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

 

[Dustydazzler]

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

think of the next poor bloke

 

[buzzlightyear]

I have not worked on a building site for years ,if the op dont like it move on .

 

[pirate]

Roof trusses are only there to hold the roof in place. You can't floor the loft and store stuff there. NHBC handbook for new homes warns you of this. Old house with 9x6 and queen-posts allows you to build another storey. new houses with unreinforced strip foundations preclude that as the loading would be too high even if the roof construction is strong enough. Imagine filling a double-ender bath with water and 2 people in the attic on a new build...
Near me, a "well-respected" builder had a problem when owners found rising damp. Surveyor arrived...can't be rising damp in a 6-month old timber frame house! Oh, right...built on a concrete raft, and the plasterboard walls are sitting on the slab, with no gap and no membrane. Builder: we built as per the drawings! FFS...you are not a builder if you don't query that design. Job and finish...
Scottish schools falling down, built with P{FI money...walls fall down and child is killed...no ties in the walls. Brickie to blame cos he should have mentioned it and refused to do the job?
Foreman to blame because he didn't listen to brickie and threatened to throw him off site?
BC to blame because they didn't inspect ongoing works?
Architect to blame because he didn't specify wall ties, when any brickie/foreman/ builder worth his salt would take it for granted that you don't build walls without them?
No-one to blame...
No pride, no care, no blame, nobody goes to jail...and they do it all again next week.
You guys do a proper, safe job...and nobody wants to pay you. I think strike action is the way forward! Boycott the builders, make them pay! How can you have labourers pulling in cables etc then boarding out, and only getting electricians in for 2nd fix? What happens if the tests are bad? Rip it all out again? Surely testing must take place before that?
I am heartily sick and tired of poor workmanship being accepted as the norm, driving the good guys down. I know this is an ongoing problem, and proper recognition for qualified sparks is an issue, but unless you have a revolution you will be beaten down and out.
What's that going through the roof?


Oh, it's my blood pressure!
and I'm not even an electrician...

 

[nicebutdim]

Roof trusses are only there to hold the roof in place. You can't floor the loft and store stuff there. NHBC handbook for new homes warns you of this.

Yet most builders will happily floor those lofts for a few ££ extra and never mention its load bearing capacity.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Why wasn't the Architect, Borough Council or Fire officer prosecuted for the Grenfell Tower fire? I have my own theories, but I don't think they will stand scrutiny in Court.

 

[Electrics]

Near me, a "well-respected" builder had a problem when owners found rising damp.

Rising damp isn't real.

The Fraud of Rising Damp

Rising Damp does not exist. This page helps you understand the real reasons for damp problems you experience, fraud of damp proofing company and recommendations for damp proofing.

www.heritage-house.org

 

[Electrics]

?

 

[telectrix]

what we need is an electricians' union run by Arthur Scargill. any developer tries to use unskilled cheap labour, site blockaded, Range Rovers torched, site managers blackballed...... oh well, suppose we can dream.

 

[Mike Johnson]

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.

Where do you expect the plumber to fit it?

 

[Mike Johnson]

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

Satans spawn is without doubt "Cling Film"

 

[telectrix]

Where do you expect the plumber to fit it?

it would have fitted offset from the main crawlway with no problem. was only a header tank for the C/H.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I am not defending the plumber, but wasn't the crawlway there for access to the tank? if the base for the tank was put in by the carpenter then that's where it was fitted, but even then it was probably easier to fit where they did, pipes are not as easy to bend around corners as cable.

 

[telectrix]

the tank was fitted right next to the loft hatch, so that the crawl way was completely blocked. as the hatch was situated 4ft. from 1 gable end it would make sense to fit the tank other side of hatch, leaving the 30ft. crawlway open to the other end.

 

[DMElec.1]

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

It's because people are accepting it.

 

[cliffed]

Did a lot of houses in the 80’s they were ridiculously cheap then…
Its hard work & non stop especially when the site agent won’t sign extras…can you have a look at the CH in plot 7… power not working in …etc.
Realistically a 3/4 bedroom 1st fix is gonna take @ least 2 days…@ a push a day & a halve.
2nd fix/3rd fix @ least 2 days
All based on a mate with you …or even a Spark.