On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:13:11 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 09:51:00 +0100,
wrote:

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 00:07:13 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

Thanks for some good feedback here - more or less confirmed what I
thought.

You're welcome. It was all based on experiences and I'm glad I put
the ducks in line at the start of the project.

To be fair, I am quite picky, but not beyond the point of expecting
people to deliver on their commitments.....





Cost of conservatory supplied - £8,837 (a)

Cost of installation - £720 (b)
(paid directly to installer)

Planning approval - £400 (c)
(paid direct to architect)

Cost of building works, including - £1,980 (d)
base, brickwork, electrics etc
(paid direct to tradesmen)

TOTAL -£11,937


The payment terms are as follows:

Deposit with order - 2,837 (1)

Planning fee - £400 (2)

Building works completion - 1,805 (3)

Delivery of conservatory - 6,000 (4)

Completion of electrics - 175 (5)

Installation completion - 720 (6)

TOTAL - 11,937

Although it doesn't specifiy who the actual payments are to be made
to, obviously (1) + (4) + (a), (2) = (c), (6) = (b), and (3) + (5) =
(d)

My problem with this is that by the time the conservatory has been
delivered to site, but not erected, I've paid over £11,000 of the
total bill, with only (5) and (6) outstanding.

Much too much too soon, especially if you are paying some contractors
separately. For example, you can't reasonably withhold on the
electrician because the conservator supplier misbehaved.

As it happens, I received the final quote I'd been waiting for in this
morning's mail. I'd discounted it, because from the way the guy was
talking when he visited, it was shaping up to be a lot more expensive.
Its come in at £12,458, although that doesn't include the two roof
vents, which they quote at £230 each, or the planning fee, which they
do for £295 using their in house surveyor.

I think that these are reasonable figures.

Just to finish this up, I spoke to this company after receiving their
quote, told them what the competitve quote was, and they've revised
theirs. They've added in the air con unit, and the two roof vents, and
some extra electrics, and the planning fee, and *reduced* the total
cost by £25, still with payment terms that only require payment of 30%
of the total costs before satisfactory completion of the whole
project, so the decision becomes a bit of a no brainer. Also a
neighbour of mine used them last year for his own conservatory and he
was extremely impressed with them, so it looks like I'll be going with
them

Brian