Municipality of De Ronde Venen
Builders in Vinkeveen
Building work and maintenance in Vinkeveen, at a fixed price for the work as described and paid in four instalments.
Vinkeveen belongs to the municipality of De Ronde Venen and owes its shape to peat cutting: the Vinkeveense Plassen were created by digging the peat away, and the ribbon developments along the Herenweg, the Baambrugse Zuwe and the Achterbos still follow the old reclamation pattern. Living on or close to the water is the norm here, and that makes both the foundation and the delivery of materials a real subject.
The ground is peat with a thin load-bearing layer on top. For an extension, a conservatory or a garden building with a floor that means a pile foundation, even at modest sizes. With houses on strip footings, and there are still plenty along the Herenweg and the Demmerik, there is also the question of how the existing house behaves before anything is attached to it. Here, measuring comes before building.
On the plots along the Baambrugse Zuwe and the Achterbos the logistics come on top of that: narrow roads, small bridges with a weight limit, and plots that can only be reached over water. All of it is doable, but it belongs in the price and the planning in advance, because a lorry that cannot cross the bridge is a lost day on the day itself.
What decides things here
- Peat ground from the old turf cutting: extensions and conservatories need piles
- Ribbon developments along the Herenweg, the Baambrugse Zuwe and the Achterbos
- Houses on strip footings along the Demmerik: measure settlement before repairing
- Narrow access roads and weight-limited bridges decide how materials arrive
Work we do in Vinkeveen
Extensions
Extra room at the back or the side of the house, at a fixed price before the first brick is laid.
Loft conversions and dormers
A storey added or a dormer let in, without the structure below becoming a problem.
Openings in load-bearing walls
A wall out, a steel beam in, and a calculation that stands behind it.
Bathrooms and kitchens
A complete wet room, with one party responsible for the pipework and the floor as well.
Maintenance of the house
Pointing, window frames, rot, gutters and painting, surveyed and planned instead of postponed.
How building work in Vinkeveen runs
Nine steps. Each one states who is there, how long it takes and what you pay at that moment. On the steps where money actually changes hands, the amount is set in the heading face under "What you pay" and the step number is filled in. Handover is called oplevering in Dutch, and it is the step your contract will refer to.
Step 1: Phone call
You call, or leave a callback request. We ask about the type of work, the year the house was built, the place and roughly what you have in mind. By the end of that call you know whether this is work we take on and whether your budget and your plan meet. If they do not, we say so there and then.
- Who is there
- You and the work planner
- How long
- 15 minutes, within one working day
- What you pay
- Nothing
Step 2: Survey at your house
We come round, measure up, look in the crawl space (kruipruimte) and the loft, and assess the foundation, the structure and the connections to the existing house. For a loft conversion or a structural opening we establish whether a structural engineer (constructeur) is needed. You hear on the spot which price range is realistic.
- Who is there
- You and the site manager
- How long
- 45 to 90 minutes, within two weeks
- What you pay
- Nothing
Step 3: Quotation with a fixed price
You receive a quotation (offerte) with a fixed price for the work as described, a list of what is explicitly not included, and provisional sums (stelposten) for items you choose yourself. No figure in it is an estimate: what the quotation says stands, as long as the work does not change.
- Who is there
- We supply it, you read it
- How long
- Within five working days of the survey
- What you pay
- Nothing
Step 4: Design, calculation and permit
Only where the work requires it. Drawings, a structural calculation, and the permit application (omgevingsvergunning, the Dutch building permit) with the municipality of Stichtse Vecht or De Ronde Venen. If the permit is refused, the project stops and you pay for this phase only, at an amount stated on the quotation in advance.
- Who is there
- Draughtsman, structural engineer and the municipality
- How long
- 4 to 12 weeks, depending on the procedure
- What you pay
- The cost of this phase, named separately on the quotation
Step 5: Planning and start date
The start date is fixed in writing, with a week by week plan and the days on which it will be loud or dusty. Materials with long lead times are ordered in this phase, so the job does not come to a halt halfway through waiting for a window frame.
- Who is there
- You and the work planner
- How long
- 1 to 2 weeks
- What you pay
- Nothing
Step 6: Work starts on site
Day one: fencing, floor protection, a place to unload, and demolition. From this day there is one site manager who is your point of contact and whom you can call directly on working days.
- Who is there
- The site manager and the crew
- How long
- Day 1
- What you pay
- First instalment: 30 per cent
Step 7: Shell complete
Foundation, structure, brickwork, roof and window frames are in place and the work is wind and watertight. This is the moment you can stand in the new space for the first time, and the last moment changes are possible without demolition.
- Who is there
- The site manager walks it through with you
- How long
- Depends on the job, usually after 3 to 6 weeks
- What you pay
- Second instalment: 30 per cent
Step 8: Services and fit-out
Electrics, water, heating and ventilation are installed and tested. Then plastering, floors, tiling and painting. This phase is quiet but long; it is the phase in which people get impatient and in which the weekly plan matters most.
- Who is there
- Installer, plasterer and fit-out crew
- How long
- 2 to 5 weeks
- What you pay
- Third instalment: 30 per cent
Step 9: Handover and snagging list
We walk the work through together and write down everything you see, however small. In Dutch this step is the oplevering and the list is the opleverlijst. That list is cleared within fifteen working days. Only once every point on it is signed off does the last instalment fall due.
- Who is there
- You and the site manager
- How long
- 1 to 2 hours, points cleared within 15 working days
- What you pay
- Final instalment: 10 per cent, after the snagging list is cleared
The payment schedule
Nothing is paid in advance before work starts.
Each block in the bar is as wide as its share of the contract sum (aanneemsom). The pale block on the right is the final 10 per cent: it only falls due after handover (oplevering), once every point on the snagging list has been dealt with.
| Instalment | Share | When |
|---|---|---|
| First instalment | 30% | The day work starts on site |
| Second instalment | 30% | Shell complete, the work is wind and watertight |
| Third instalment | 30% | Services tested and fit-out complete |
| Final instalment | 10% | After handover, once every snagging point is cleared |
| Together | 100% |
The cost of drawings, the structural calculation and the permit sits outside these four instalments and is named separately on the quotation, so you can see what you would be out of pocket if a permit is unexpectedly refused. The total being paid in instalments is the contract sum, called the aanneemsom in your contract.
Questions about building work in Vinkeveen
Can you build on a plot that is only reachable over water?
Yes, but it changes the setup. Materials then travel by boat or pontoon, in smaller loads and on fixed days. That costs transport hours and it tightens the planning. We include those logistics as a separate item so you can see what the location costs.
My house on the Herenweg is leaning. Can that still be put right?
Often, but not as a first step. We fit measuring points and follow the movement for several months. If the settlement has stopped, cosmetic repair is enough. If it continues, foundation repair is the only solution that holds and finishing beforehand is wasted.
Is there a weight limit on the bridges to the Achterbos?
On several of them, yes. We check that with the municipality before quoting and match the plant to it, so no concrete lorry or crane is ordered that cannot make the last three hundred metres.
Talk through your plan in Vinkeveen
Calling is quickest. In fifteen minutes you know whether this is work we take on and whether your plan and your budget meet.