Vast Group - Property Services Company

Save on your energy costs

2012-01-16T04:11:00.000-08:00

Save upto 90% of your lighting energy costs by using LED Lighting.....

Our firm has introduced LED lighting on a large number of business premises over the past year, these replace traditional light fittings.

Did you know:

· High quality LED lamps have estimated life spans of between 30,000 and 50,000 hours, as opposed to only 1,500 hours with many standard light bulbs e.g. Halogen spot lights incandescent candle and GLS lamps.

With LED’s heat is reduced tremendously, compared with heat produced by halogen spot lights

Standard spot lights use an enormous 50 watts of energy, whereas LED spotlights will only use between 4.5 watts and 6 watts of energy, depending on lamp types

If left on for 12 hours a day, one 50 watt halogen spotlight will cost around £22.00 per year to run, one 6 watt LED spotlight will only cost around £2.60 per year to run

In some environments, we have also introduced PIR's which activate upon entry to a room and or area which also saves on costs.

For a free consultation, please call us on 01442 250 745 or email bradley.knight@vastgroup.co.uk

Witholding Notices.......

2011-07-06T00:08:00.001-07:00

About three months ago, my firm was served a "withholding notice", this was following practical completion (about two months earlier) and was the final invoice and the largest on the project.

The withholding notice by the employers agent and unqualified contract administrator, simply stated the following

"our client has experienced extensive problems with there plumbing a report shall follow and I confirm it is our intention with withhold the final invoice"

The notice come completely out the blue, no prior notice and or issued raised, the employer has been in occupation since January 2011 at the property.

I commenced investigating the matter, a meeting took over a month to arrange to simply get access to view the "extensive problems".

I investigated the issues, and they were to say the least minimal for example;

Tap dripped for approx 12 seconds after turning off
The shower valve had sheared off - This was a free issue fitting
Alleged leak to underfloor heating system, this was installed, designed and manufactured by a manufacturer and commissioned in November 2010.

We offered to resolve them but the employers agent was always putting up reasons to prevent us from resolving.

I then received an email stating that I am clearly not interested in resolving the issues, I have over 14 emails chasing them and attempting to make arrangements to resolve the issue.

I am not a qualified Building Surveyor but have been doing this job for over 10 years now.

A withholding notice is a function under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 as brought into law by the labour government at the time.

A couple of points, I note:

Failure to provide an effective notice means that the party seeking to rely on
the notice is denied the right to deduct money by way of withholding

Section 111 (2) of the Act states a notice must specify;

(a) the amount proposed to be withheld and the ground for withholding payment;
or

(b) if there is more than one ground, each ground and the amount attributable to it.

Finally a notice must be issued within a timeline under the final payment date (could also be refereed to as the payment due date, unless noted otherwise)

The Act does not state precise wording and there are many cases heard in court where the sitting judge at the time states the issuing party must provide detailed and concise information to the beneficiary of the notice.

Under the Construction and Engineering disputes pre action protocol guidelines, we have commenced proceedings which essentially means, we would be lucky to be in court by month five of the proceedings, but we are willing to stick with this case.

We are two months into the process, wish me luck.....

Some good links

Witholding notices http://www.thkp.co.uk/media/bulletins-new/Withholding%20Notices%20-%20June%2008%20Newsflash.pdf

Witholding Notice Template http://www.arvsurveying.co.uk/withholdingnotice.html?gclid=COz1rMyZ7KkCFQMLfAodOW4Obg

Witholding Notices http://www.rixandkay.co.uk/sussex-solicitors-blogs-news/withholding-notices-in-construction-disputes-some-points-to-note.html

Risks of working abroad.............

2011-06-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

Risks of Working Abroad?

Sorry for the dramatic photo however, my brief blog relates to my approach to work in Libya.

In mid 2010, I was approach by a government funded organisation to consider working in Libya and Dubai to provide building services, having worked in Dubai, Trindad and America, I am not adverse to working abroad.

Having taken a business trip in July 2010 to Dubai to meet some former colleagues, it was clear the market was still struggerling. Whilst my company did not incur any bad debts in Dubai the stories I heard following the collapse of the property market in Dubai were Horrific. The Sunday Times reported on 14th December 2009 that UK contractors lost £250 million, this does not include all the Turkish, Indian and US contractors working in this region as indeed others.

