saveasteading

I have just noticed the batch of messages that you didn't use the electrician with the high quote, which was the original point of discussion? Not sure what the discussion is about then. Except I hope we have been of some interest to anyone wanting to know more about how contractors have to include unproductive time. And goodnight.

How would we know? BTW a company I once worked for always put in calculated oh & p except once, when it went in at nil. zero. zilch I was forbidden to tell anyone why, but can now reveal: The reason being that once on those premises there were probably 2 years of extra jobs. How did my boss know? I can only speculate.

Twice as fast, or twice the total energy storage regardless of time? Excuse me, covid does not allow consideration of equations.

So what set of tools ideally? Jigs, router, lifter?

Agreed. not the sort of decision that many people are prepared to take. Its really annoying when you find that you were never going to get the job. Sometimes it is 'mates' and you are being used to do a check price for the mate to just beat. And once I priced a whole car component factory for a Japanese manufacturer, against 3 competitors. It turned out that the Japanese manager was in the dark too (for credibility) and they were doing the same in 3 other towns and ....they built it in another country. Are you quoting a lump sum, at total risk, or rates?

Fe Iron O Oxygen lite ??? it is very heavy Can you explain simply and approximately what these terms are compared to normal brick etc?

I once doubled back to the site 10 minutes after leaving at 3.00 with a suspicion in my mind. There I met the cladding gang packed and leaving. The reason...it had been a good day and they had already hit their target m2 for the day. South East work ethic. And we had a gang of Polish workers who were a pleasure to employ. But one told me that the canteen talk was about how you don't have to work that hard, and you are spoiling it for everybody.

Ok I'm still here after all. People need to know this. On multimillion projects as you mention, the estimating team may spend weeks, even months, not 'making' anything. The estimating team is usually a fixed cost, whether they win or lose a job.. and losing at the right price is a big part of their skill. Do they have assistance from admin, buying department? Were there marketing costs? The FD might know, or predict, that you win one job in 5. So 4 quotes have cost and no contribution to overhead and no profit. The 5th one has to recover the cost of the 4 lost ones....or out of business you go. Whoever has the final say may adjust the profit or overhead on a tender however they wish, perhaps on a whim. But all that time on jobs not won has to paid by the few that are. It is probably simply built in to the overhead that you are told to apply. A proportion of their cost is included in every tender, win or lose. It also has to include the directors' days at Twickers and golf and other 'networking'. That all comes out of overhead or out of profit..which hits the staff bonuses.

I give in. Must have been wrong all these years. Anyway, your man did charge rather a lot, but that seems to be your problem, not his.

Yes. Not remotely a castle, but a very posh palace with crinkly bits. The intro will make you laugh as they appear to have taken the long route there and didn't realise there was a handy city and airport. I'm enjoying it. It is psychology/ herd mentality / people watching. And concerning that these people get to vote. Claudia gets her 2 new outfits per show as usual, but tweedy rather than sparkling. Prob not staying in the B and B either. Give it a try. It is knockout format so can start at any episode. You know where the off button is.

Handy tip: when you dispose of the slow to respond storage heaters, the bricks are very useful in the greenhouse as heatsinks: they absorb heat in the day and release it into the evening. The bricks are incredibly heavy and are more like tiles. I think there is a lot of iron in them.

Yes you do. It is within the overhead, for the proportion of time taken for these processes...and applied to labour, space and general costs. It may be formalised or just 'within the overhead'. Have a word with the FD about it. They are usually happy that anyone is interested. Taking it 'out of profit' means you are charging your customers for the failed tenders...as I said already. It works, and is fair because normally everybody does the same. I'm not guessing. I was an Estimator, and how much to charge for overhead was set as standard and adjusted if short of work, and I later ran a construction business. People argue about charging or not, but only in hard times. From what IT costs, there are clearly huge wages, big profits and large overheads. How can one of your industry help me on the phone for 30 minutes and charge £100. Ridiculous, as he was clearly sitting idle anyway. Sorry, just having fun.

No idea. Most won't stock it so I would use the web for guidance and offer that price to your local BM. They have a sure sale and no stock costs. A further thought..I have a vague memory that it is super hard and smooth on one side, but rippled on the back....which wouldn't be slippy but might get mucky. So looked on line and some is sold specifically as non-slip....BUT £260/sheet!!!! And they sell edge sealer. I think best contact the manufacturer. BTW I see your local castle is on tele for 'Traitors'. No mention of the Duke of Sutherland's nasty doings which paid for it.

