astronomical energy bill for building site - what to do

[Omnibuswoman]

Having found that Octopus can install a SMETS2 3 phase meter for us, in mid Feb we gave British Gas notice along with a meter reading. Imagine the shock when we received a bill for £1,500 (for electricity use since 3rd November when the work started). 

 

The builders have been running an electric heater in the workshop/facilities area pretty much 24/7 since early on in the build. Initially this was to dry their wet work clothes overnight (and as this is Cornwall there was quite some rain in Nov and Dec). However it seems that they have just enjoyed having a cosy little place to sit and have utterly disregarded any thought of the cost to us of this. 

 

I am really annoyed and upset at this shocking consumption (just over 4020 kwh in 14 weeks), minus weekends and about three weeks of time off site. I'm not sure what to ask our builder to do to put things right. Should we be asking him to foot a portion of the bill? Or should we just stump up for the bill and let it slide, whilst carrying the resentment? 

 

I think for me this fits into a wider concern about the workmen's work ethic - the fact that they appear (on our security cameras) to be in and out of the workshop all of the time (probably because it's so flipping warm and comfortable). I regret not having been present on site more, and that the company owner, Dan, has basically left them to their own devices. I lack confidence as to whether we have achieved value for money from their work, and these feelings are all playing into my anger and unhapiness about the electricity bill.

 

Any advice about what to do would be very welcome...

 

[SteamyTea]

Sadly I think you will have to pay it.

You could point out the high cost and buy a cheap diesel heater.

Trouble is, once the fuel runs out they fill just plug in the fan heater.

 

Trouble down here is that half the builders are related to each other, and you don't know which half that is, so complaining can cost you.

[JohnMo]

You either accept the cost and the same for the next quarter, or speak to the contractor to resolve or agree how or who will foot the bill.  What in your contract?

[Omnibuswoman]

9 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

 What in your contract?

 

It just says that we will ensure that there is water and electricity on site for the build.

[Moonshine]

14 minutes ago, Omnibuswoman said:

 

It just says that we will ensure that there is water and electricity on site for the build.

 

Looks like you are on the hook for it, ouch.

[JohnMo]

Buy a timer? Get the electrician to hard wire it in

[Mr Punter]

If they are on a price it does not make much difference if they take lots of breaks.  Different on day work and if that is the case I would be concerned.  Mention the electric bill and ban the heater to the boss.  I don't see the need for a heater just to keep warm.  If they are cold they should put more clothes on or work harder.

[LnP]

I think you’ll have to swallow it, but let the builder and the trades people know about the bill. You can do this in a way that makes it clear you’d rather not be faced with such a bill, but don’t get angry. Try and get them onside that this is something you’d appreciate their help in trying to improve, and ask them for suggestions how to do that. Then when you’re on site and the heater is not running, be sure to thank them - give them positive reinforcement for the behaviour you want.

We provided a caravan as a site office and rest room. We stocked it with tea, coffee, chocolate biscuits but never thought about smoking until the first day when I noticed the builder smoking. We didn’t want the caravan smelling of smoke. At the first opportunity that he was smoking, not in the caravan, I went up to him and said I really appreciated he wasn’t smoking in the caravan. Problem was solved by positive reinforcement. Neither he nor any of the trades have smoked in the van.

[ToughButterCup]

1 hour ago, Omnibuswoman said:

...

the company owner, Dan, has basically left them to their own devices.

...

 

There's the core problem. They couldn't give a stuff, because they aren't paying.

 

Change the heater to one that has half the heating capacity, and hard-wire a timer 0700 to 1800

[Kelvin]

The issue is that they are leaving it on 24/7. Had they only switched it on when they were using the facilities it’d be a third of that cost. Therefore I’d raise it with their boss. You might need to swallow this bill but not 100% of the next one if they just leave it on. 
 

 

[Omnibuswoman]

10 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

If they are on a price it does not make much difference if they take lots of breaks.  Different on day work and if that is the case I would be concerned. 

