Cost of domestic jobs is astronomical

LV_426

I can understand that the cost of certain building materials has gone up, such as wood products. But after looking around for quotes to do certain jobs, like fence replacement etc, I can't help feeling that people are using this to inflate quotes enormously. 
When I actually price up the materials myself, they seem to be adding a huge amount on top. It just seems like anything I want to do costs in the order of thousands, not hundreds these days.
For instance, someone quoted me £1500 to lay a 8x13ft concrete slab for a shed. That's about 1.1 cubic metres of concrete (not reinforced). I priced it up at £100. For a day's work that is a tremendous amount for labour!

grumbler

LV_426 said:

 That's about 1.1 cubic metres of concrete (not reinforced). I priced it up at £100.

Can you post your calculations?

That said, I agree about rip-off prices for labour.

Buy or rent a mixer, order ballast and cement - and earn this money in one day.

xzibit

Tell me about it. I just paid £3,500 for a replacement fence. 15 panels. I’d have done it myself but I’m too lazy. 

I priced the materials which came to about £2,000, which is astronomical compared to a few years ago. To be fair the labour wasn’t too bad, it took two chaps 2.5 days to do, they were hindered by bedrock. 

stuart45

Was the sub base already prepped and all ready to go?

LV_426

grumbler said:

LV_426 said:

 That's about 1.1 cubic metres of concrete (not reinforced). I priced it up at £100.

Can you post your calculations?

That said, I agree about rip-off prices for labour.

Well I used an online concrete volume calculator (depth of slab 4"). I did a bit of Googling around for typical concrete costs.

I just feel that certain trades are taking the !!!!!!. And that's even when they can be bothered to get back to you. I was actually going to build a garage, but you would not believe how much I've been messed around with that project. I just gave up with trying to get anything sensible out of anyone.

In the end, I've scaled it down to a large shed (Suncast plastic building), and I've found these interlocking recycled plastic grids that will serve as a base. I'm going to do it myself and it'll cost about £2250. That's a considerable saving from the timber garage plan I started with.

LV_426

stuart45 said:

Was the sub base already prepped and all ready to go?

Just about, yes. Not really much in the way of additional prep, some levelling required. But the guy said to my face it would take him a day to do the job. Then comes back with a stupidly high quote for it.

Danny30

I agree that the prices for tradespeople in most instances are crazy, and I have had some ridiculous quotes in the last few years. Only solution is where possible to do the work yourself.

Since I bought my home, I have had to learn many different DIY skills to cut costs and avoid paying a fortune on tradesman. Not to mention that they all seem to rush to finish as quickly as possible so as to start on another job.

TELLIT01

Did your costing for the shed base include any digging out, hardcore for sub base, removal of same from site?

LV_426

TELLIT01 said:

Did your costing for the shed base include any digging out, hardcore for sub base, removal of same from site?

The existing sub base is adequate. Just needs some levelling. I'm really not sure how a figure of £1500 was arrived at. But as usual with these things, you never get an itemised quote, just a figure plucked out of thin air. It would help if the quote was more transparent.

stuart45

If someone doesn't need, or really want the job, then a really high price can change their mind.

LV_426

stuart45 said:

If someone doesn't need, or really want the job, then a really high price can change their mind.

Yes I've often heard this said, but I really don't get it. The tradesman has taken time to come round, talk to me, and issue a quote. Why bother doing all that, if the job isn't one they want to take? They've completely wasted their time, and mine.

Another guy would not even give me a quote, until I'd got planning permission first!! I mean how stupid is that? It'll cost me several hundred quid to put in a planning application, which may then be refused. Before I do all that, I want to know the rough build costs. And we're not talking a complicated structure here. It was a garage, basically a rectangular building with a reinforced concrete base. Should be fairly easy to estimate the build cost.