Is insisting customer pay for QS for quote normal?

edinburgher

We've been struggling to get quotes for a loft conversion and single storey extension.

We were eventually contacted by a builder who seemed interested. They had a lot of positive feedback on one of the "find a builder" type sites. They advised they couldn't quote until we had finalised drawings from architect and structural engineer. We obtained these.

During our first meeting, the builder mentioned they were a design and build outfit and tried to get us to drop our current architect after we explained he was a bit sluggish to respond to requests to finalise the plans. We gently pushed back against this, explaining that these were a sunk cost and that we'd get the plans soon.

Anyway, now I've sent these on, builder is insisting we pay £360 to their QS to provide a full quote. Is this normal? The builder could be fab, but it feels dishonest that they never mentioned this before (we've exchanged correspondence several times over the last few weeks).

Any thoughts?

Anthony147

You already know in your gut - This is not normal but it’s not normal times either.

Personally my spider sense would be tingling and rightly or wrongly I’d wait for another builder - You appear to be having 100k worth of work so if they are surprising you before breaking ground What’s going to happen when they do.

One thing to note on those find a builder sites - Pay close attention not just to the reviews listed but any jobs where there’s not a review for a job done - Typically it’s not been a “good” job for the customer but they either are letting it go or don’t want to publicise a negative review.

edinburgher

@Anthony147 - thanks for that - the point re. Surprises matches my own thoughts. A relative involved with commercial construction says some builders are like that - hiding bad news like a child with a broken toy!

FaceHead

Having a QS estimate your job isn't an altogether bad thing. However, they should work for you and be of your choosing. You should get the full breakdown in all its glory if you are paying the bill, and be able to use it to negotiate with any builders. £360 for a routine loft conversion seems steep too. 

They wanted the structural designs, and then, after you got them said you should do it again with their guy. That doesn't really add up. 

I'd drop this builder as there are a million builders out there with good reviews. 

Mahsroh

As above, getting a QS to price is isn't a bad thing at all provided it's on your terms. But this to me smacks of the builder saying "I can't be bothered to price it myself so i'm going to pay my QS to do it, and pass the bill on to you!". Personally I don't think £360 is expensive - that's basically a QS for a day which probably about right if he's doing it properly (full take off etc.) but i'm not sure why the builder who is trying to win the job is pushing this cost on to you..... 

The bigger concern though is him telling you to go out and get a design for him to price then seemingly changing his mind. Seems a bit dodgy to me. 

TELLIT01

Surely if the builder is a "Design and Build outfit" they shouldn't need a 3rd party to calculate the material requirements for them. 

Mahsroh

TELLIT01 said:

Surely if the builder is a "Design and Build outfit" they shouldn't need a 3rd party to calculate the material requirements for them. 

They probably just routinely use a self employed QS to do their estimates for them which is not usual, but trying to pass that cost onto a potential customer when you're still tendering for the works is.