I'll put that in my black book if I find it. The trouble is (SE anyway) how many useful hours there are). Arrive 8.10, tea in the van. 9.00 breakfast. 1.00 lunch. 3.00 tea. 4.00 home ('before the traffic')

Yes this is how it will work: a stream of hot rising air, but too slow to cause general movement round the room. When putting the angel on the tree it is so much hotter up there. All hot air rises, and it can be extreme in a warehouse situation. 10m up on a cherrypicker it can be very hot unless the air can be brought down again. These fans exist but are underused, Back to domestic: Hence continental room fans have a reverse switch. Downwards in summer because the draught itself is what causes the cooling feeling, but up in winter to force the warmer air down where useful.

Right. If 3mm or less, say, then adhesive as you tile. More than that, up to 10mm filll with adhesive first and let it harden. Easy either way. Over 10mm, let's see the photo please.

People! Can't trust them. People with skills where there is a shortage? Greedy. No site visit and quote is free of cost to the supplier. It is charged in the quote, along with a share of lost job costs. I forgot to mention sickness cover, insrance, overheads. I suggest you don't go into contracting or any other self employed position or you will undercharge for a while. A very good diy book for Christmas perhaps. (There will be profits and overheads unreasonably built in to the price though). Been an interesting and informative discussion.

Scotland or England? The terms vary according to location, and beware using the wrong term.

No, there is an easy enough way. Stoph43, I will deal with this for you if you wish to pursue this solution...but it is your project and your money.

Assuming this will be a coat of emulsion, then there is no harm carrying on.

Very durable. It is used for multi use concrete shuttering. The cut edges seem to be entirely resistant to damp but perhaps paint over them...or just check occasionally. I took a punt on making concrete shutters from the material, despite the cost, for a standard plinth we used, typically 20 per project, with screwed connections. I think they were used about 6 times (i wrote on them each job). Which justified the cost and sustainabity (timber use, skips, then deduct storage and transport). Until a groundworker sent a new gang to strip them and they smashed them up. I think they would have lasted another 6. At last use there was a lot of denting and corners chipped, to be expected, but there was no water damage. So i think it is fine for you. Check slipperiness. It cut very neatly too.

If there isn't a cat, dog and bird print (the Big Three) then it isn't a proper floor. The point about the adjacent area being high is good. The material has moved from the imprint sideways and up, so put a straight edge on it. If high, grind down with a carborundum stone if posh, or a brick, the sooner the easier. Then I would fill anything more than 3mm deep before the tiling. This gives it time to shrink and cure. Tile adhesive as good as anything, and really sticks, so the tiler could do it first. I'm convinced that non-shrink adhesive does shrink, hence doing it early. A photo of the footprint would be rather good for your ID.

Think of it as £40 per light. If he had take 2 hours, through not being such an efficient worker, would you have minded 2 hours at £122/hour? Still a lot I know. But he has the risk of it not working for a reason not known until starting, dropping them, a faulty one he has to replace, and a call-back if one fails. Also what is often ignored is the free visits when he is not then asked to do the work. first visit including coming and going. An hour typically. Getting the parts. An hour typically. the job, including coming and going, 2 hours as it went so quickly. that is 4 hours of his time used for your project. £244 /4 is £60/hour. Allowing for the odd day when a visit is cancelled or can't work efficiently , say 4 weeks lost in the year. and then less holidays. £60 x 40 hours x 42 weeks: £100,000 a year. Still rather good, so please encourage youth to do an apprenticeship and get into a trade. And bottom line is to check prices and shop around first if you think that is excessive.

As there is wall cladding then that would define the available outer limit. so you have 20mm or more to play with, if anyone is measuring that closely. But then what if you drop a string line from the edge of the roof sheeting, does that give extra width? Even if you could only squeeze in 20mm PIR outside the columns, that will do enough, and can be made up for in other ways (discuss later if this works in principle) I do not agree for a moment that you should leave the rafters and purlins exposed, if that is what the above suggestion is. It would need heavy protection and would be , let's say, quirky. It works in the Mediterranean but not here. Are the purlins (pedantic corner here...purlins are only on the roof, the walls have wall rails (or girts in American and some of Europe)) yes, are the purlins set on top of the rafters or inset? What do you plan for the wall construction? You will be stripping the wall and roof cladding. Has anyone already measured the existing dimensions? This is all worth many thousands to you, so any more photos or sketches may be worthwhile.

yourself?