Back to my Blog, I did not take up the immediate offer of exploring work in Libya but kept my eye on progress and I was looking at Mexico due to potential growth in that region too.

I continued doing some basic research and the organisation remained in contact and they convinced me to attend a networking event regarding business in Libya in Pall Mall. I was personally very confident of my understanding of the status of Work in Dubai, but having not ever been to Libya before, I was apprehensive and keen to understand more. I attended the networking event and meet a large number of contractors and consultants, some of which were working in Libya already, also a number of extremly diligent experienced professionals who were attending the exploration trips which were run on a monthly basis to Libya through this organisation.

I was left convinced this would be a great oppertunity for our firm, so three weeks later I was in Libya. You can't get Libyan currency in the UK, which I thought was odd but managed to purchase some at Tripoli Airport. I caught the group coach to our Hotel where I managed to converse allot of interesting people, mainly Architects and Consultants. I was the only Contractor on this trip.

The organisation arranged for meetings for us all to attend during our trip, my first day was interesting. I had meetings with developers and other contractors and we did a couple of presentations and the day finished that evening around 11pm. What was very evident from the meetings, was payment was a big issue. One Indian contractor, claimed they were owed £180 million from 3 months ago, however this was usual practice of late payment.

They were confident that payment would be made but needed a number of "fees" to be paid in order to gain payment. This specific contractor had been working in Libya for over 25 years so they were very experienced in dealing with these issues and can only assume this was factored in there pricing. Another consultant I saw explained "it's a who you know policy" in order to get paid and indeed gain work. "It's customary that you get paid a 20% desposit but you need to work hard to be paid the interim payment thereafter under the contract (sic)" Said another consultant.

I had offers from people who could introduce me to work, and others wanted to partner with me, I had various other potential opportunities to report back home. Aside from the payment issues, all seemed fairly positive about business development and working in Libya. I had lots of ideas, some of which were even outside of the construction industry from spa products to basic material supplies such as concrete blocks.

The clear undertone (to me although not said directly) of the entire trip was that the Libya economy relied heavily on Government business and trade, even private companies had direct links to the government and they needed these links to enable to trade successfully.

Within the party I was with, there were lots of consultants whom were extremly motivated about working in Libya to the point they would walk or travel for miles to attend a meeting for the other party to not even turn up or leave them waiting for hours.

I booked my tickets for December 2010 to go on a trip without the government organisation as I felt it would be better to do the next trip alone. I never took my flight due to work commitments...........

Again, I did not attend in January or February due to work commitments in the UK.

The story of how Libya progressed since February does not need explaining it has been reasonably well covered in the UK and International press, There is now no construction work, most if not all (expat) contractors and consultants have moved out of Libya and construction sites are at a standstill, I have had this confirmed by contacts in the region.

I never worked in Libya in default because of commitments in the UK albeit I was extremely keen to work in the region, Notwithstanding, I was being consistently enticed by this government agency to commence operations in the region.

Now here is the backlash that I personally know about from those who actually gained work in Libya.

An Architect from Kent, who had worked in the UK for 12 years, expanded into Libya 3 years ago and went from 4 staff to 19 just last year. They were owed £343,000 for professional fees, the firm is now in Administration.

A Surveyor in Central London, Appointed on a £42 million scheme,was owed £938,000 in professional fees. This firm I understand is large enough to possibly cope with the debt.

An Architect in Oxford,with a practice of 47 staff had only worked in Libya for 5 months, they were owed £138,000, I understand this will not effect this firm either.

A Componates contractor working in the oil fields was owed £689,000 but apparently last week was somehow paid £138,000.

This is to name a few, I also know via 3rd parties of many many more incidences of payment issues.

On this occassion, I am pleased to have not been working in Libya, but how does one plan for such `political` events. Upto and including February, the government organisation were promoting working in Libya and enticing business in the region.

Reflecting on this I do recall a friend of mine John Cowell (of the Cowell family) told me that "if you need to ask lots of questions in a business deal, don't bother and stick to what you know and feel comfortable with"

This is not something I 100% agree with, but I do give this view some credence.

