Nothing has appeared on this thread for some time, so I thought I might, as owner of Broadgate Engine House, scotch some of the wilder speculation and confirm some of the rest, now that the restoration is under way.
1. The price quoted was close to what was paid, which would have been expensive had it just been for the site and remains of the building. It included all the work which had been required to obtain detailed planning permission and listed buildings consent. This included the architects drawings and structural engineering reports, historical design and access statements, archaeological reports, surveys "as is", ground contamination reports, wildlife surveys and reports, and so on. This was several years work that I would otherwise have had to commision.
2. I am a private individual restoring the engine house for my own use. Builders or property developers would be extremely wary of such a project as the time taken in negotiation of detail with the various bodies involved would take too long to make it viable for them. My professional background is as a chartered engineer and programme manager of very large electronics projects from which I am now retired. I have restored a cottage c1500, built a house with a builder constructing the shell and me doing everything else, and built another house with me doing everything from design and obtaining planning permission, through structural design and hands on building.
3. The access was uppermost in my mind when buying the property and for this reason I bought land so I own my access. The cost of building the access road was remarkably cheap but will be finished to make it visually unobtrusive, so a bit more cost yet. The paddock will stay paddock so no change of use. I would have thought the chances of any development on the paddock were nil, so price reflected that.
4. Capping the mine was expensive in terms of the quantity of concrete involved, but we were lucky that the bedstone was not too far below the surface. Cost was close to estimate.
5. Contrary to what is said the stonework was in remarkably good condition, with only one minor structural crack in the north wall, probably there for a long time, and relatively easily and cheaply rectified. More important were the rotted out timber lintels and other timber inserts with small local collapses.
6. Cost of utilities were estimated, but wrongly. Despite there having been water on to the site the water authority would not reconnect the supply to the existing pipe, so a new pipe had to be laid, and despite the fact the electicity is to a pole on site a new transformer has to be paid for as the existing one is at capacity! The nearest mains drains are 3 miles away so a private sewage system will be installed as planned and costed. Telephone is nil cost with mobiles.
7. The 3 variables to balance in any project are time, cost and quality. As this is a retirement project cost and quality are being closely controlled and time is the trade off. I will do much of the work myself to keep cost down and employ experts where quality is beyond my skills. It takes as long as it takes to do a good job.
8. Do not believe the prices some people quote for work/materials as some build in big contingencies. For some materials I have, with a lot of research, got the same thing for 1/3 the price quoted by the first supplier. Treat the good people with trust and respect and don't take advantage if they make a genuine mistake. It's easy to find the costs of material and calculate hours of labour to check they have not taken you for a fool.
9. If you think I will be spending a million, or even half that, think again. Virtually all the unknown costs are sorted and the major work now is not much different from any other build. However the point is not to make a profit as it will be my home, but I do not want to make a big loss. I hope people appreciate that Broadgate Engine House would have fallen down if left for very much longer without repair, and hopefully we will have it stable and weatherproof before the winter. Yes it would be an expensive 3 bedroom house, but I am not competing in that market.
John