Costs for external redecoration

[tim.....]

Hi,

I live on as estate which includes a dozen blocks, each of 9 flats (3 stories high).

We are due to have the outside redecorated and some of you may recall that I posted a year ago asking about the needs for preparation as the task was finished badly when the block was painted from new.

The upshot of this was that it was suggested that serious levels of prep were required in order to avoid the paint just flaking off (again) and I conveyed my concerns to the agents at last year's annual meeting.

Well, they have put the work out for tender and the quotes are in, and the lowest was 500 pounds per flat.

There are 6 windows per flat, 2 small one for the bathrooms, 3 medium sized and a large, full height, window in the lounge. Plus about 50% of the outside wall is covered in cladding, and then there are the soffits (all of which are, apparently, included in the quote)

That just seems far too low. I would be surprised if you got a quote that low for just ground floor flats with no need to hire scaffolding. Add in the need for scaffolding and there's nothing left for the actual work.

I'm suspicious that the company who have won the work are going to skimp on the scaffolding and attempt to do the work from ladders, which I suspect will mean that the top floor (me) won't be adequately prepared.

what do you guys think

tim

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

I think you need to see the precise details of what they were asked to tender for, and what each response actually says.

If the tender document was vague, it will not be a surprise that responses are vaguer. If on the other hand the tender laid out precisely what work was expected (and how it should be done) there shouldn't be so much wiggle room in the responses.

And if a company's quote is accepted by you and they then don't do what the tender & contract laid out in the first place, at least you'll have enough detail on paper to start pursuing them.

Or maybe the agents aren't competent to organise this?

[Brian Gaff]

Whoever drafted the original spec for the quotes to be made on should have been very precise about the method of access and the preparation work. Failing to do this leaves them wide open to all sorts of messing about and disputes further down the line. Brian

[tim.....]

"Jeremy Nicoll - news posts" wrote in message news: [e-mail]...

They are a national "chain"

They manage lots of properties

I suspect they just fired off a boilerplate

"prepare surface, apply one coat of under-coat/primer and two coats of good quality top coat" (plus a plan of the properties, of course)

I doubt that they specified that anything special was required in prep. That's for me to argue at this year's meeting (next month) as obviously this type of work isn't going to be started before next spring.

But I can't argue that point unless I know wherever the price quoted is adequate for the task, or not

tim

[tim.....]

really

I would have thought that whether to put up scaffolding, or not, was the choice of the contractor (provided that they decide they are able to do the job safely without)

TBH, I don't have a problem with the job being done cheaply this time around, expressing my concern (having it minuted) and then expecting any shortfall to be rectified outside of the normal 5-6 [1] year schedule at someone else's expense. Even if it is a "block" cost, I will only see

1/100th of the bill!

tim

[1] It's meant to be 5 but it's slipped to 6.

[Robin]

I wonder if that is location dependent as around here (East London) few if any established firms with employees will decorate a bog-standard

2-storey Victorian terraced house without scaffolding. (Some sole traders, and many recently arrived immigrants, will but I assume they are not the sort who'd be engaged for 100+ flats.)