More recently, I received an email shot from a marketing agency stating Libya still open for business........... is it?

One would imagine once the political situation is resolved, the markets may open again but I am sure this will take along time from now.

This is my personal experience and not reflective of everyones experiences and interested to hear your thoughts.

A Bit of Fun......... All New Husband Store

2011-06-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

(PLEASE NOTE, DO NOT READ IF EASILY OFFENDED, THIS IS A JOKE)

I recently got wind of a new store that opened in the United States, is was named "The Husband Store"

This shop was established to enable women may go and choose a husband, among the instructions on the entrance is a description of how the store operates:

"You may only visit this store ONCE, There are six floors and the value of products increase as the shopper ascends the flights. The shopper may choose any item on each floor, or may choose to go upto to the next floor, but you can not go back down except exist the building!

So a women goes into the store to find a husband, on the first floor the sign says

Floor 1 - These Men have Jobs

She is intrigued but continues to the second floor, on the second floor the sign says

Floor 2 - These Men have Jobs and Love Kids

The women reflects and thinks that nice, but I want more.... She continues to the third floor where the sign reads:

Floor 3 - These Men have Jobs, Love Kids and Extremely Good Looking

`Wow` she thinks but feels compelled to keep going and goes to the fourth floor where the sign reads:

Floor 4 - These Men have Job, Love Kids, Extremely Good Looking and Help with the Housework

`oh Mercy me, i could hardly stand it` she exclaimed. Still she goes to the fifth floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 5 - These Men have Jobs, Love Kids, Extremely Good Looking, Help with the Housework and very Romantic

She was so tempted but decided to go to the Sixth Floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 2,167,218 to this floor there is no men on this floor. The floor solely exists as proof that Women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store

Sometime after, the owner decided to open a new Wives Store, Just across the street with the same rules.

The first floor had wives that like making love, the second floor had wives that like making love, have money and like beer, the third, forth, fith and sixth floor have never been visited.

Localism Bill - my view in brief?

2011-05-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

I recently attended a networking event hosted by Monopoly Network of London at Reynolds Porter Chamberlin offices and was astonished to learn about the governments Localism bill. It was fascinating to learn the details. however, having been building for some time and been involved on a number of neighbouring issues, I personally find it scary and worrying that all planning permissions now require the support of your local community. I understand fully the intent, however, fail to see how this could work and is a nightmare for litigation and stalling of schemes.

Planning Departments nationally appear to be reducing staff, I was advised during this meeting that one known office has or is reducing its team from 30 to 8 staff. I have been dealing with planners over the past ten years and its can be somewhat complex and challenging at the best of times and fail to see with the limited resources of these government offices how they will manage to deal with this new legislation.

Planners have previously given direction on the local plan and what is likely to be approved or not prior to submitting a formal application by a developer using there pre planning consultation service.

My understanding is that these will become pointless as the success of your planning permission shall depend on your consultation with local residents, local politicians and stakeholders rather than the planning department themselves.

Eric Pickles, Local Government and Communities Sectary said

"The localism Bill will fundamentally shake up the balance of power in this country. It represents everything this government stands for and is the cornerstone for everything we want to do. It will revitalise local democracy and put power back where it belongs - in the hands of the people"

The Localism Bill becomes law at the end of 2011. The bill has split the development community, many suggest the bill will be a Nimby charter , others suggest the proposed proactive collaborative approach with local communities will herald a new era in making planning permissions easier.

I personally can not see how this will make planning easier.

One thing is for sure, the law is changing and those who adapt quickly to it will be the ones who benefit.

I can see many developers using social media in order to gauge and balance local and political views on development opportunities and believe developers will need to embrace this practice in the future. Using the likes of twitter, blogging sites to name a few examples.

Not all the 400 pages of the bill will impact on planning and the development world. However, keys points for projects as are:

Residents and communities will have the power to create Neighbourhood Development Plans, Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders. It takes just 3 people in the local community to create an apposing group, this could be just one house hold.

Developers will be required to consult with local residents before submitting planning applications for schemes. Local people will have a chance to comment and developers must "have regard" to responses received.

The government is abolishing the rights to 3rd party appeals.

