Hi

On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 07:54:00 +0100, "Pongo Potts"
wrote:

Our medium sized 3 bed detached house is 19 years old and in fairly good
condition for its year.

The exterior rendering has been painted about every 5 years or so. The
windows were replaced with aluminium 8 years ago so no work required there.

Starting the middle of last year a hole appeared in one of the box ends to a
front barge board just behind the gutter. This finally culminated in the
occupation of a pair of Starlings which successfully produced a brood of
young.

Now just this last month the Starlings were evicted by a pair of Ravens or
they could be Crows..........black with big beaks and cawing a
lot..............they looked very out of place trying to occupy a 200mm
square box.

So its me, with no head for heights, up a 4 meter ladder to carry out a
temporary repair.............which I must add looked very pro when finished.

Following this we agreed to get a costing to replace all the box boards, 6
off in total measuring about 200mm square x 10mm thick each. The
fascias/soffits are all fine apart from one short length about 2 metres
which we thought just might be replaced. To be included in the work was the
remove and clean the old boards plus 2 coats of Sadolin. The only difficult
access was that to the rear of the house they would have to straddle our 5
metre wide conservatory to reach the roof safely.

We estimated approximately £50 to £75 in material costs with the wood and
Sadolin but had no idea of the cost for access equipment, so thought £400 to
£500 for the work would be a good budget cost after all 19 years it sounds
very economical.

So we then get in the local Roofing and Gutter company (no
names)............stick with a pro company to be sure of a good job and
someone to go back to should the need arise.............to provide the
estimate. The suit came and went in a flash.

The estimate arrived yesterday and this is where the Vultures come
in.....................£5000

come back Ravens..............all is forgiven.

dj

It's well worthwhile to get several estimates - from general builders
as well as 'specialists'. At the last bungalow we wanted the wooden
soffits / fascias replaced with UPVC, and four quotes produced a range
of quotes - where the cheapest was 1/3 the price of the most
expensive.

We went for a middle option - and were rewarded by a couple of
chimpanzees who made a complete mess of the 'valleys' where two roofs
joined - and we had to have an exchange of letters and faxes before we
could get the job sorted.

It's one of those jobs that doesn't really require all that much
skill, and the materials cost next-to-nothing. This allows the les
reputable 'specialist' companies to charge whatever they think they
can get away with.

After you've got the other three quotes, you could always contact the
original ompany and tell them that you've had a much lower quote for
the same job - and ask them whether they can match it. you might find
that there's a 'special offer' on in your area ! g

Can you get a recommendation from somebody in the area who's happy
with the work they've had done - may be more reliable...

By the way - there's lots of good advice to be had over in the UK diy
newsgroup......

Regards
Adrian