Do you have any lessons learnt on controlling costs of refurbishing historic buildings?

Question

The attached article from Building Magazine illustrates the potential risks despite extensive consultant experience on the project

Jacek Olinkiewicz · Accepted Answer

I refurbished about dozen of historical buildings and my basic lessons are:

- hire a real expert for historical buildings to provide due diligence and to define worst case scenarios for refurbishment. Define provisional sums and contingencies for critical elements and obtain acceptance of your client.

- do not spare your time to achieve a precise detailed agreements with all supervising bodies responsible for preservation of your buildings, including approvals of materials and techniques to be applied. They are fundamental components for your cost calculation.

- a very rare resources (skills and materials) can be necessary to perform – they have their prices. Do not forget to assure their availability for the right time as well- standstill is costly.

Do you have any lessons learnt on controlling costs of refurbishing historic buildings?

Refurbishment

Lessons-learnt

cost

historic-architecture

Tom Spilsted

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