Converting a large property to a Quality HMO is quite a straight forward and simple build, Making the building safe for it's shared occupants and to pass regulation is a little more complicated. Working with the Landlord, agent and building control we planned out where everything needed to be, what needed changing and what needed adding to pass. This was a smaller HMO compared to the others we have done previously and the conversion started off quite smoothly...
The property, in Bretton - Peterborough, was a 4 bed 3 story property located near the shopping centre and local school. All 5 completed bedrooms, required their own En-Suite or access to bathroom, linked smoke detector and lockable doors. We had 5 guys on this one and finished well within the required time frame, or so we thought...
There's always going to be problems and issues during a job and of course planning for every event is impossible but we do our best to mitigate these issues or resolve them quickly. Unfortunately some things are out of your own control, especially when external influences are included in a project. On this one the Landlord and hired help were ones we did not foresee...
We started this job with the installation of the double En/off suites on the second floor. There were two rooms on this floor - a small and large bedroom. The large bedroom would have one third sliced off and donated to the en suites. The base was laid out and marked with wood, string and pencil, measurements taken, plans drawn up and materials sourced. Very quickly the studded wall frames were laid out and boarded on one side. Next the plumbing to the en suites was laid out ready to be enclosed into the soon to be boarded and plastered walls.
The supplies for the en suites (showers, basins, taps etc) were all ordered from our first choice of trade bathroom suppliers - Victorian Plumbing. Their service is anything but Victorian with an excellent fast delivery service and customer service to match. Once the water was connected into the supply, Waste connected and window boarded up, all of the walls were plastered and white coated. We had been instructed the landlord would be doing the actual painting and decorating.....
Whilst the en suites were being built the Elecrician was working hard to install and route cables for the smoke detectors and emergency lighting. Starting from the loft a cable was run into every rooms ceiling until stopping at the fuse board in the kitchen to power and link all fire detectors. The old lights were replaced with safety swicthes and emergency lights and repositioned where required.
Work to brick up the external cupboard doorway for the ground floor en suite had also started. Our bricklayer made a classic mistake that still has us laughing a year later. The internal doorway from the bedroom to en suite had not been knocked through before bricking up the cupboard door way for obvious security reasons. As it had been raining on and off we stored the cement in the cupboard (you can see where this is going) until this work started. Our Bricklayer mixed up some cement and started laying the internal block work, Internal Blocks of course being bigger than normal bricks so are quicker to lay a coarse down. It wasn't until he got 4/5 up the wall that he ran out of cement and realised where the rest was! We still believe he did it on purpose so he could go home early!
We try to take as many pictures of our work as possible, both before and after. It doesn't always work out, as our priority is quality, but we mostly remember ....usually right after we've started doing the job that we wanted a 'before' of.
Please review some of the media from this project below.
After the radiator was relocated, we were able to rescue the cement bags and made a suitable doorway, with lintel, through to the cupboard. We got to work plastering, tiling, plumbing and fitting the suite. The ground floor en-suite was smallest of the three but just the right size for the shower tray and toilet. The downstairs water closet had its toilet removed, floor patched and a worktop installed & strengthened for the dryer. A double socket was installed to power both washer and dryer.
Once everything had been fitted and the carpets rolled back, We began working on the doors and final touches. We had some issues getting a quote for the door cylinders with a suitable delivery turnaround and in budget. We usually use local suppliers but unfortunately they were out of budget or over the time-frame we had available. Instead we found a company on-line that was by far the best cost to delivery time available. Installation was simple as we had installed the mortice locks whilst adding intumescent strips and door closers
This was quite an enjoyable project to complete, however once we had finished the landlord requested a few more additions which we obliged. This then turned into a few more including repairing areas of "DIY" attempted by the landlord. This property filled up very quickly once the agents started showing people around, which happened to be about a week before we officially finished!
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