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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:15 pm
by loudog
Hi, I am not being funny here.
Right... concrete can be mixed by hand, i dont work a big radius so all work is local, you could easy do two in one day, someone said 3 tonn of tarmac, sorry but had to laugh at that, someone must like having it left over i guess, you wont change my views on £900 plus vat, people just would not pay that down here, no way would they. As for tipping... down here its £10 for your first ton and then £3 per ton after. I guess its where you live but i suggest you get down here and live. :laugh:
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:24 pm
by Dave_L
Whereabouts are you based, Loudog?
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 8:11 pm
by loudog
hi you not coming down for fight i hope. 
i live in frome in somerset
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 8:18 pm
by flowjoe
Loudog
You know your area better than me, can`t argue with that. But i know contractors in the west country doing the same specific works as me and charging the same rates.
Minumum wages, derv, materials etc govern this to a point.
Two half day jobs @ £450 = a £900 day its just that i and others choose to price the works on a full day. I would say on average you are £200 light looking at the prices mentioned in other areas.
Fair play to you if you can run off 6 to 8 jobs monday to thurs and tar-Mac the lot on Friday then there is money in it to a degree. BUT you WILL end up with your bollocks in your socks for sure, if there is enough local work to go at.
I would be down there like a shot if you had decent ale and could play footy
:laugh:
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:16 pm
by loudog
:laugh: Bristol city will be in the premier next season. lol. I dont just do pavement mind, patios, block paving, tarmac drives, my dad has been in the game 40 years and myself 20. i wouldnt do it if i didnt make a decent wage out of it, my dad and i love getting the odd pavement as good bit of beer money. Big contractors down here charge about £650 but have massive overheads, we charge £450 and make a good profit for a mornings work. lovely jubbly
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:10 pm
by Tony McC
This is just the sort of approach that is pretty certain to see you being turned down for the Approved Contractor's List at your local council. It's not a matter of "knocking-up a bit of concrete"; it's a matter of doing the job in a safe and professional manner, which hundreds of other contractors the length and breadth of this island have learned cannot be done at the discount rate you propose.
What happens when the Highways Inspector doesn't turn up at 11am as promised to pass the excavation/formation works and you're sat around until 2pm waiting for him/her? What happens when the HSE want to know why you've only one man working on a public highway, with no-one to watch his back or to give a hand lifting kerbs?
You go out and advertise your 450 quid drop crossings. You'll be out of business within 18 months. Fact!
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:06 pm
by loudog
I said that i can do them on my own, doesnt mean there arnt others on site. What if they dont turn up you say..... you just get on with something else. And i am full aware of its not just a case of knocking up a bit of concrete. Out of business in 18 months ive been doing this 20 years + and expect to do it for another 20 years, as ive said in my posts before, people down here wouldnt pay £900 plus vat for a standard set of 5 dropped kerbs, we would have the police after us for overcharging.... sorry Tony. Dont want to get on the wrong side of the main man, great book by the way i read it all over xmas :laugh:
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:58 pm
by lutonlagerlout
i suppose its market forces at work,costs are higher round londinium but then peoples disposable income is higher too
most lads i know their morgages are over £1200 a month so they need to be clearing £6-800 a week to have a life
i know my cousin in blackpool has a mortgage for £28,000,costs him about £250 a month so he has less to worry over financially
LLL
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:42 pm
by loudog
i guess so, all my friends have morgages around the £500- 700 mark. on my earliar post i put that i can tip for about £20 but really there are places down here you can tip for abou £2 a ton, cause they reclycle it.
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:42 pm
by bobbi o
loudog,just to clarify- you should be excavating the full width of the footpath(usually 2000mm) and the full length of the kerbs you've dropped and reinstating the footpath to the new levels with 50mm/30mm of bitmac/asphalt or whatever the spec for footpath construction is in your area.
the householder will get a plan of the required spec when they apply to the council to create a new footpath crossing.
if you carry out a job to that spec and do a costing afterwards,you'll find that your not making any profit, doing it for 450. i know cos i used to do it for that price 5yrs ago.
i suspect-correct me if i'm wrong- that your re-setting the kerbs and then reinstating only a small width of the footpath to come flush with the rest of the pavement,which you dont touch.
if you can get away with that (and i've seen plenty paving companies that try it ) thats the only way i can see you making any profit on 450.
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:14 pm
by loudog
Hi, wat you are saying is the only way you could make a profit is by taking out half the pavement...... a pavement is only about 2 mts wide. Once you have cut both ends it all comes out in one piece anyway. Cant see how you work out you make a profit by doing half the pavement but no profit by doing it in full. All it takes to do the other half is another half ton of base and half ton of tops. Had one guy on here telling me that you need 3 ton of tar for a standard set of 5 kerbs ( 2 splice and 3x 5/6) must have dug down to Oz me think 