Advice re works

quad_red

Hey all,
I'm looking at a quote for works here and added to the the main quotation it has tax and 'preliminary @ 12.5%'.

What, exactly, is that?

Secondly - how much would a surveyor cost?

Cheers!

Victor

Assuming it is construction work, I presume they are suggesting that it may change afterwards, to account for items that will be charged at 21% (e.g. loose carpets, furniture, light bulbs).

Note that the VAT rate on construction work is 13.5%, so the quoter isn't very sophisticated. This may affect the end product.

---

What type of surveyor, doing what?

quad_red

I should've made things clearer.

The Asset Management Company sent a letter saying that works needed doing then proceeded to forward a truely massive bill. The rental agreement appears to be wholly ambiguous in this regard and should never have been signed (but that's for another day).

They attached a laughably vague survey of works and an extremely large quotation. A more detailed survey and a quote from another builder were requested.

The new survey is little better than the first and at the end has
"
Subtotal - X amount
+ Preliminaries @12.5% - 12.5% of X amount
Y amount
+ VAT @13.5% - 13.5% of Y amount

Total T amount

Say (the total amount rounded up by 4 grand!!!)
"


And the additional quote they provided is almost DOUBLE the original quote they provided???

As such, I've been asked to arrange an independent quote and investigate the possibility of securing the services of a surveyor who could inspect the premises and give us an accurate and dependable survey of any repairs needed.

Dakeyras

Preliminaries in a building quote usually consist of items necessary for the carrying out of works and not really the works themselves.

That probably sounds as clear as mud but, for example, items usually contained in the preliminaries section of a quote for the construction of a house might include:

site security, skips, scaffolding, electricity, phone, water, on site offices etc.

though they should really have an amount for them rather than a percentage as it isnt something that is a variable.

Have they included insurance anywhere as maybe they have lumped insurance in with preliminaries as well.

getting a few independant quotes is the only way to go though. builders don't charge for giving you a quotation so you dont really have anything to lose by getting a few for comparision.

hope some (any) of that helps

quad_red

Most helpful and most appreciated.