How to Stick Up a House in 6 Weeks

Before we “stick up a house” there does need to be some preliminary work done. We need something to stick it up on! That means foundations and footings or slabs, along with service ducts and any other infrastructure required, but that isn’t being counted in our “6 weeks” for the present discussion.

Way back in the mists of history I was in business buying old Victorian house, refurbishing and then selling them. I was approached by a Contracts Manager and asked if I’d like a job as a Site Agent on one of their developments. I accepted and that was the start of a learning curve. That company did the usual; laid a few foundations and waited until a buyer came along. Once someone was signed up for that plot, building began.

Now the guide time for a house build was the same 40 years ago as it is today; 12 weeks. I soon settled in, was willing to learn from the guys on site and soon became proficient. Materials arrive on site in good time and the facilities were there for the different trades when they walked on site to do their bit. They soon found out that I knew that I was looking at so there was very little shoddy workmanship.

I was living alone at the time, didn’t like watching TV so used to make frequent trips to the Library for novels. One day I detoured and happened to notice a book on planning and programming in construction. I hadn’t even been aware that there was such a thing so, out of curiosity, I took that book out. Once I had read it I began to scribble on bits of paper. Foolscap it was in those days, not today’s A4. Eventually I had something which seemed a reasonable Build Programme, although I’d probably be ashamed of it if I saw it today!

We had a white board in the Site Office and I did my best to get this Programme of mine on it for everyone to see. I rapidly discovered that all the trades loved it! Lads would pop onto the site to see what stage each house going up had got to and when they would be required on my site again. Being naïve at the time I didn’t realise that was because they were a greedy lot and wanted to make as much money as possible every year!

Morale on my site shot up and I suddenly found that houses were being stuck up in 6 weeks instead of the previous 12 weeks! That did cause a bit of confusion for the byers at first, having to Complete earlier than they had expected, but we soon cottoned on and told them “Madam, Sir, you’ll be moving into your new housein just 6 weeks’ time!”

So that is how you stick up a house in 6 weeks. You come up with a Detailed Build Programme for each house you build. These days we don’t need a white board to put it, though!

Use GenieBelt and your Build Programmesare up-loaded so that everyone can see it on their tablet or smart phone wherever they are. Up-date them daily. No need for the lads to come to site to check it out these days! GenieBelt will even supply you with a pretty comprehensive Build Programme for a 3-Bed house in MS Project. Be quick and easy for you to modify it to however many bedrooms your particular build is to have.