Scaffolding issue with roofer

lmdp

I need some advice.

FYI - I am the freeholder of a building, made up of 4 flats. I own the basement and ground, and then two leaseholders own the first and second.

A few weeks ago I hired a roofer (contacted me via nextdoor) to do some work on our roof.

I sent him the work, which was highlighted from a surveyors report that the previous owner of the top floor flat had been given by their buyers surveyor.

I received a quote from this roofer, which stated scaffolding tower to be put up and provided' within the quote.

He has been doing the work over the past 2 weeks (a day here and there) and today has said that to complete the job he will need scaffolding which will cost an additional £1200. 

I have asked him why his original quote included scaffolding, if he was going to have to outsource it and charge us extra and he eventually admitted that he thought he could get the job done with a ladder but realised he couldn't and that his original invoice must have been a mistake and he will send a new one.

I certainly do not want the job to be done unsafely - and I expected scaffolding from the beginning - but given it stated in his original quote it would be provided I do not understand why now he is saying he doesn't have any and we need to pay for it additionally.

Let me say - if the original quote had said - scaffolding tower will be needed to complete job at an addition cost of xxx I would have been fine, but my issue is that on the final day of the job it is being brought up as an additional cost. 

Thoughts?

pramsay13

A few things.
How much is £1200 compared to the rest of the job?
£1200 sounds a lot for a scaffolding tower for a day or two.
Do you trust him?
If the job had cost £1200 more would you still have gone with him?
I'd be inclined to get him to finish the job and then get more detail. Ask for a breakdown of the work done and costs. Maybe offer some of the money if you want to keep him on side for future jobs.

lmdp

Well, the original job quote was £1200 for all the work including scaffolding. 

I admit did seem a bit cheap but we went with it.

Do I trust him - not anymore. 
 
We will not be using him again because he has cancelled on the day several times, not turned up due to being 'hungover' and just has acted unprofessionally. And to say he thought he could get the job done with a ladder, yet included scaffolding in the original quote and now wants us to pay extra for scaffolding?

My main issue is the principle. If his first quote was say £1000, with the clause saying if scaffolding is needed it will cost extra then fine.

He's sent me a new quote which basically is the same minus including the scaffolding, I've said to him we commenced the work based on your original quote which included scaffolding and he has said 'well we can't do the work then, I'll be there to collect my ladder and materials'.

Doozergirl

A scaffolding tower is different to scaffolding and would cost a lot less, which fits with what this person is telling you.  

A scaffolding tower is a freestanding piece of equipment on wheels.  It is an upgrade from a ladder as it allows you to work safely in a small area at height, but it is not the same as fixed scaffolding which is fixed and built bespoke to the area in question.  

If you google 'scaffolding tower' you'll see exactly what it is and how it isn't the same as 'scaffolding'.  

Section62

lmdp said:

I received a quote from this roofer, which stated scaffolding tower to be put up and provided' within the quote.

....

I certainly do not want the job to be done unsafely - and I expected scaffolding from the beginning - but given it stated in his original quote it would be provided I do not understand why now he is saying he doesn't have any and we need to pay for it additionally.

Let me say - if the original quote had said - scaffolding tower will be needed to complete job at an addition cost of xxx I would have been fine, but my issue is that on the final day of the job it is being brought up as an additional cost.

As per Doozergirl's post - a scaffold tower isn't the same thing as scaffolding.  You need to get clarity from the roofer whether he means he needs a tower, or if the job requires 'proper' scaffolding.  The latter might be needed if there's part of the roof they can't get to safely from a ladder (which isn't ideal on a building of that height) or tower.

You might expect a roofer to have/use a tower in the same way as a ladder - i.e. something which was included or you would pay only a nominal amount for.  There may be cases where the roofer has to hire in a tower... but for two days £1200 sounds a lot.  I'd expect a figure of £1200 to be more in the ballpark for a simple (tube and clamp) scaffold provided by an external scaffolding company.

It isn't entirely implausible that the roofer has got to this stage and noticed something needs doing for which scaffolding is needed, whereas they previously thought a ladder or tower would be enough.

The most important thing here is communication - find out exactly what the problem is and what kind of scaffold is needed.

lmdp

The problem is to do with the soffit board and fascia - this was communicated before the job started and included on the initial invoice quote - he could have told me on the first day, I've realised the job is not what I first expected, this will incur a further cost, let me know if you agree to this.

But no, waits until the final day to let me know. 

I've looked up scaffolding tower which he didn't use at all, just a ladder.

Jonboy_1984

Did he visit the site to quote, or just work off the surveyors report?

If the latter, did the surveyors report show clear pictures of the ground level?

lmdp

Just the surveyors report - It showed clear pictures of the work that needed doing.

I have looked through my messages with him and before the work started I did ask about scaffolding, to which they said 'we have all the safety equipment including ladders, harnesses to do the job'. 

Jonboy_1984

The reason I wondered if the report showed picture of the ground, is a scaffold tower has very limited scope for dealing with uneven surfaces and needs to be positioned immediately adjacent to the building. I have one and the bottom can cope with around a 30cm variance between the 4 corners. After that it would be no use, and I would need to look at fixed scaffolding.

If they didn’t realise it was a 4 storey property, and there is a drop for your basement, they could fairly easily have not quoted correctly,

HampshireH

It could also be a bit challenging to recover costs from fellow leaseholders if you issued section 20 and his quote was cheapest based on what now seems to be an error.

ThisIsWeird

What, exactly, did the whole job entail? And did this builder/roofer visit to quote? If not, what info did he have to go by?
Is this guy a 'roofer', or a general builder?