Scaffolding - charging?

no1catman

I'm curious with scaffolding I assumed the hire company charges on the basis of time - that is per day, week, month.
That being the case - to me seems obvious that, with any house extension work, the logical thing to do would be to finish re-roofing asap and have the scaffolding collected
Am I right?

It's just that have a neighbours bungalow, where the roof has been extended, garage demolished, and building erected with multiple Velux windows. The work started in February, every day I expect to see the roof tiling finished on the main building or the ridge tiles put on but no. assume the tradesmen's vans refer to work going on inside - electrics, new kitchen, decorating etc.
If it was me - I'd be driving me mad!! Just don't understand why the delay.
But, wouldn't there be any cost, from continuing needing the scaffolding on site!? Please can someone enlighten me.

Norman_Castle

Most of the cost is erecting and dismantling the scaffold. If its not needed elsewhere the only ongoing cost will be a safety check.
We recently had the whole house scaffolded. About a third was left in place for 3 weeks after being finished with, they did turn up and borrow a few bits, presumably to avoid overloading the lorries or physically moving it to a storage area.

phill99

Scaffolders charge to erect and dismantle. length of time in situ is almost irrelevant. Most scaffolders have a small yard and never have enough space in it to store all of the scaffolding they own. So they tend to use building sites where they have erected their scaffolding as unofficial storage yards. You'll find when they need the scaffolding for a job in the near future, they will come along, dismantle it and re-erect it elsewhere without it ever going back to their yard.

no1catman

That's amazing - doesn't seem logical though. The scaffolding is a capital investment that needs to earn its keep. The Erection Team - could if needs must be on something like Zero hours - only called in when needed.
The quicker the pipework is back, the quicker it can be loaned out to someone else.

MX5huggy

As an example scaff on a new build detached house is £1100 for 6 weeks, additional weeks £75 so on a £150k build the cost of the scaff is of no consequence.

phill99

no1catman wrote: »

That's amazing - doesn't seem logical though. The scaffolding is a capital investment that needs to earn its keep. The Erection Team - could if needs must be on something like Zero hours - only called in when needed.
The quicker the pipework is back, the quicker it can be loaned out to someone else.

But the real estate cost of storing it is far greater than the actual cost of the material.


Scaffold poles are as cheap as chips to buy. The erection costs are the real costs in this operation. Scaffolders are highly trained and skilled men who earn a good wage.

no1catman

MX5huggy wrote: »

As an example scaff on a new build detached house is £1100 for 6 weeks, additional weeks £75 so on a £150k build the cost of the scaff is of no consequence.

Reckon the scaffolding went up in late February, months later as I key, it's finally in the process of coming down - yippee!!
Lost track of times I expect them, to be up finishing putting up the slates. Then wondering why they don't bother putting on the ridge tiles before the 'rains' come. Final adjustment to the ridge tiles yesterday.
New build it is not - bungalow rear extension, and annexe instead of garage.

navemitt001

I need to get a section of the scaffolding adjusted so that I can build a wall. The scaffolding is constructed to 3 levels  with the total meterage around the building being about 50 meters. The section being moved is about 3 meters length. How much will it cost me to get the scaffolders to move the scaffold? Builder is quoting 3500 which seems absolutely unreasonable but cannot go to the scaffolders directly as they are contracted to builder.

TELLIT01

I'ts much the same with skip hire.  They charge for the unit, not necessarily for the amount of time you have it.

Mistral001

As has been said the builder probably owns the scaffolding.  Many small builders work this way as it can give them a competitive edge over those small builders who have to hire it out. He probably has no other jobs on where it is needed and it is not costing him any more at a customers house than it is in his own yard.  

neilmcl

As already mentioned the main cost is in the erection/removal of the scaffold, if it's not needed elsewhere it's no cost to the scaffold company to leave it up at a customer's premises rather than remove it and store it at their own site.