Bedroom before works
Having made the decision to buy a property in Bath, Ozzie and Mary Ffield under went a large learning curve before they were able to make the design decisions necessary to engage a building contractor. Ozzie talks about some of his experiences during this phase of the project:
‘We bought the property, first of all, because it faced south and was on the flat into Bath and, therefore, would be a good investment for our next twenty years. It would also be wheelchair friendly.
Hallway before commencement of works
We found the gathering of information a headache, as detailed guidance was not readily available. We went to a number of exhibitions of Eco Houses etc, and found some useful sources of information: One is the Energy Savings Trust website. Another would be the technical department for any material you are thinking of using. A third source of information are the websites of the companies supplying the product that you are interested in.
We found that some organisations are very poor at supplying information: That has been very frustrating. I think it is a case that some organisations haven’t had training in quality service or customer care. It is a pity if organisations like that come unstuck when their heart is in the right place.
One way of finding out what to do and how to do it is by inviting people to come along and posing the question: “This is the situation; what would you suggest we do?” This helps you look at things. Keep asking people for quotes and keep asking questions until you think you have got to the bottom of the barrel. Dig a bit further and then make up your mind.’