I am really unsure about all this personally and welcome your views of the wider developing community and consultants.

summer cleaning

2011-04-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Jobs such as ensuring the plumbing and drains have fully survived the winter are often overlooked, simple cleaning and maintenance should be done to prevent major and expensive repairs.

"Blocked drains and corroded fittings can lead to a multitude of problems, such as water damage from burst pipes, and can prove costly to repair. Dripping taps, toilets that don't flush properly and water coming out of overflow pipes are sure signs that your plumbing needs an overhaul and should be checked as part of the spring cleaning process," said Vast Group Technical Director.

Vast has produced a simple check list for homeowners to ensure problems are identified quickly and that major repair work can be avoided:

• Always know where your main stop valve is located and ensure it is labelled. It is on the incoming mains water supply and is often under the kitchen sink.

• Stop valves tend to corrode slightly with time, so check that it's working by exercising the valve twice from fully open to fully closed and back again (and always close the valve 'half a turn' from fully open once you're done).

• Inspect toilet cisterns both inside and out for operation and wear. If there are any signs of corrosion or leaking, contact a reputable plumber.

• Visually inspect any cold water storage tanks in the attic for leaks, water level, protective lids and thermal insulation. Also, if fitted, check the hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard for signs of damage or leaks and exercise all available valves.

• Install a strainer in plug holes to catch hair and other objects that could block drains.

If you find a problem, or suspect there may be one, have an established plumber inspect pipes for leaks, damage and corrosion. By using a CCTV camera in the pipes, plumbers can inspect and pinpoint exactly where drains are cracked, damaged or misaligned.
Ask the plumber to give a diagnosis of the work needed and provide a written estimate up front. The ones who don't probably have something to hide such as VAT costs or other 'extras'.

Find a plumber that will allow you to pay for a job when it is complete and you are fully satisfied with the work.

Plumbing is becoming increasingly technical. Always seek a qualified professional plumber such as Vast Group. Call them 24 hours a day on 0207 147 9952

Free Solar Energy – but at what Cost?

2010-09-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

Another blog from Martyn Fowler BSc(Hons), MEI, ACIPHE

There is currently an ever increasing interest in capturing and using solar energy and with the Government’s recent launch of the feed-in Tariffs, there is now a financial incentive to participate as well as the “Eco friendly” reason. I have not spoken to a customer yet that does not consider the use of solar energy a bad idea and this does not mean you are a Greenpeace activist – it is just plain common sense. So what is preventing Mr Average from doing his bit? The answer is simple – MONEY!

As with all new technology, the early days are marked by high costs due to low manufacturing numbers with Manufacturers trying to claw back their development costs and this is a big stumbling block. I remember when Microwave ovens first really came onto the market (1976) – I bought one for my university tuck shop to heat up Mars Bars! The oven cost hundreds of pounds then and was very basic but guess what, now you can buy one with all the gizmos from your local supermarket for less than £50! This is as a result of massive numbers being sold which reduces costs as well as competition.

Within the last couple of years, the cost of thermal solar units has reduced but there is no doubt that entry into this market will start in the region of £4,000 to have a fully installed system. To get a decent return from a Photovoltaic system, you may well be faced with an investment well in excess of that. The Holy Grail of eco-friendly systems is really the ground source heat pump with very high efficiency rates which at times can exceed 500% but the installation cost really means that it is the provenance of wealthy clients with a mission to be regarded as “Very Green”. So what is the answer?

In the current financial climate, few people want to use a lump of capital as there is so much uncertainty at the moment but the long term benefits are hard to ignore. There is talk about a “Green loan scheme” than uses the savings as an offset against the payments but with the shortage of cash generally in the banking system, it will take a huge effort by the Government to make this happen. In the meantime what is to be done? The answer is to talk to someone like Vast Group who has had all the correct training and actually designed and installed many solar systems as we can recommend the best value for money solution with no bias.

I personally have even been in Germany for hands-on training in Solar equipment so I can talk from first hand experience. So if you want to get honest, practical and realistic advice on how to capture the sun’s energy, please give me a call on 0207 147 9952.

Have you seen our new video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP8aO41kcTM

No job too small............

