Barge and fascia board replacement price check

[dandbnews]

Hi

The barge and fascia boards on the front of our 1930's Surrey house are rotten and I plan to have them replaced with black uPVC. The gable is 4m wide and the fascia stretch is 4.5m. A local firm has quoted =A31195 (inc VAT) to replace them and the soffits in black uPVC. Another firm has quoted more than =A31300. The first firm expects to complete the work in a day. =A31195 seems a lot of money for this. Please will someone give me a sanity check and say whether or not this is excessive?

Actually, the soffits look sound but I guess it is prudent to replace them at the same time. Would you agree?

The more expensive firm's process is to fit a tanalised timber backing board behind the fascia boards. They say this is necessary because uPVC on its own cannot handle the load bearing requirement imposed by the overhanging roof tiles, the gutters and the soffits. The cheaper firm does not fit such timber and they say they have never heard of any firm doing this. Please will someone advise whether a timber backing is required?

David

[auctions]

Sounds ludicrous. Ask them how many people they'll have on the job, look up an approximate price for the materials, and work out an hourly rate.

Get a quote for sticking new timber up. It'll look better (more in- keeping) and (with straightforward occasional maintenance) last longer. Plus it's way more environmentally friendly. It should also cost much less than =A31300, but will have the required strength.

A

[John Rumm]

It could certainly be worse... a neighbour paid something over £2000 for similar work although that did include gutter replacement.

When I did all my fascias, soffits (including a large bay window with bonnet roof overhang), and gutters, the materials came to £400 ish.

What are the existing ones made from? In a 30's property it would be quite common for them to be made from asbestolux.

Unless you have particularly widely spaced rafters this seems unlikely.

[Tom Woods]

The council are currently replacing the complete rooves including felt, tiles, flashing, gutters and the facia on the council houses here. I own mine (end-semi) and have been quoted £3500ish to have the whole thing replaced by the same people. It takes 2-4 men 4 or 5 days for the whole job. By this scale you are being charged a lot of money, or have a very large house! ;)

[Andy Dingley]

Evil stuff. How about a cement-based board like Viroc? Lasts longer than wood, but it's still paintable so it has a longer lifetime than UPVC. Black UPVC is far better than white: it doesn't look quite so chavvy when new, but it still looks scruffy after a few years and there's no way to refurbish it without replacement.

Impossible to comment without seeing it. This could quite justifiably be 300 quid to do it and 900 quid just to get up there. Ask around for other quotes and ask for breakdowns of where the price comes from.

1200 because it really is a lot of access work is one thing, but 1200 for man+boy to do it within a day sounds implausible, because they can't create that much extra value in that short a time.

[keith_765]

Does this include scaffolding and waste disposal? I would consider the price acceptable. Remember a end house as a gable end or three sides.

[dandbnews]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. Just to clarify, =A31200 included guttering, scaffolding and waste disposal.

How can I tell if the soffits are asbestolux?

If it is asbestolux, is it best left, or should we replace with uPvc?