Cost to rewire 3 bed house in 2023
- Thread starter Gordonwon
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I would take the spec, increase it to reflect NHBC guidelines and submit a price for that.
27 Grand
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Well, 16.7% actually.
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Better start saving up then got about 8k in savings.
I suspect that, in the case of the council I stated, they probably hoped that socket numbers might be at least doubled but in reality that rarely happend
No , being a council spec, all contractors would bid purely on the same spec, nothing more nothing less then before the job was undertaken by the winning contractor the customer would be asked if they wanted extras, the council grants officers would usually ask them to consider it as a good idea.
In fact, in one case (unusually) the council supplied a drawing, I saw several silly snags etc and made suggestions - a socket in a "cupboard" that was not a cupboard, was a small larder area, ideal for a fridge freezer etc. two up two down with one way lighting at the bottom of the stairway (for stairs, front room, back room) I suggested all these switches be two way - they agreed to my suggestions and retendered it. On commencement of the rewire I was informed they had instructed they did not want any more of my recommending any deviations from their spec "Do it exactly as spec!" So i did. On completion the did a visual inspection and commented "Why is the bedroom lightswitch behind the bedroom door when it is opened?" The lead in the grants office took the grants officer in charge of that one and said "Because that is exactly where you have drawn it and He has been told, in no uncertain terms, to stick exactly to your spec!" . They changed tone and meekly asked me to change it, which I did as a chargeable job.
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Councils; not normally renowned for being staffed with the most forward thinking minds that would encourage a business to thrive in a free market context
public purse, they try to justify having spent the minimum of taxpayers/ratepayers money to fulfil their obligations. Fair enough to a point, we are all tax/rate payers to some degree and want to pay the minimum where possible, we do not want to pay for MPs ducks and duckponds etc etc.
So a min is set. Problem is it often sets a race for the bottom but it can mean a business is working for almost nothing.
A few years back my local council had to set their work tenders for the lowest price. The result was a shambles from some of their contractors, I think something like 3 year contracts to be on the list. I was tied in with their previous (now instated) contractors to sort out the aftermath. The council had changed policy from lowest price to best value and pretty much took on again the contractors they`d previously been dealing with for years. Amongst other things I remember a particularly cold winter and bursts in council buildings that would never have occurred had they kept their previous contractors. Example for instance, frost stats sited not far above the boiler rather than in one of the coldest places, result - frost - boiler fires up-pumps some hot water-keeps system happy- boiler shuts off- pipes start freezing whilst the residual warmth in the boiler area still keeping the frost stat happy. Disaster. Thing is, that in that location, I reckon that if instead the frost stat had been placed 3 or 4 feet vertically above that position, above the loft hatch, above the insulation then it probably would have saved that disaster.
Another example, same council, one of their properties a recreation ground "in the sticks" no main gas, electric only building. Can I install some heating in the loft operated by a frost stat? OK they asked me to supply and install two 3kw fan heaters in the loft, I did and offered the opinion that this should be sufficient , back to back, to cover most of the rectangle of the loft area there was a small area of relative dead air space that would not receive much heat, if any so I recommended the addition of a small 1kw heater to the circuit to cover just this area. Cost peanuts but suggestion declined. Winter came and went, no problem. The next winter was a harsh one, I was told by the main contractor there had been a burst "Oh dear I said", I was told "It was right in that area where you recommended that little supplementary heater be sited, please can you now sort one?" Horse - Door - Bolted!
Thing is, I had made my recommendations as a "back of a fag packet/the rack of the eye" exercise rather than their BTU/KW space area formulas and suggested this needing a tweek. A tweek in time saves nine?
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