No mention of need for scaffolding in quote

jhs14

Not sure if this is the right board for this but anyway..

We accepted a quote for a new boiler that included, among the list of works, bricking up the hole in the external solid wall left by the old flue. Boiler is upstairs with flue exiting above a conservatory with poor external access.

They came and fitted the boiler, no problems. The hole (40cm square) was roughly sealed up from the inside with few bricks set in mortar (not in regular courses). I understood this to be a temporary measure until access outside could be figured out. Indeed that was the impression I got from the chap who came to brick the hole, who took photos to take back to his boss to figure it out. By this point matching bricks had been sourced and brought to site so clearly the intention was to brick the hole up.

Things went quiet and I chased this up, to be told that in order for the hole to be bricked up I will need to provide scaffolding, because scaffolding was not included in the quote. I'm not too pleased about this - I suspected that the access could be difficult, but before quoting this firm had inspected the site, looked at the location from inside and outside and didn't indicate that there would be any potential problem. They then sent a quote that included "Make good the existing flue access (brick up the hole)" which we accepted. No mention of this being subject to the owner providing access, or to access being available.

As I say, this will hopefully be resolved through discussion but I'd like to know if I'm being unreasonable in my view that I was given a fixed quote including bricking up the hole and the quote stands - it's not my fault if they didn't realise the need for scaffolding, or alert me to that possibility, before quoting. If they had said I would need scaffolding - which surely would have been apparent at the time - then we could have discussed it. As it is, they quoted for bricking up the hole, no caveats. Is it reasonable for them to expect that I will provide scaffolding now?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

nick-nick

Do you have a written official quote or anything? Does it have any small print to cover themselves?

You would have thought they would see how high it was and say straight away that scaffolding was needed.

jhs14

Written quote, clearly laid out. List of works, lots of technical detail about the boiler, then total at the bottom, stating that all the above works are included in the price. No small print.

I'd have thought so too. To be honest it's quite possible that I did ask them about the access, I certainly thought it could be an issue because we had a previous firm that quoted, they spent half an hour standing in the garden thinking about it. But this firm didn't seem concerned at all. It's possible they didn't think about it, but I don't see how that's my problem.

nick-nick

They should really have looked at this when they came out to give you a quote. It is like somebody giving you a quote on your car repair but then saying "oh by the way, we need you to buy a ramp so we can lift the car up to fix it".

Have you spoken to the boss or is it the boss you are dealing with?

jhs14

I'm talking to the boss. When they came to quote he stayed downstairs talking to us while his mate went with me to look at the old boiler, presumably that's how it got overlooked - again, not my problem.

I'm fairness, they have done a good job so far and this issue has only arisen today, hopefully we can talk and work it out. I'd just like reassurance that I'm not being unreasonable in standing my ground.

nick-nick

No I think you are correct in standing your ground. They should have done a proper quite which includes materials, tools, labour etc.

Doozergirl

How did the other companies recommend bricking up the hole?

I presume their quotes were more expensive? How high is the area that needs patching?

jhs14

Ironically they never got back to us with a quote - I think the access scared them off! Yes, they discussed scaffolding I think.

This was why I was pleasantly surprised when the firm we went with didn't mention it - I assumed they didn't think it was a problem, not that they hadn't thought about it at all.

Height isn't the problem, it's the fact that its above a conservatory roof with no obvious way to lay boards because the conservatory is next to a gable ground floor extension roof at a different height to the conservatory - you'd need to go up and over the whole thing with a couple of scaffolding towers.

jhs14

A quick update - they still haven't got back to me about this. The usual story you might think - tradesman not interested in finishing the job so goes out of contact. But In this case this is a £2.5k job, they've done 90% of the work, and I haven't paid them a penny yet! You'd think they'd be keen to get it finished!

Clive_Woody

If you haven't contacted them in writing, ideally by recorded delivery, I would do so in case they decide to claim you never contacted them and pay your bill and they attempt to recover what is owed through the courts. Unlikely but sometimes being a bit paranoid is no bad thing.

Ginkfish

I would absolutely have thought that this is their problem and they need to get on with it so they can get paid!

You'd think they'd just hire something like this for £20 and be done with it! http://www.hss.com/g/87101/Conservatory-Roof-Access-System.html