2010-09-05T10:58:00.001-07:00

No Job too small?

I have so much I wish to blog about and shall hopefully get the opportunity over the coming months to share some of my experiences, thoughts and interests and indeed that of my associates. I am personally proud of a small project we have just finished, well the initial phase. The project value is fairly small but demonstrates our capabilities in regards to location (this was not a London project) and dedication on projects small and large.

To quickly digress, quite often I hear potential clients say “our project is too small for you” or “this won't interest you” etc all of which is not the case, last week we installed a shower screen at a client’s house, we replaced some roof tiles on another, replaced a garage door on another and so on. Over the past year, we have completed projects from as little as a bathroom refurbishment through to side and rear extensions; this is the grass routes of our business and shall never be forgotten and welcome with open arms projects of this size and nature.

Vast Group were employed by a London developer to undertake a refurbishment of two existing bungalows into marketable properties. The specification of the first was to create a vibrant new bungalow and the second was to develop a “high specification” bungalow. The refurbished bungalows are the “show homes”, for the overall refurbishment project, which consists of some 250 bungalows.

The site overall is some 1200acre and now has planning for over 1000 new homes.

Our works in brief included the following:

Asbestos Removal, Demolitions, structural alterations
New facia, soffits and gutters
New hard and soft landscaping
External Rendering
Demolitions
New Plumbing and Electrics throughout
New Glazing throughout
New Bathrooms and Kitchens
New Joinery
New Tiling
New Decorations
Overhaul existing roofs
FF & E Procurement

The higher specification bungalow benefited from all of the above with the addition of upgraded finishes and formation of vaulted ceiling over living/dining room, introduction of a mezzanine galley room, 4no automatic Velux Windows, 2no manual Velux windows and ensuite bathroom.

Before Images:

After:

These images where undertaken using low resolution cameras.

www.vastgroup.co.uk undertake construction and refurbishment projects from £5,000 to £2million, should you require any furthur information, please do not hesitate to call Bradley Knight personally on 0207 147 9952

Are you a control Freak?

2010-08-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

Another blog from our Technical Manager, Martyn Fowler.....

"It never ceases to amaze me when we go out to repair and or service boilers, that many clients have virtually no controls on their heating systems. They might have a time clock, but nothing else! When you question them and ask about their heating bills, they often state they are excessive but gas is expensive and set to continue to rise, many clients do not realise how much money they are potentially wasting with their existing installation, which can be altered in a cost effective manner.

Some customers believe boiler control is to turn the boiler off when they feel too hot and by which point, you can be sure the room temperature will be around 24 degrees otherwise they probably would not notice or feel discomfort.

It is a often stated that turning down the room stat by 1 degree can save upto 10% on your utility bill therefore, temperature control can not only assist with comfort but the bank balance also.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Mr Techy with his infinite control of everything known to mankind which he can programme and adjust from the Moon. The question is “why would you want to” and most importantly, when it malfunctions, who is going to fix it? I recently went to a client who had a system that could only be sorted by the Manufacturer whose basic call out started at £600, paid in advance!

I totally agree with good controls and I often design and install quite sophisticated systems for clients but they are always based on ease of operation, client requirements and, value for money.

I believe minimum standards should be a timeclock and room thermostat (click link for supplier) and preferably not a gravity hot water system. Programmable room thermostats are becoming very inexpensive and these give great flexibility with the ability to run different temperatures throughout the day to suit client lifestyles. Why get the house up to 20 degrees in the morning when you are not sitting down relaxing but rushing around getting breakfast, the children dressed etc? therefore, you may just need the chill taken off the house. In the evening, which is when you may desire your home to be at 20 degrees you can set your controls accordingly.

Eitherway, with good controls, you are in control. If you need advice and or assistance, do not hesitate to call me personally on 0207 147 9952, I am the Manager of our Plumbing and Maintenance divison at Vast Group

Turning a Blind Eye to Contractor Mistake(s)?

2010-08-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

Ignoring a Contractors mistake?

A case not that long ago Traditional Structures Limited (TSL) v H W Construction Limited (HWL) heard in the construction and technology courts made me think about clients understanding, This case can reflect the same as to a client and contractor relationship.

