Bricklayer's Invoice - Reasonable or Expensive?

[Fiddler]

We've just had the invoice from our bricklayer for building almost up to DPC and laying a block and beam floor.

 

Two bricklayers and a labourer were here for 3.5 days - is £3,300 (no VAT) reasonable or expensive? They were quick, but not particularly careful or accurate.

[PeterW]

Is this a stage payment as agreed ..?

 

Looks a little steep (depending on location) but surely it was agreed beforehand ..?

[Mr Punter]

Was it the case that you did not agree a price or rates in advance and just let them tell you how much they wanted when they finished?

 

If this was priced and you agreed, you should just pay.

[Fiddler]

Location is South West (edge of Cotswolds).

 

We didn't agree a price before hand for various reasons. I am well aware this is not the best way to run a project and we probably won't do the same again.

Edited September 7, 2020 by Fiddler

[PeterW]

Is he doing any more work for you ..?

[Declan52]

How many bricks/ blocks did they build???

Did they have to man handle the beams into place or had you a digger/telehandler there???

[Fiddler]

He was supposed to be building the whole house, but we stopped in August due to planning and neighbour issues.

[Fiddler]

Just now, Declan52 said:

How many bricks/ blocks did they build???

Did they have to man handle the beams into place or had you a digger/telehandler there???

Ground floor area is about 90 sq.m with 3 internal walls to support the beams (nothing too complicated).

 

3 courses of 6" block on the outside and 1 course of 4" block and 2 courses of brick on the inside.

 

Had a small telehandler on site, but they still had to man handle the beams into place.

[Redoctober]

18 minutes ago, Fiddler said:

Location is South West (edge of Cotswolds).

 

We didn't agree a price before hand for various reasons. I am well aware this is not the best way to run a project and we probably won't do the same again.

 

Yes, no doubt lessons will be learnt regardless of the outcome of this current "issue" - I can't comment on whether or not it is a fair price but surely you would have had a discussion of some sort about "likely" costs involved. If so, how much difference is their final bill to that what was discussed? I can't believe you just "agreed" to get the job done and then he has handed you the bill without some sort of expectation.?

[Gav_P]

Does that include materials? 

[Russell griffiths]

2 minutes ago, Gav_P said:

Does that include materials? 

Don’t be silly. 

[Declan52]

So the brickies got £400 a day and the help £200. That's a very very decent wage.

Am a bit worried that you didn't think some sort of price structure was needed as in I will pay you £X per day or a total for this stage of the job. The brickies have just seen gold and went for it. Can you ask them for a breakdown of why it's so much or can you say no that's too expensive but I will meet you at £2500-£2800 which would still be a lot for 3.5 days work.

What do you mean by it's not accurate???

[Russell griffiths]

I think it’s about £300 to much but apart from that 

2 trades and a labourer plus tools transport insurance I think for a company it’s about right. 

If he’s just a bod from down the pub who owns a trowel then it’s a bit high. 

 

But are are you paying him by the day or by what he achieved. 

 

Up to dpc floor in for £3300 seams good to me. 

[Gav_P]

 .

Edited September 7, 2020 by Gav_P

[PeterW]

1 minute ago, Gav_P said:

Well as a comparison I paid about £200 per day for bricklayer and £140 for labourer. 
 

I pay £130 for a bricklayer and £80 for a labourer ...  

[nod]

A picture would help 

[Gav_P]

33 minutes ago, PeterW said:

I pay £130 for a bricklayer and £80 for a labourer ...  

Holy smokes Batman,  that’s cheap.
 

I don’t think the rates I paid (£200 & £140) were anything special, probably about average for the area. But I would have happily paid a bit more if they were quick. I think my guys would have taken 5 days to do the same job.... there was always a fair amount of faffing and dithering from what I saw. 
 

 

[Gav_P]

26 minutes ago, nod said:

A picture would help 

We always like pictures ?

[Fiddler]

3 hours ago, Declan52 said:

So the brickies got £400 a day and the help £200. That's a very very decent wage.

Am a bit worried that you didn't think some sort of price structure was needed as in I will pay you £X per day or a total for this stage of the job. The brickies have just seen gold and went for it. Can you ask them for a breakdown of why it's so much or can you say no that's too expensive but I will meet you at £2500-£2800 which would still be a lot for 3.5 days work.

What do you mean by it's not accurate???

 

General accuracy is not great +/-40mm.

Edited September 7, 2020 by Fiddler

[Declan52]

24 minutes ago, Fiddler said:

 

General accuracy is not great +/-40mm.

Out of plum?

Out of square?

Wrong dimensions according to the plan?

Kind of mistakes that will give you a reason to reduce the cost by saying look at X,Y,Z. 

[Fiddler]

2 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

Out of plum?

Out of square?

Wrong dimensions according to the plan?

Kind of mistakes that will give you a reason to reduce the cost by saying look at X,Y,Z. 

 

The diagonals are 50mm out on the main body of the house, which has obviously effected some measurements. The floor is also 25mm short on one side, so they're going to have to over-hang the blocks. I'm probably expecting too much, but it is annoying. 

[Declan52]

Your not expecting too much. They are looking top dollar money so you would think they provide mercedes quality work which they haven't.

50mm out of square on such a small footprint and only 3 course high is not good. 

What do you mean by the floor is short on one side?? Are they corbeling over the last course so the beams rest on it. The beam will need a min of 75mm of bearing preferably 100mm. Are you getting this much.

[Fiddler]

13 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

Your not expecting too much. They are looking top dollar money so you would think they provide mercedes quality work which they haven't.

50mm out of square on such a small footprint and only 3 course high is not good. 

What do you mean by the floor is short on one side?? Are they corbeling over the last course so the beams rest on it. The beam will need a min of 75mm of bearing preferably 100mm. Are you getting this much.

On one of the walls that runs parallel with the beams they cut the last load of blocks short, so they're not resting on the full width of the bricks. 

[Tennentslager]

Photos please

 

[Mr Punter]

In terms of time, good workers on price can earn £400 a day if they graft.

 

I recently had a team of 3 in for 5 days for site preparation at a cost of £5,000.  They worked from 7:40AM to 5:00 PM with about 40 mins total break.  They did the required demolition, cleared and disposed of all the timber,  carefully stacked the paviours I needed to reuse and left the site neat and tidy every evening.  The price was a piss take but worth it.