Building a country house is a dream for many, and those with the opportunity will naturally approach it with great enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing, but it can sometimes cloud judgement. When you are eager to get going, it is easy to rush ahead and glaze over more menial but important decisions and plans. In most cases, we learn from these mistakes through experience. However, when building a country house, mistakes can be expensive and in the worst case scenario, irreversible. You want to get it right first time.
The First Step to Building a Country House? Ask Someone with Experience.
Building consultant, Tim Moulding, now offers Country House Building Consultancy, a sensible first step for anyone with more enthusiasm than experience in the creation of their country home.
One of Tim’s continual frustrations is the inheritance of poor process. As a builder, it is rare for him to be given the opportunity to influence the design or method of a country house project from its inception. Too often, a builder is expected to deliver a project as it is handed to them, which is typically after a project has confirmed planning and therefore cannot be altered. Like Tim, we think these scenarios are missed opportunities. A great deal of frustration, delay and rising costs can be avoided if specialists are consulted before the detail is locked down.
Tim has more experience than most in the successful delivery of country house projects. As well as being a consultant, he is also the eighth-generation owner and Managing Director of the leading traditional building company, R. Moulding & Co (affectionately known as Mouldings). For the past 30 years he has led his team in the delivery of over 70 residential building projects ranging from £500k to £15m in value. This experience has given Tim an intimate understanding of the building process specific to residential country houses.
Like Artichoke, Tim has realised that there is a gap in the market for a service that provides advice to anyone purchasing, or who owns a country home, at the onset of a major building project. Tim is now offering his expertise, independently of his building firm, providing sound guidance towards the delivery of a successful building project before it’s too late. At Artichoke, we see the affects of lack of consultancy first hand; often clients have misplaced the joinery design of their country home. It is then a big task to pick up the pieces and the client ends up to paying twice for a design (as this previous artichoke blog explores further).
Question the Key Elements of the Building Process
In the context of country house restoration or new builds, Tim believes the process can be positively influenced by a number of factors. Examining a project from the outset can hugely improve the efficiency and cost of designing and building a country house, ultimately improving the owner’s enjoyment of the process.
His consultancy is wide-ranging and explores everything from evaluating the experience of designers, to accessing the approach a construction team should take. When the answers aren’t binary, making decisions with the input of expertise can massively improve the efficiency and success of a building project. Tim’s considerable experience in this field may be the ideal remedy to any doubts you may have.
For more information on Country House Building Consultants, visit Tim’s website.