They're on a day rate unfortunately, and I profoundly lack confidence in the boss's oversight - the last time we had an issue, after I had spent two days on site and found very little seeming to be happening, I asked Dan about his expectations around work for that particular week.

 

He just didn't have an answer for us - he said that he didn't really know because 'it depends on what happens' and that he 'trusts' the guys to be working hard enough.

 

I think he has no governance over their work, and they don't respect either him or us. I've asked him not to return them to site until we have met to discuss. As Steamy Tea says, it's very risky to be seen to question their work ethic in a place like this. We're the grockles from up country, and I suspect there is some degree of feeling that we deserve, or at least can afford, to pay them to do as little as they wish.  We don't want to fall out with Dan - he is knowledgeable about Passive House building and really cares about his work - but he is just not supervising his team, and this is probably just a sort of final straw for me around lack of stewardship of our precious resources. 

[ETC]

1 hour ago, Omnibuswoman said:

 

It just says that we will ensure that there is water and electricity on site for the build.

It’s a bit ambiguous - are you responsible for the site or have you handed it over to a main contractor? If you have handed the site over to a main contractor he/she will be responsible for everything on the site and that should include all plant and materials including water and electricity.

 

If however you are managing the site and you are responsible for the site security, materials stored and plant then I would suggest that the bill is yours unless you have a clause in the contract to suggest otherwise.
 

Get those brass balls out and bat that bill right over to the contractor. Being liable to provide a service does not necessarily mean you are liable for the cost.

 

Can you post your contract or post what type it is.

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by ETC

[ETC]

How are these workmen employed? 
 

Do you employ them directly or have you employed a single contractor?
 

Day rates are a big mistake in my view - there’s no incentive to complete the works.

 

By the way do you have a contracted complete date and are there liquidated damages stated? (Do they still call them this?)

[ETC]

There should also be a programme of work showing what works have been completed by a certain date. 

[Wumpus]

I would expect them to be reasonable and not leave the heater on when they are not in the site office. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with pointing out that it’s a lot of money, or possibly that it’s a waste of resources and the environmental cost is poor. Ultimately I think it’s your cost though.

 

I had similar irritations, but I do not begrudge the team having a place to warm up and dry off. The winds and rain in Devon and Cornwall are more than a bit persistent after all. I do get a bit irritated when the doors of the house are wide open and there’s a fan heater blasting out, but usually just swallow it. We were running at around £200 a month for electricity over the winter for contractor use. It will drop substantially when the weather gets warmer, which hopefully is soon. Perhaps just swallow the costs until spring?

[Wumpus]

12 minutes ago, Omnibuswoman said:

We don't want to fall out with Dan - he is knowledgeable about Passive House building and really cares about his work - but he is just not supervising his team, and this is probably just a sort of final straw for me around lack of stewardship of our precious resources. 

…to add, I think this is the key point. A good working relationship with someone you trust is worth an awful lot more than some electricity?

[Omnibuswoman]

@ETC copy of the contract attached. The site is the responsibility of the contractor, but we are responsible for providing water, electricity and wifi.

copy of contract in word.docx

[Omnibuswoman]

6 minutes ago, Wumpus said:

…to add, I think this is the key point. A good working relationship with someone you trust is worth an awful lot more than some electricity?

 

I would say a qualified yes to that - trusting the team is the issue here. The bill, which is not a small amount given the various constraints on our finances well set out by others considering building in the current climate, is a red flag for me as to whether they can be trusted. As ToughButtercup says, they don't give a crap because they're not footing the bill. I don't behave like that at work, and I don't expect others to either.  

[Wumpus]

Just now, Omnibuswoman said:

 

I would say a qualified yes to that - trusting the team is the issue here. The bill, which is not a small amount given the various constraints on our finances well set out by others considering building in the current climate, is a red flag for me as to whether they can be trusted. As ToughButtercup says, they don't give a crap because they're not footing the bill. I don't behave like that at work, and I don't expect others to either.  

Fair point. If the oversight isn’t enough things will get missed that are more significant and in a Passive construction that’s not going to be a good thing. Would a “disappointed not angry” approach work?