In this case the sub-contractor mistakenly omitted the price of roof cladding from the contract and the contractor failed to notify the sub-contractor of this mistake and as a consequence benefited from it. The sub-contractor brought a claim for rectification of the contract, on the ground of unilateral mistake, and a claim for a reasonable price for the cladding works.

Essentially Contractor (HWL) wrote to the sub contractor (TSL) for a price to supply and fit of steelwork and cladding, the sub contractor returned a tender for steelwork only for circ £30,000 and the contractor placed the order with the sub contractor for supply and fit of steelwork and cladding for circ £30,000 which the sub contractor claimed was just for the steelwork, which was indentified as the only item priced on sub contractors quotation. Communications passed between sub contractor and contractor to remedy this error, which failed and the sub contractor sought adjudication in this matter.

The court ruled in favour of the sub contractor (TSL) with the following statement (abbreviated) “It held that an honest and reasonable man (MD, HWL) would have made such an enquiry in the circumstances of this case. The court further and/or in the alternative held, that the Managing Director had shut his eyes to the obvious, the obvious being that the price quoted was self-evidently a price that related only to structural steelwork, and that the Claimant had not included a separate price for the cladding”

In this difficult financial climate, clients should be even more careful about ensuring clarity from contractors quotes, if it’s appears competitive (cheap), enquirer why and record and contractors response prior to appointment.

At Vast Group we believe in honest tendering.

Full particulars of this case can be read by clicking on this link

To Combi or not to Combi – that is the question?

2010-08-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

To Combi or not to Combi – that is the question?

Hi, I am Martyn Fowler, Technical Director at Vast Group. I manage the plumbing and electrical division at Vast Group.

It was not so long ago that Combination boilers were considered to be the salvation of all things and the best thing since sliced bread. However, reality has proven that they are only one option and that they do have drawbacks which need to be pointed out to potential clients.

I remove quite a few in the course of our business because clients become frustrated about their performance, so why is that?
There is no doubt that their biggest advantage is the extra space gained as a result of removing water storage tanks and cylinders, in addition the ability to only heat the water required on demand. However, the delivery of hot water via a Combi is primarily only as good as the incoming water mains pressure and flow rate and with the recent habits of Water Utility companies reducing pressure to minimise leakage in their systems, water delivery is not what it used to be.
Consequently a shower may not highlight the problem, but try to run a bath and 20 minutes later frustrations are bubbling to the surface. Multi bathroom homes also discover that in spite of having 2 showers, they still can’t use both at concurrent times as there is insufficient water available; hence they have to plan the use of hot water – not very convenient if the family are all trying to get ready at once.
We also need to appreciate that Combi boilers supplying hot water on and off do suffer from a loss of efficiency due to the burners coming in and out on full power but the question is does that more than compensate from the heat loss from a tank of stored hot water? Oh why is life not straightforward?

Stored water may have issues in the past as regards ingress of impurities, insects etc, but at least if you wanted a bath, two 22mm pipes could fill a bath pretty quickly. If you wanted a power shower, fit a booster pump and away you went – even two showers at once were not a problem. The advent of better tanks, by Law kits and better plumbing have all increased the purity of water available so gravity systems can still work well with a regular heat boiler. An unvented hot water system is also a happy medium with just the one tank, a regular boiler and good pressure, although the client is still dependant of incoming water pressure. That said, this can be improved with booster pumps or an accumulator which is a very “green” solution to suspect or variable water pressure.

In summary what is best? The answer is to ask your client what they want to achieve and be honest with them as regards the benefits and drawbacks of all the options then you can be sure of a satisfied client.

Vast Group can provide this advice free of charge, Our maintenance team, carry out boiler replacements throughout the South East. Remember, use a Corgi or Gas Safe registered installer like Vast Group.

Please call me personally on 0207 147 9952 if I could be of any assistance.

Should I Tender or Negotiate?

2010-08-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

Should I Tender or Negotiate?

We all know the standard approach to awarding contracts can be to identify 3 or 4 contractors to tender against a standard template document. Two contractors that have submitted the lowest cost bids are then asked to forward a detailed breakdown of their tender submissions. A s long as its reasonably accurate, the lowest priced contractor starts work for the client. I know I have simplified what can be a complex process but in reality, and in my experience, is how the majority of contracts are awarded.

