Now that your timber frame 'shell' is complete, services can start almost immediately.
It is advised to complete the structure as you see fit (all projects are different), but a typical order of events may be:
- First-fix joinery, including external doors and windows
- Felt, batten and tile roof
- Cladding the structure: brickwork, timber or render
- Wind & Watertighting; Vents, Fascias, Soffits etc
- First-fix electrical
- First-fix plumbing & heating
- Fitting of insulation to ceilings (and walls, if not factory-fitted with timber frame)
- Plasterboard ceilings and walls
- Second-fix carpentry
- Second-fix electrical
- Second-fix plumbing & heating
You should be allowing around 8-10 weeks to complete the above, but this will depend on your project variables. During this time, it is also the ideal opportunity to complete your:
- Hard landscaping (i.e. driveways, disabled pathways, garden structures, bin stores, paving, walls, fencing etc), and
- Soft landscaping (i.e. turfing, seeding, planting, soil movement etc)
- Don't forget that you can claim back the VAT on most materials purchased for hard landscaping within the garden of a new house or conversion
- It is also possible to reclaim the VAT on some soft landscaping, so long as they were included or required within the planning consent.
Now, you are ready to consider:
- Painting, decorating
- Clean out
- Moving in!
