I know this isn't strictly DIY, but after this I think I might invest in so= me more DIY skills. Anyway...
If you were a skilled general builder in his mid-50's with years of experie= nce, how long would you expect it to take to put this up?
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the dimensions are in the image. If you can't see it for any reason, it= 's a 6.7 m2 corrugated plastic roof braced by 3 cross-timbers screwed to th= e wall at the top, braced against the other corner by 2 steel angles, and o= ne 1.85m timber upright supported by a steel foot screwed into the existing= concrete.
The job is:
1: Build framework with novolux sheeting
2: Re-route guttering, fix new downpipe.
The bill of materials comes to a little more than I expected, but it all ma= kes sense at =A3189.
So, on top of that... what would you expect labour to be? ie: What would yo= u expect the invoice total to be for the entire job?
ience, how long would you expect it to take to put this up?
it's a 6.7 m2 corrugated plastic roof braced by 3 cross-timbers screwed to = the wall at the top, braced against the other corner by 2 steel angles, and= one 1.85m timber upright supported by a steel foot screwed into the existi= ng concrete.
makes sense at =A3189.
you expect the invoice total to be for the entire job?
Is that a balanced flue boiler terminal under the canopy, in the inset picture?
If it is, that's pretty dodgy, as well as breaking building regs.
That's about what I was thinking. I was braced for =A3350-=A3375 as he's qu= ite good, and being sparsely populated we don't have the "cash-in-hand" Eas= t European effect to drive prices down.
Before I tell you what the bill was....
We had a larger job done by him, fully quoted, for which we were satisfied = with the bill, so I knew his rates.
During a cup of tea, I casually mentioned that I was thinking of putting a = cover over the bin area to make a bit of storage, and he'd said "no problem= , if you want me to do it, I can't do it this week but we'll measure it up,= and pop back one day in a couple of weeks, it shouldn't take long".
Knowing anyway that it's a one-man one-day (maybe 2 days max) job, stupidly= I didn't bother to get fully quoted on a minor addition to much larger wor= k.
What I couldn't understand was why he had another person with him, and they= must have made 3 trips to the builders, and took an inordinately long time= to put the plastic roof on - I even offered to lend him my DeWalt drill/sc= rewdriver. "We're alright, I prefer manual tools". Strange.
The bill came - he'd charged 2 people at 2 full days, a total of 32 hours a= t =A317 an hour each (incidentally, =A32 an hour more than the previous job= ), for a total labour of =A3544.
Needless to say, I have no intention of paying that, but the plan is to inv= ite him round to "talk me through" the time it took. Would you say these we= re fair timings for one person?
A hour to measure and plan.=20
90 minutes to pop to the local builders merchants.
There's 5 straights of timber cut to length by the timber yard so nothing e= lse to do there;=20 Assemble frame and screw to wall/upright: 3 hours?
10 plugs into the wall to support the rear beam and brackets - an hour?
32 screw/caps to hold the Novolux sheeting in place - 2 hours?
4 bolts into concrete to hold the post backet - 15 mins?
Swap gutter stop ends and downpipe, reverse fall on 3 metres of guttering -= 1 hour?
1+1.5+3+2+0.25+1 =3D 8.75 hours. I've worked that out to be 1 man - there w= ere 2 of them.
No travel time - he's a close neighbour - 500 yards to travel. Which is another reason I really need to be sure of my figures.
So 8.75*=A317 =3D =A3148, add to =A3189 materials and that's =A3337, close = to the =A3350 I'd assumed.
Any likely comebacks I should be aware of or questi> Is that a balanced flue boiler terminal under the canopy, in the inset > picture?
Yes. Except there's no boiler the other side - it's stuffed with expanding = foam and newspaper to keep the draught out, but there hasn't been a boiler = there for years. So I doubt there's much to worry about :)
quite good, and being sparsely populated we don't have the "cash-in-hand" E= ast European effect to drive prices down.
d with the bill, so I knew his rates.
a cover over the bin area to make a bit of storage, and he'd said "no probl= em, if you want me to do it, I can't do it this week but we'll measure it u= p, and pop back one day in a couple of weeks, it shouldn't take long".
ly I didn't bother to get fully quoted on a minor addition to much larger w= ork.
I've fallen for that. I suspect it's a classic trick. The size+cost of the "larger job", proximity of the builder, apparent level of trust, and implied "cheapness" of the "small" job are no guarantees that you're not going to get ripped off.
A typical invoice for that "small" job will be double market rate.
I chalked it up to experience. Sadly I've yet to find a better builder.
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