 

The suggestion to add a timer might work? …or if they really don’t care they will override it somehow?

[ETC]

I’ve just had a quick look at the contract. I think clause 5.3 snookers you into paying for the utilities.

 

I also don’t think that this is a great contract. I see there is a Target Price - this is not fixed so you won’t know until the works are well underway what you are paying. No wonder the workers on site are taking their time.

 

Who advised you to sign this contract?

[Kelvin]

You need to ‘grow a pair’ I’m afraid. It’s your house after all. 
 

I suggest you have at least weekly meetings with them and agree what work is going to be completed that week. There’s also no reason why you can’t point out the electricity bill to them. Whether they’ve done it because they don’t care or just didn’t think is up you to decide. I suspect the latter. 
 

My build is a mixture trades and suppliers some of which I have a contract with and some it’s just a list of what they are going to do and how much or how long and a day rate. I don’t have a contract with the groundswork team for example but I do have a fixed price. I’ve been on-site every morning and he walks me through the plan for that day and we make any decisions that need to be made. I then go down at the end of the day and photograph everything that’s been done and note anything to raise the following day. 

[Omnibuswoman]

@Kelvin We took the path of entrusting this responsibility to Dan, the building company owner/main contractor, and are paying him for that role. Our site is 240 miles from here, and I simply cannot be there, and do my day job, hence going with a main contractor. I now somewhat regret that I have not been holding Dan to account more stringently and more often - although doing so without any real knowledge of what I might reasonably expect is challenging. This is an area where he knows more than I do, and to some degree we have had to take it on trust that he is directing the work properly.

 

I'm still not in a position to go and make myself present on site, but I do think we need to meet with Dan to find out the timescales for the remaining external works (battening, cement boarding, rendering, fitting windows and doors) so that we can at least hold his feet to the fire a bit more. He is excellent at building houses, but rubbish (it seems) at managing his employees. 

[Omnibuswoman]

1 hour ago, ETC said:

I’ve just had a quick look at the contract. I think clause 5.3 snookers you into paying for the utilities.

 

I also don’t think that this is a great contract. I see there is a Target Price - this is not fixed so you won’t know until the works are well underway what you are paying. No wonder the workers on site are taking their time.

 

Who advised you to sign this contract?

 

We didn't take any advice on this - we pushed him to give us a contract, so he went online and got this one. I don't think he was trying to pull a fast one on us or anything.

I went through it with a fine-toothed comb and was satisfied that it set out the various responsibilities clearly, and had an arbitration/mediation element in case we fell out. If we had wanted a fixed cost project his quote would have been 10-15% higher, so we accepted the target price model. We receive an updated spreadsheet fortnightly showing the breakdown of the latest invoiced costs against the predicted budget/quote. 

 

I think what bothers me most is that he is rarely on site, and the builders who are (whilst clearly skilled builders) are disrespectful about him. He evidently has no authority or control over them, and no clear expectations as to what they ought to be achieving in what timescale. When asked, he couldn't articulate what he expected, beyond saying that he trusted them. I suspect that trusting them is his preferred alternative to managing them, which may be beyond his skills. And yet this is what I believe we are paying him for. 

 

[Omnibuswoman]

2 hours ago, Wumpus said:

Fair point. If the oversight isn’t enough things will get missed that are more significant and in a Passive construction that’s not going to be a good thing. Would a “disappointed not angry” approach work?

 

The suggestion to add a timer might work? …or if they really don’t care they will override it somehow?

 

You're right, I need to get a grip and just concentrate on being more effective. To be fair to me, I'm not feeling great today and have just tested positive for covid, so I shall use that to explain/apologise for being so annoyed this morning and will speak to him properly and fairly tomorrow. It's important to keep the two things separate - the irritation about the bill, and my concerns about his lack of site/employee management.

[Kelvin]

You can still have weekly calls with them with progress updates, plan for the week etc. I realise it’s 240 miles but I’d still be making the weekly trip at least until things seem on track.