Am I being screwed?

[Alex Carr]

I have 80m² of basement floor (5 x rooms + hallway), already laid with ufh pipework. The contractor in the frame for laying a biscuit screeed (sharp sand in an 8:1 mix) 50mm thick, interspesed with battens at 400mm centres is asking for a £9,000 fee, which includes materials & labour for his crew. But here's the thing: the sand (2 x tonne bags) & cement have to be crane lifted over the back wall where there will be 2 or 3 or possibly even 4 mixers on the go (so he says); from there it's a 30 mts walk with wheelbarrow(s), down 3 steps and then a couple more metres to half a dozen more steps and a turn through a conservatory into the property, where the mix is dumped to where 2 x screeders will be doing the tamping and levelling. The contractor's fee works out at £112.50 per. square metre, which seems steep, but I'm not sure whether it is or not, given the logistics of hiring mixers, delivery charges, barrow hire (possibly) moving the mix from the mixing point to where it is needed, etc.  Any wise folk out there with an informed opinion on this?

[MR10]

He's pulling your pants down. Get another quote.

Have you considered liquid screed like Cemfloor? Mine worked out at ~£28/sqm (65mm thick, 165m2).

[JohnMo]

Sounds super expensive - any other practical route to get to basement, do you need the sand craned in?

[ProDave]

Crane will be £1000 at least.

 

Are the battens structural?  If like our floor they are what the floor boards fit to, and the screed between them is just a non structural heat dispersal medium, then it becomes a completely DIY job if you are up to it.  I did half that area myself with 1 mixer and 1 barrow.

[Conor]

Why are you doing it that way? I'm assuming it's PIR insualtion on top of a concrete slab? Pumped liquid screed would be around £2k.

[nod]

As above 

If you must go with sand and cement Which is probably what I would go with for your job I’d pump it No need for mixers Chuck the sand and cement straight in the pump 

[Iceverge]

13 hours ago, ProDave said:

Crane will be £1000 at least.

 

Are the battens structural?  If like our floor they are what the floor boards fit to, and the screed between them is just a non structural heat dispersal medium, then it becomes a completely DIY job if you are up to it.  I did half that area myself with 1 mixer and 1 barrow.

 

Off topic but I know you have an ijoist suspended floor. 

 

What's the total build up just for my own interest? 

 

 

[ProDave]

6 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

 

Off topic but I know you have an ijoist suspended floor. 

 

What's the total build up just for my own interest? 

 

 

300mm I joists full filled with Frametherm 35

OSB over the top of the joists.

25mm by 50mm battens following the lines of the joists

UFH between battens

Pug mix between battens

Engineered wood floor fixed to battens.

 

 

 

The bits where UFH (and pug mix) is missed out are under the kitchen units, and under the pantry

[JamesP]

I had 9m3 of pumped Anhydrite, £2600 in 2018,  177sqm coverage at 50mm. £15.00sqm.  Took about 3 hours.

 

Edited April 17, 2024 by JamesP

[Thorfun]

cemfloor here in our basement. can't remember the cost off the top of my head but it was miles away from £9k!!

 

 

[Conor]

We paid £17m² for 50mm cemfloor two years ago, I'm sure it's in the £20s now. Still, way cheaper than the OPs original proposal.

[Alex Carr]

20 hours ago, MR10 said:

He's pulling your pants down. Get another quote.

Have you considered liquid screed like Cemfloor? Mine worked out at ~£28/sqm (65mm thick, 165m2).

Problem is, screeders seem thin on the ground here in Edinburgh. I mean, how does one find them?

The internet offers v. little in the way of people who do this kind of work except big companys. I have a feeling I might have to suck it up as he's scheduled to start Monday.

[Alex Carr]

5 hours ago, Thorfun said:

cemfloor here in our basement. can't remember the cost off the top of my head but it was miles away from £9k!!

 

 

Hmmm...

[Conor]

18 minutes ago, Alex Carr said:

Problem is, screeders seem thin on the ground here in Edinburgh. I mean, how does one find them?

The internet offers v. little in the way of people who do this kind of work except big companys. I have a feeling I might have to suck it up as he's scheduled to start Monday.

All the big concrete firms usually have a liquid screed division. It's not as skilled as sand and cement screeding, all the money is in the equipment, and loads of them do it.

[saveasteading]

20 minutes ago, Conor said:

It's not as skilled as sand and cement screeding,

Agreed. I've watched them all happening.

Sand and cement is slow because you'll likely have 1 on his knees laying and 1 barrowing it.  50m2/day?

Pumped concrete needs a skilled and very strong gang, and one to stay up all night to polish it. Expensive kit too. 1,000m2 / day

Cemfloor has one man holding the pipe and....that's it. Anyone else is there to fetch and carry and clear up. He hired the pump and I think borrowed the levelling tripods from cemfloor. 400m2/day

 

[MR10]

1 hour ago, Alex Carr said:

Problem is, screeders seem thin on the ground here in Edinburgh. I mean, how does one find them?

The internet offers v. little in the way of people who do this kind of work except big companys. I have a feeling I might have to suck it up as he's scheduled to start Monday.

We used Glenalmond contracts, https://glenalmondcontracts.co.uk, they're based in Perth but cover the whole of Scotland. Worth a call to see if they cover your area, could save yourself a lot of money to put towards some other part of the build.

[Kelvin]

Can also recommend Glenalmond. They were really helpful for me when we had all the last minute buggering about. 

[saveasteading]

3 hours ago, MR10 said:

Glenalmond contracts,

Ahh Perthshire, not Perth. Very exclusive. Do they have extremely posh accents?

[Kelvin]

7 hours ago, saveasteading said:

Ahh Perthshire, not Perth. Very exclusive. Do they have extremely posh accents?

😂 no. If you met them you’d know why that’s funny. 

[saveasteading]

For the uninitiated, Glenalmond is a beautiful place but has a very expensive private school. 

[SteamyTea]

28 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

very expensive private school

I went to one of those, well two.

 

Look what a fine person I have turned out to be.

[saveasteading]

Do you have 2 accents? One that the servants can't understand and one they can?

[SteamyTea]

21 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

Do you have 2 accents? One that the servants can't understand and one they can?

At least.

And for deaf people I sign, which oddly enough, in BSL has regionality.

Down South you point with index and middle fingers towards the floor, while mouthing 'dog' silently.

Up North you just tap your leg, while mouthing.

Korea, you sign FP for frying pan.

[Alan Ambrose]

I nominate @SteamyTea as BuildHub treasure of the month. 

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Alan Ambrose said:

I nominate @SteamyTea as BuildHub treasure of the month. 

Zero to Hero as I was wanker of the week a few days ago.