Quote:
Originally Posted by silverbmwz3
Thanks NFS. We started out looking at a conservatory but ran into issues as the house is in a conservation area and the plans were for upvc. Now we are thinking garden room. The company is a company that has done windows and conservatories for years but are branching out into garden rooms, sun rooms, orangeries etc. We would be detailing the specification to the nth degree with them. They've suggested what a payment schedule would be. It would be brick, with slate roof, and mostly glass and wood at the front (hence garden room). They would source it all and project manage using builders that do the footings and brick work for all their conservatories.
It would be around 18-20 sq. metres., with foundations potentially to 2m (our house has quite deep footings) and we were quoted £20k + VAT. When they first met us they quoted £35k (max) but that was with some fancy features (oak beams etc. etc.)
The only thing that concerned me was that he said he didn't like companies that come back for extras, so there would be none, unless they found something incredibly unusual when they were digging.....I think he gave some daft example like an tomb or something  That and the fact he seems very keen and virtually said "tell me what spec you want for that price within reason" which made me think he has a decent margin in it. He is keen because they want to move the company in this direction so wants some work to show off (any pictures he has shown us of ideas have not been their work).
He even appears to be looking into how he can offer a 10 year guarantee on it (we were used to that from Conservatory companies).
Thanks guys, advice much appreciated.
What do you do exactly NFS? I've been meaning to ask that for some time! |
£20K plus VAT doesn't seem to bad to me.
What worries me is the lack of specification. You need to have all that agreed up front. This doesn't have to be complex, just a list of everything that he has allowed for and maybe some drawings. Ideally you want this to include some description about quality as well.
In respect of the groundworks, I would establish in the specification document that he has allowed for 'all necessary works required to form suitable foundations' listing any exclusions which in this case would be 'underground obstructions'.
I doubt he will find a tomb, but the risk is that there may be some underground service conduits or drainage in the area, which he cannot predict and therefore would not want to take the financial risk on.
Suggest you also ask him what form the 'contract' will take. Does he simply want an order based on his written quotation?
In an ideal world you would be best served if he would agree to follow a JCT Minor Works Contract. In reality, if he's not familer with that form of contract you may simply scare him off.
As to what I do ... it's
incredibly similar to Evil Diesel.