't know if I'm impressed or ashamed that I watch about 13/15 of those channels you showed at the end 🤣🤣

As a landscape gardener of 23 years now,,this build is quite interesting.. As for costs,,,,in your break down its roughly cost you £50k,,yet you were quoted 140K...Did you price in your labour??? And also the time difference??? This is vital..

You're a good explainifier !

I'm amazed at home many of those channels I watch on a regular basis (including Salvage Rebuilds which is a completely separate topic). Are you sure you didn't access my viewing history by mistake!

very informative video liked it

well diy sos do it in nine days...although how they get the plaster work dried and painted in that time is never mentioned.

What wasn't really clear for the estimated time cost, is when pricing out 'DIYer time' to compare to trades, that the time's value is increased by the fact that the DIYer doesn't have to pay income tax or GST/VAT for the time spent. Down under, if you have to pay a contractor (say) $50/hour, the GST bite is another $5, and (on a median wage) you probably had to earn $70-80 before tax, i.e. work an extra 20-40 minutes to cover the taxes. Notwithstanding that the DIYer going to take a bit longer to do something than a skilled and experienced tradie.

I am one of the Salvage rebuilds UK followers. :-)

Is your preference for keeping plumbing above ground why you didn't opt for underfloor heating.

Amazing process.

Hi, Some years ago the term builder meant a person or persons had a business in which they employed every trade needed to build a house or what ever job you wanted done. He would be responsible for the quality of the work and responsible to pay the trades and you would pay one person ( The Builder ) , if you had a complaint you dealt with one person. Now days the name builder is given to bricklayers. Now days the builder has evolved into a project manager, which you have to pay, also you are responsible to pay the trades and contractors. Now In some cases if you have a problem with the quality of the work the Project Manager in some cases tell you, you should not have paid the trade. I was a builder in the U.K. for 18 years in the 70's and 80's before I emigrated to Australia. I in no way saying that all Project Managers are shonky but its easier for some of them to shirk their responsibility, but its easier for them. I was in the building trade from the age of 14 to my retirement. I can there some pretty awful people in the building trade, the trick is catching them before they do too much damage. By I love the channel. Jim Ex pom.

what a great project i would have loved to work with you on it if your ever doing a project in Birmingham give me a shout i have priced up similar jobs recently nothing is going ahead

Nugget needs his own Shorts Channel

I was a bit surprised Lindybeige channel was not on the list as he is a local lad too.

Nugget has beautiful markings!

Cool name for a cat, cool mini you on the shelf between the cameras. And we're only 35 seconds in....

Sorry if this is a stupid question(s); does it cost to have the building inspectors visit/approval and what was the lead time in arranging a building inspector visit (I.e. could the BI say "sorry I can’t get there for 6 months")?

Wow. In London you are lucky if you get someone charging less than £100 an hour.

I'm not sure why you are describing having to do a Party Wall Agreement as a 'problem'. Really the point of these agreements is to protect you against a big claim they might make on you if they were to suffer settlement etc as a result of your works, it is really an insurance policy. Also, did you actually have an insurance policy for this project??? By that I mean cover for injury or death of people on site, also cover for damage to the property during the works. This is something a lot of homeowners do skip but is a big cost for builders, who have to have these policies in place.

Did the time, etc include the garden studio room ?

Great video Andy and I watch most of those channels, but you missed out History Debunked. That's one to really get your blood boiling. LOL

alot of sparks have no chooice but to be a plumber too. not fully sure why but i suspect a shortage of experienced traders

How comes you didn't render the top left quarter of the house?

Why not butt up the extension wall to the neighbors wall instead of a maintenance nightmare between them? The rest of the buildings are conjoined.

I'm genuinely surprised that, particularly after living in older houses, people would even consider a new build - well, unless it was a specialist, high quality or eco house etc. Everything 'normal' just seems sterile, uniform and characterless... and, of course, no established garden! Give me an interesting house from the 30s or 40s any day over a bland new build with a list of 200 build faults to correct.....!!!

Just a quick question. Do you now have to go through the house to get out the back or is there a side gate?

How many skips so far?

GBNews? Pass. I am subscribed to all but 3 of the others though. Slightly creeped out, but also surprised there's not more plumbing/heating. Urban plumbers and heat geeks maybe worth a look.

Nooice!

Why are "strops" gendered? Is there a difference between a "girly" and "boyly" strop?

1 month only

Hahaha most of my handyman jobs are making good DIYer's mess ups. Oh boy youtube has so much blame to carry lol. As for twitter no thanks buddy been there ain't going back

GB News, Hmmmm, it must be because you always end by saying be nice to one another ?

I must be odd women out. I watch none of those channels. True crime, Sherpa, Key and American History.

You are a grafter!

Stop making the trade more expensive than it is

Do a full build! buy a wreck with a large garden demolish it and start again

Great insightful video and very interesting 👌🏼. Your channel is on our KZfaq list of channels our viewers watch 🤙🏽🤙🏽🧱👍🏼