Why would you choose a local design and build company, rather than a known name? Let’s explore a few reasons…
Share:
Cost
The first reason to consider might be cost. A local contractor, with local employees, will be working in their normal patch. However, a Big City building firm might be shipping their team down to Cornwall, and paying for their travel, and local accommodation. Every site visit, every building team that they bring in, every post-handover repair job – that cost will be borne by you, the client, whatever they tell you!
Plus you might find that they are charging you London Prices, which are almost always greater than Cornwall Prices. Certainly worth investigating.
Local knowledge
This is important – and covers a huge swathe of things.
At Richards, we’re very familiar with the abundance of special sites that exist in Cornwall: Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, World Heritage Sites, and the profusion of listed buildings (which can include everything from gateposts to entire structures) and protected treesA tree or group of trees that are protected due to their type, age, size, location, historical significance or value to local communities. Also covers trees in conservation areas.. We’ve worked with and around those on almost every project we’ve ever worked with, and know the rules and restrictions inside and out.
We also have differences in climate down here. There’s quite a distinct coastal climate, that can experience periodic storms and salt-laden winds, as well as the glorious sunshine that you dream of. Designing to beat the weather, and using materialsBricks, concrete, timber, cement, nails, screws, and everything else that makes up the building. that won’t degrade on prolonged exposure to salt, are high on our list, for coastal properties. And we’re also quite good at accommodating interesting weather into our build schedules.
However, that’s just the coast. For rural plots, they may not experience such exciting weather conditions, but they still need something a bit special designing to make the most of the fabulous views, and may have more interesting access requirements. Narrow lanes, access from the river, steeply sloping sites – these are our bread and butter.
Local relationships
The other thing that we know round here, are the people. We have great working relationships with planning officers, local builders’ merchants, subcontractors and specialists. If you need a bat man (the profession not the superhero), to deal with a colony in your outbuilding, we know who to call!
The other people we work well with are your neighboursAnyone who resides near to a project or can pass by and can be affected in any way by the project, for example walkers on a track which runs along the boundary of the construction site.. We know that you will have to live next door to them, or have them walk their dogs past your house, every single day, so we work really hard to keep on good terms with them. We’ll let them know when we have a crane on site. We’ll offer to paint their freshly painted end wall after we’ve finished demolition (yes, really – see our Copper Door build). We will never leave you trying to build bridges with your local community after we’ve collected up our rubbish and gone home.
And that’s the other thing – we are, more or less, at home. This is our patch. We can’t afford to get a bad reputation here, as we’d lose business. A Big City firm doesn’t have that kind of skin in the game, and can afford to leave a bad smell behind once they leave, as they’re not likely to be back.
Experienced with long-distance builds
We work with clients across the UK for their Cornwall projects and have extensive experience conducting online meetings, video tours of the site, and managing everything via phone and email.
So if you think that value for money, local knowledge and local relationships are good reasons to work with us, then why not drop us a line with your project ideas?
