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Ground Works Ducting
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30-10-2009 9:41pm#1My builder is tryingto charge me around €1400 to run ductingfor potential eircom connection.
Basically there are 3 eircom poles running at the front of my house and he is looking for 600 for running this (which is around 150m stretch between all 3 poles). This is to future proof it so that if eircom ever remove the poles I don't have to go digging again and includes 2 boxes at each end. Something about a road closure license (which sounds like BS to me).
Originally he charged me 300 for ducting from the pole to the house but when eircom came out they wanted it coming from the other pole. He then removed that ducting..... but still wants the 300 for ducting that he removed. If he left it in I wouldn't mind but the fact is he removes / undid the work that he had done.
He is now looking for a final 500 to run ducting from the farthest pole into the house.
Given that he removed the original ductig should I really pay up €300, personally I am inclined just to pay it to get things complete but was wondering what people with more experience think of this as this has gone from 300 -> 800 -> 1400 and then I have to buy one of those heavy duty vc lids which he claims are €150.
Any views on this?0
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Originally he charged me 300 for ducting from the pole to the house but when eircom came out they wanted it coming from the other pole. He then removed that ducting..... but still wants the 300 for ducting that he removed. If he left it in I wouldn't mind but the fact is he removes / undid the work that he had done.
Any views on this?
Is this covered in your contract?
There seems to be confusion over which pole the ducting was to run too?
Either way your Builder has costs for excavating, laying duct, backfilling trench and making good. Then he had to undo all this work and dig a new trench. (Why couldn't he continue the original trench to pole 2?)
If he knowing went to the wrong pole then you may have a case otherwise you'll have to negiotate a rate - meet half way. 1400 seems very high.
Eircom are unlikely to move the third pole so running a duct to this seems futile and a waste of money.0 -
My builder is tryingto charge me around €1400 to run ductingfor potential eircom connection.
Basically there are 3 eircom poles running at the front of my house and he is looking for 600 for running this (which is around 150m stretch between all 3 poles). This is to future proof it so that if eircom ever remove the poles I don't have to go digging again and includes 2 boxes at each end. Something about a road closure license (which sounds like BS to me).
Why future proof? If Eircom are providing a service and they decide to relocate the service at a leter dateit is their cost. 600 euro for 150m of duct with two chambers sounds fine to me. Ducting is of the order of 2.50/m to buy.Originally he charged me 300 for ducting from the pole to the house but when eircom came out they wanted it coming from the other pole. He then removed that ducting..... but still wants the 300 for ducting that he removed. If he left it in I wouldn't mind but the fact is he removes / undid the work that he had done.
Who decided where the connection was coming from originally? Did Eircom change their mind or did the builder install ducting without confirming? If the builder didnt check and made an assumption then it is his problem.He is now looking for a final 500 to run ducting from the farthest pole into the house.
Given that he removed the original ductig should I really pay up €300, personally I am inclined just to pay it to get things complete but was wondering what people with more experience think of this as this has gone from 300 -> 800 -> 1400 and then I have to buy one of those heavy duty vc lids which he claims are €150.
Any views on this?
Whether he removed the ducting or not is pretty irrelevent unless you needed it. The issue is that he laid it in the first place and whether he should be paid for it. Covers may well be of the order of 150 Euro. And the additional 500 for more ducting is dependent upon the length. How was this all priced in the job originally? Was it excluded to be reviewed when connection details were confirmed?0 -
Who decided where the connection was coming from originally? Did Eircom change their mind or did the builder install ducting without confirming? If the builder didnt check and made an assumption then it is his problem.
I requested a survey from eircom, the builder ran the ducting one of the poles. Now I never saw the ducting in place, nor did I have any knowledge of him removing the ducting. With that in mind the ducting was obviously burried so with all the diggng and grading it would be hard to know. But the first I hear of it being removed was when he asked for more money on fridayWhether he removed the ducting or not is pretty irrelevent unless you needed it. The issue is that he laid it in the first place and whether he should be paid for it. Covers may well be of the order of 150 Euro. And the additional 500 for more ducting is dependent upon the length. How was this all priced in the job originally? Was it excluded to be reviewed when connection details were confirmed?
1. The orignal agreement was to run ducting from a pole to the house. (there are two at the front of the house)
2. The hedgerow was removed and it was clear that eircom were running some cable underground, so while the ESB ducting was being put in place we also ran the eircom along this so I wouldn't have to dig again when eircom removed the poles or the neighbours get connection etc.
3. Eircom then did their survey, and wanted to knock the pole and use the ducting in 2. They then wanted to extend the ducting further down to another pole. which would require more ducting but would rule out point 1 as this pole would be removed.
At some point during all of this he removed the ducting of point 1. TBH I never saw the ducting go down and would not be 100% confident if it had ever gone in (no digger onsite after eircom survey).
Even if the ducting wasn't required anymore, I didn't ask for it to be removed and could have used it to feed cables for garden lights or something.Is this covered in your contract?
There seems to be confusion over which pole the ducting was to run too?
If he knowing went to the wrong pole then you may have a case otherwise you'll have to negiotate a rate - meet half way. 1400 seems very high.
Eircom are unlikely to move the third pole so running a duct to this seems futile and a waste of money.
The wording of these particular are:
"Eircom ducting from house to poll" (this is vague and could mean any poll)
"Eircom Ducting from poll at shed past entrance."
Now I have no problem with the first one (other than it's now be removed and is rather vague but he physically showed me what pole he was intending to go towards.) The second part to me reads exactly what the ericom survey required as there are 3 poles, one at the shed, 1 20m's before the shed and one at the gate of the house.
To me the poll at the shed is the actual poll at the shed and not the one 20m's before it. He argues that it's the one 20m's before and thus why i am encurring the extra costs now
I'm not trying to screw the guy out of money for work done, I am trying to stop costs from creeping gradually out of control. €1400 is alot of money for ducting especially when a large portion of it no longer exists.
For the sake of a few hundred euro I'm not going to kick up a huge storm, wanted to know from people with more experience what their views were0 -
I requested a survey from eircom, the builder ran the ducting one of the poles. Now I never saw the ducting in place, nor did I have any knowledge of him removing the ducting. With that in mind the ducting was obviously burried so with all the diggng and grading it would be hard to know. But the first I hear of it being removed was when he asked for more money on friday
I have to say my first thought when I read that they had removed the ducting was that that was unusual. It is not usually cost effective to dig out ducts for reuse. (a) They are easily damaged by machine, (b) The amount of work is almost exactly the same as laying a new duct anyway ie dig and backfill. So in effect you are duplicating work in order to save the cost of duct which may be damaged during the process. I hate to ask but are you sure this duct went in the ground in the first place?0 -
No, and I would be nearly 100% certaIn it didn't go into the ground. But I can only take him on his word and question him about these things.
As you outlined it's unrealistic to take up ducting 1 - 2 months after you put it in because eircom want to use another pole. It would be more likely that he would just bill me for more ducting and leave the existing one there. But it's not there, he says that he removed it and I'm not going to argue and have him walk off the site when we are so close to finishing.
I wanted other peoples views on this who have more experience on this than me. So that I wasn't over reacting or being led like a sheep.0 -
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