UK Why are new build prices so bad?

[Dom7177]

Hi , I've recently started on a new build site in essex, self employed sub contracting for a colchester company for which I have done work for 3 years .recently I've started to take the prices as a personal insult. A 3 bed house 1st fix including 2x data, 2x tv points 3x bt around 16 x sockets , 2 zone combi heating with weather compensater, oven and separate hob,3x smokes 1x heat , 1x co detectors, 4x fans, shaver socket, 10xlights and switches and 2x outside lights and garage supply is £250 which is around £600 pound less than the plumbers 1st fix price! How can anyone do a good job for that? And apart from walk off site ( which I have done) what can be done? And why are electricians the worse paid trade on new build sites?oh and the 2nd fix price was £10 less

 

[Pete999]

Most new builds in NI are block/block or block/brick cavity walled, with all internal walls floated out in plaster - downstairs walls solid and studding upstairs.

We do have timber framed construction, but nowhere near as common. Never seen dot and dab.

You aint lived then Mate. builder del diablo, buildings from the Devils Trade

 

[telectrix]

dot and dab is the worst thing since the EU. we got rid of that PITA. next is dot and dab. get back to proper construction.

 

[Dustydazzler]

roof trusses are the spawn of Satan. how are you supposed to store anything up there, unless you have triangular boxes.

Just cut them out , that will open the space right up

 

[OnlQQker]

It all started to go wrong with the introduction of Health & Safety.
Put pay to using your workmate as a workmate for example.

 

[nicebutdim]

try crawling through a 3ft high ( at the highest point) attic made of trusses, where the only space to get through to crawl from the hatch, the wet-pants has fitted a water tank.

Know it too well.

I live in a modern house, but grew up in an old place that evolved (literally) over 300 odd years and still have to do a fair bit of maintenance to it.

Lots to love about the new place, but I can't see it still standing 300 years from now.

Lots to love about that old place, but there have been plenty of times where I'd happily have torn it down.

Doesn't matter what age a house is, one certainty is that it's going to swallow vast sums of your hard earned cash.

 

[Zerax]

dot and dab is the worst thing since the EU. we got rid of that PITA. next is dot and dab. get back to proper construction.

I'm voting for you at the next election ! I also hate Dot & Dab... my flat has it... I had really bad noise from next door even though I'm sure it's all built to Regs Part E. I replaced the dot & dab in one room with the dense foam/plasterboard system... and wow... what a difference ! I can't actually hear what they're calling each other anymore... just a low rumble when the row really kicks off !

Would have added about £200 to the build cost... nothing really.

 

[nicebutdim]

dot and dab is the worst thing since the EU. we got rid of that PITA. next is dot and dab. get back to proper construction.

Truth be told, I learned about dot and dab from watching youtube electrical videos. Still struggle to get my head around it - the nearest I've ever seen is where rooms have been battened and boarded to refurb on the cheap.

I can see why people would use it in an old place to save money and hide problems, but how much cheaper can it be than a decent plaster finish?

 

[Zerax]

At least a new build will be dry and cheaper to keep warm. There's good and bad in both camps.

Yeah... I agree.. in many ways they are better... but it's the silly penny pinching at build stage that annoys me... an extra 5% spend would give you something 30% better. From what I see, they are built exactly down to building regs level and not a micron higher !

We're still building thousands and thousands of houses with inadequate insulation, gas boilers and no facility whatsoever for car charging ! It's lunacy...

 

[DPG]

Yeah... I agree.. in many ways they are better... but it's the silly penny pinching at build stage that annoys me... an extra 5% spend would give you something 30% better. From what I see, they are built exactly down to building regs level and not a micron higher !

We're still building thousands and thousands of houses with inadequate insulation, gas boilers and no facility whatsoever for car charging ! It's lunacy...

Agree. And they should have solar panels fitted from new. Would save a fortune doing it while the scaffold is already up and sparkies are available.

 

[Zerax]

Truth be told, I learned about dot and dab from watching youtube electrical videos. Still struggle to get my head around it - the nearest I've ever seen is where rooms have been battened and boarded to refurb on the cheap.

I can see why people would use it in an old place to save money and hide problems, but how much cheaper can it be than a decent plaster finish?

It's used because it's cheap to do... almost full sheets of plasterboard stuck to wall go up mega quickly... and of course the drying out time is far quicker... just a thin skim to go off. Then everyone can crack on with 2nd fix. Lower skill level too... so cheaper on labour.

 

[Zerax]

Agree. And they should have solar panels fitted from new. Would save a fortune doing it while the scaffold is already up and sparkies are available.

The whole solar panel thing though.. in the UK... is a tricky one.. without government subsidies, and with the price of grid sourced power what it is... they don't currently make any economic sense. If the price of grid sourced power were to double though... they start to become viable ceteris paribus.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Love a dot n dab wall

you can fish wires behind it on Rewires

 

[nicebutdim]

Love a dot n dab wall

you can fish wires behind it on Rewires

Not sure I'd want to have dot and dab, just so someone can easily rewire after I'm dead and buried ?

 

[Dom7177]

Out of interest are you chasing boxes in for these new builds or 25mm box screwed surface and dot and dabbed plasterboard?

No most boxes are screwed straight to the wall .we have to chase in for a media box , cooker switches and shaver sockets if they are not in a dryline wall

 

[freddo]

I'll turn up on time, stay til the job's done and switch my mobile off on arrival too

We are still looking for full time electricians!!