On Feb 14, 8:35 pm, wrote:
Hi

The barge and fascia boards on the front of our 1930's Surrey house
are rotten and I plan to have them replaced with black uPVC. The gable
is 4m wide and the fascia stretch is 4.5m. A local firm has quoted
£1195 (inc VAT) to replace them and the soffits in black uPVC. Another
firm has quoted more than £1300. The first firm expects to complete
the work in a day. £1195 seems a lot of money for this. Please will
someone give me a sanity check and say whether or not this is
excessive?

Actually, the soffits look sound but I guess it is prudent to replace
them at the same time. Would you agree?

The more expensive firm's process is to fit a tanalised timber backing
board behind the fascia boards. They say this is necessary because
uPVC on its own cannot handle the load bearing requirement imposed by
the overhanging roof tiles, the gutters and the soffits. The cheaper
firm does not fit such timber and they say they have never heard of
any firm doing this. Please will someone advise whether a timber
backing is required?

David

Sounds ludicrous. Ask them how many people they'll have on the job,
look up an approximate price for the materials, and work out an hourly
rate.

Get a quote for sticking new timber up. It'll look better (more in-
keeping) and (with straightforward occasional maintenance) last
longer. Plus it's way more environmentally friendly. It should also
cost much less than £1300, but will have the required strength.

A