How to price an unfinished job?

[redlagoon]

A little while ago, i struck a deal with a local builder to skim every room of a house rennovation. The price agreed was a lump sum for the entire house.

Due to personal reasons, he was unable to complete the job through to completion.

I'm trying to work out the most accurate way to assess how much to pay him for the work he has done.

My current idea is to calculate the dimension of each room and from there work out the total surface area that was included in the price. Based on this, i have a £ per sq/m cost which i can use to calculate the bits that are remaining and then deduct from the total.

Would this be a reasonable way to make an estimation?

Or is there a better way?

 

[noseall]

if it is such that all the remaining rooms to be plastered are upstairs, then your method may seem unbalanced.

 

[redlagoon]

The areas left to plaster are mainly the ceilings of 4 bedrooms and the 1st and ground floor landings/passageways.

Based on the method i described earlier, the surface area that is unplastered accounts for 20% of the entire job.

I've also been told that ceilings are harder to do than walls.

Evidently, my method assumes all areas to be the same. In light of this, should i decreaase or increase the remaining % based on the areas that are left? In other words, if my method is unbalanced, which way should it go to rebalance the equation?

 

[noseall]

[quote="redlagoon";p="777827"

The areas left to plaster are mainly the ceilings of 4 bedrooms and the 1st and ground floor landings/passageways.

ouch! easily the least attractive too!

Based on the method i described earlier, the surface area that is unplastered accounts for 20% of the entire job.

I've also been told that ceilings are harder to do than walls.

Evidently, my method assumes all areas to be the same. In light of this, should i decreaase or increase the remaining % based on the areas that are left? In other words, if my method is unbalanced, which way should it go to rebalance the equation?

you will need to get a plasterer in to quote the remainder and deduct this from the amount payable.
it seems that all the profit making work has been gleaned from the job, leaving you with the least desirable aspects to finish.

 

[Micilin]

Has he done the walls of the bedrooms leaving the ceilings to be done later, or are ceilings the only areas in those rooms to be plastered?

This will mean he was working out of sequence, as you should always do teh ceilings before finishing the walls - especially if you are treating the ceilings with PVA, Bondit or similar as these show throught paint.

As an aside, ceilings are no worse for doing than walls and on site, a spread will generally make more money on ceilings as there are ( usually) no beads to put up or angles to pull, so it is easier to cover the metres. Ceilings are charged more for because you either need to scaffold them out or use stilts.

Domestic work is different , as metres don't come into it.



As noseall said, you need to get a price for the remainder and deduct it. Area is less imprtant than the time it will take to finish it.

For example , I could quite comfortably skim 40m2 of ceilings in one hit, but might struggle to do 20m2 in a dormer bedroom, or awkward stair landing..

 

[redlagoon]

The walls of the bedrooms were part of the job and have already been done.

The reason the ceilings were left till later was because there was some work being done in the loft and to prevent the new plaster from cracking, he decided to leave the ceilings for later.

Looking at the ceilings now, there appears to be some wallpaper thats removed in some places and not in others. Will the new plaster go straight onto this?

 

[noseall]

Looking at the ceilings now, there appears to be some wallpaper thats removed in some places and not in others. Will the new plaster go straight onto this?

no. all the paper will need removing.

it is sometimes less hassle to overboard the existing ceiling rather than scratch away at the paper.

 

[roughcaster]

I think the spread that you get to come and look at your job,will see that 4/5th's of the job has been completed, maybe the "easy" areas.....and the 20% left... is now the more "awkward" areas,because of the sequence the job was carried out in the first place. Ceilings will now have to be prepared for plastering ( paper stripped,pva,bondit if req'd)... all this without messing up the newly plastered walls. The same goes for the landings (scaffold ?) and passageways on both floor levels.Just a thought, but maybe,this person COULDN'T plaster ceilings,( maybe, he bit off more than he could chew). It wouldn't be the first time that i've seen someone do all the easy/straightforward bits, and then pull out of the job for some unexpected reason or another....take all the cream and run.... although i'm not saying this is the case in your job.. Finishing off someone else's work is also not everyone's cup of tea. I agree with Noseall and Micilin, get a price from the new plasterer, (ouch) and deduct. You will need it in writing too for future reference.

Roughcaster.