This approach is not only time consuming and inefficient for all parties involved but also wrong. It is sensible to ensure that the quotation you have received is not just competitive but meets all terms and conditions required to fulfil the contract. Why can’t the client simply negotiate with a builder direct? Therefore avoiding contractor’s wasting millions of pounds each year in bidding for contracts that they have no real chance of winning? From extensive discussions with many industry professionals including Architects and Quantity Surveyors, they all seem to share a similar opinion. In 1994 the Latham report highlighted best practice as “negotiate with a contractor in the complex world of contracting” (abbreviated for idiots like me).
We have an industry of disputes, adjudications, and arbitrations which highlights why the tendering process does not work. This is frustrating for both the client and the contractor, wasting valuable time and money. Think of the monies that could be saved across the industry by having a simplified process. These costs have to be recovered by the contractor and are normally eventually paid by the client as they are hidden within the tender submission.

With standard costs per sq metre for most works, would it not be simpler for a client to negotiate against a fixed set of fees? A QS recently preparing a Bill of Quantities against architectural drawings for a project circ £5m, estimated the cost as being approximately £25,000. With 4 contractors tendering this would have cost in total circa £100,000. That is £100,000 that needs to be recovered, if not by this client then by others in the future. With little value in my opinion being added to the contract submission, apart from potentially satisfying an internal financial audit purpose.
I met with a QS last week who advised his client to proceed what turned out to be the highest tender. Why, because he believed the other submissions were intending to take every opportunity to exploit variation orders, as their proposed costs, could not deliver against their submitted tenders. Therefore in reality the client ends up losing and often the quality of work is below the required standard, as savings have to be made by the contractor.
In my opinion what a client really wants is a fair and reasonable price, for the delivery of a high quality project. I believe this can be better achieved through a negotiated settlement that meets the needs of the client but also that of the contractor. Therefore saving the industry millions in unproductive time and effort better spent supporting our clients.
Starting a relationship with a realistic contract and pricing, is surely a major step in the right direction for the delivery of a successful project? With both parties committed to working in partnership to deliver a high quality solution at a reasonable cost. After all, the Contractor is in business to make money as well, not just for love?

A motivated contractor in my view would ensure his estimator, planner, project manager look for value engineering opportunities. Therefore utilising their skills to reduce unnecessary cost. During this period, the contractor would update the client on costs on regular occasions and the specifications could be adjusted to suit client’s budgets. The client would get a quicker start on site with negotiations being completed quicker and at less cost for all parties
If this process fails, in my experience, this is due to selecting the wrong contractor, not necessarily because of the process that was followed. I know this is a simplistic argument and obviously there are other elements of the tendering process such as Health & Safety, Risk Management, Financial stability etc that need to be considered as part of this process but I believe all of these can be satisfied at less cost via open negotiation, starting from a position of trust.

A little about me?

2010-08-07T10:34:00.001-07:00

I commenced working in the Construction Industry when I was 18 years old, this is also when I married my wife Tracey, and we are still happily married (so I am told), and have two great children aged 7 and 9.

I grew up in Plymouth and at the age of 17 moved to London, where I was housed in a government studio unit in Potters Bar, whilst on benefits trying to find work, which took about a month. I found work with W H Smiths and dabbled around in various roles until 18 at which point I went to work for a regional Fit Out contractor in Slough, I left the company as a Senior Quantity Surveyor. During my time with this employer I worked on some awesome projects valued between £250k and £4m, mostly within the hotel sector. My legacy was overseeing the fit out and construction of a large single home near Basingstoke, worth over £20m in construction work.

I have since gone on to own and sell my own construction business, working and assisting property developers on projects up to £2m and started Vast Group Limited in early 2009.

During the last 7 years, I have also been involved in a number of businesses outside of Construction and have had the pleasure of working in Dubai, St Lucia and Florida.

I really enjoy conducting business in the property industry and have had the opportunity to be involved in situations some of my peers never achieve in their lifetimes.

I am an experienced, time served building surveyor with extensive on site, on the ground construction and technical experience.

I hope you find my blogs of interest.