Upsetting people

As a last action before departing for a weekend away I decide to get a surveyor lined up for a topographical survey of the site.  Unless we go for the 'do nothing' option, which is highly unlikely, we'll need a site plan showing levels, the current footprint of the property, etc. 

I contact a couple of surveyor, one recommended by Knott, the other taken from an internet search.  The internet find quotes £400 plus VAT, the recommended one (after an impromptu site visit) £475 plus VAT for essentially the same service - plans in both Autocad and hard copy that can be used to support planning and building control applications and by the builders to dig their holes in the right place.  They're both fully qualified surveyors with a track record and letters after their name. 

I opt for the cheaper one and because I want to 'do things properly' email the company that I haven't selected, rather than leaving them wondering, to tell them that it was purely a cost consideration, couching it in terms of "better value".

I then get a somewhat tetchy, and probably spur of the moment, email back saying: "I do not like the term better value for the same end product as there are large descrepancies between companies . I appreciate that you have a cheaper price and may well end up with a fine job but value is not just cost derivative."

But, in this case, isn't it a cost consideration?  The site plan (a purely factual, objective document reporting what is already there, as opposed to house plans which can always be improved upon) will either be fit for purpose or it won't be.  It'll either be good enough for the local authority's needs, or it won't be.  It'll either be good enough for the builder or it won't be.  I'm not sure what the added value of paying the additional 20% here is - it won't show up in either the finished house or the sale price of the building plot, depending on whichever route we take.

Or am I missing something?

The Story So Far...

A middling sized bungalow on a large-ish plot in the heart of Bedfordshire, which is as much as I want to say about the location at the moment. Not a purchase, but the house that I called home from the age of 3 to 19.

The name of the game is to make best use of the plot for the benefit of my father, recently moved to a residential care home at the age of 90. Which may mean extending the bungalow, or it may mean doing nothing. But I suspect that it will mean demolishing and rebuilding. Not exactly sure what yet. So the title of this blog may be premature... but probably isn't.

The aim of this blog is, much like its predecessor http://127achurchstreet.blogspot.com/, to act as a site diary as well as therapy for the trials and tribulations to come. So this is what's happened so far:

• House clearance: a combination of eBay, the local Antiques Centre, and two 10 yard skips courtesy of Wilstead Skip Hire (01234 740916 - turned up to drop and collect exactly when they said they would, polite and friendly, and you can't ask more than that - isn't it nice to start one of these blogs without the need for barbed sarcasm?)
• Meetings with two architects, let's call them Knott (yesterday) and Sphere, today (the latter of whom accidentally dropped into the conversation that he wasn't actually an architect - here we go again...), both of whom wore RIBA-approved glasses and made interesting noises. Knott was much more design-focussed, whilst Sphere was much more minded to tackle the issue of how many units could be packed on to the site. Given he foresees four two-beds and a detached three-bed on a site approx. 11m by 74m he may be the best thing that ever happened to us. Or delusional. Currently we're voting for delusional, but we may cut him some slack and let him prove that the Earth goes around the Sun, or whatever it is he believes. Knott is more the candidate if we wanted to build a single large house on the plot for us to move into, which given tax considerations may be the way we go. The Good Lady Wife is in charge of the investment appraisal and we'll see what her numbers suggest...