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Per level? Per side of building? Duration of erection? (Flou fnninnng). What happens if it pisses it down for weeks and you can't get the job done that required the scaffolding in the first place? What happens if you only need a high level for a gable end for example, do they just shove one level forty foot up into the air and leave you scratching your head on how to get up there, or put in a lower level too for access?
I think it's priced on the perceived value of the car on your drive.
Varies depending on the price of coke and Fosters in any given area
I think it’s priced on the perceived value of the car on your drive.
Lol. Well I'm arranging it on behalf of someone else I'm doing some work for. So, if the scaffolders charge me based on the perceived value of my car, and I charge the customer based on the perceived value of their car. I could be quids in!
Erection cost + length of hire.
They ain't allowed to just fire up one level 40' in the air.
I think it’s priced on the perceived value of the car on your drive.
Can confirm.
Got a quote for a massive - by domestic standards - 4-storey/2-storey gable end scaffold combo on a steep slope with narrow access a few months ago, and it was £400 😀 . I drive a Fiat Panda (and don't have a drive).
Up to you to tell them what you want, i.e. gable/chimney access, they'll sort out the materials and design and erect it. You'll then pay a weekly rental on the materials used, probably a month as minimum which might cover erecting and dismantling.
For something like a gable end there'll be ladder access, depending on the height there may be an intermediate platform where one ladder ends and another begins.
At the end they'll dismantle it and give you the bill which will include any damages, breakages and missing materials.
At the end they’ll dismantle it and give you the bill which will include any damages, breakages and missing materials.
But, no matter how much you plead, leave it in place for weeks until they’ve got another job for it, as they’ve nowhere safe to store it, it saves on handling and they’ve still got their advertising board up on your house
son (who's been doing it a while) says generally by the square meter.
Having scaffolders at our house recently was a bit of an eye opener. Good job we don’t have kids as the general “bantz” was even a touch risqué for my liking and I even recall them describing their boss (not on site) and a prize c**t.
Add to that, they trashed the lawn, dropped scaffold poles three storeys in to a flower bed which looked like it had been mortared and cracked slates on the extension. Other than that, salt of the earth and all that.
Generally per M2, length of hire and ease/challenges of the initial install and dismantle. All scaffolding in the UK should (by not must) comply with the TG20 regulations and pick a NASC registered installer. Legally all scaffold should be inspected every 7 days (working at heigh regulations) but good luck with that on small domestic projects! Ask to see the design and tie points.
dropped scaffold poles three storeys
This is called "bombing" in the industry and is very very bad practice. On most "big" sites this would lead to instant dismissal. Scaffold poles are mainly 3.6mm to 4mm galvernised steel and "bombing" can weaken them long term.
Pricing ‘should’ be based on complexity of design, square meterage and to some extent duration of hire but if it’s for a small residential job it may also be based more on how busy they are, whether they have the spare scaffold and if the boss needs to keep his guys busy for a day.
Should be signed off and tagged by a qualified person before use and at least weekly. Correct kick boarding, tapping rails, signage, debris netting if applicable etc...
Scaffs are a bit like arb groundies. Generally fuelled by Monster and McDs along with B&H and last nights Stella. But it is bloody hard graft so it attracts (& retains) a certain type of person. If you make them a brew and maybe a bacon sarnie (don’t worry, cheap white bread and supermarket bacon will be fine), they will like you more and be less likely to trash the place or pee in your garden.
Erection cost
Two of my elections have cost me thousands and will continue to for sometime time.
Generally fuelled by Monster and McDs along with B&H and last nights Stella
How times change!
Agree with the hard graft though - I think my hardest day was shifting and erecting ten tonnes of dead shoring for an underground garage roof. Quite glad I didn't bike to work that day as there was similar to do the following day. Not done it as a job for nearly thirty years now, would probably kill me if I went back to it.
Lots of changes to regs since I did it - double hand rails and brick guards most noticeable I suppose.
As for "bombing", one general building firm I worked for, one of the bosses pissed off one of the scaffolders. He came back to his BMW 5 series to find it pinned to the ground by a 21ft tube. They get quite a bit of momentum when dropped from the tenth floor!
Loved Meccano when i was a kid, so thought id like scaffolding work, asked a freindly chap about the job, he said dont bother, its hard graft in all weathers, its tough on your hands and body, it kills the nerves in your hands due to handling cold steel been outside all year round, its all safety critical, and theres always the risk of serious injury from fall or something falling on you.
Its also a hugely skillfull job as peoples lives depend on it being done properley.
Skillfull? I guess it depends on how you define skill. The guys on site are not making it up as they go. They're following instructions so one skill is to be able to hang off a wrench to tighten up the clamp bolts. But a responsible job yes.
A guy I know is a partner in a scaffolding company and he's a millionaire, so whatever they charge its a highly lucrative business. Not sure if that is because there are not many around so lack of supply commands premium prices or something else. But a house near me they erected scaffolding around their whole house, or at least two sides of it from what I could see from the road, for a roofing job and it was erected easily in less than a day so if charged on the hour shouldn't be too expensive. I doubt it's charged on the hour.
But what can you do? if you need it you have to pay the prices and swallow it wether you think its good value or not.
Hmm. Like most jobs it's a mixture of straightforward work and specialised or interesting stuff. Most houses fall in the former, it's just a case of slight alterations on a theme. Things like dead, raking and flying shores require an engineer to work out the various forces and design the scaffold, then it's very much build it as you are told. Sat between the two are things like roof and slung scaffolds which are the interesting stuff, they are standard scaffolds but take a bit of figuring out.
I’m spent the last 15 year work in heavy industry having scaffolding (aka tubaler engineers) put up so I can do mine. Generally they were all hard works and nice guys if rough around the edges (though definitely a case of would rather be on their size than against).
Learnt two things about scaffolders. Them and lagger are two industries that don’t do background checks so get people with people with criminal records. Secondly, (learnt this from the mother in law who was in mental health) scaffolders have the highest intake of cocaine per head of any career.
A guy I know is a partner in a scaffolding company and he’s a millionaire, so whatever they charge its a highly lucrative business.
Yep.
Friend of mine owns a large scaffolding company mostly doing commercial work.
LOTS of money in it.
(Less in domestic)
leave it in place for weeks until they’ve got another job for it, as they’ve nowhere safe to store it,
Then give you a few hours notice of taking it down. Then try to charge you for having it for months.
Best one we had was their boss realising that the next job was an adjoining garden, cue prising the fence apart to slide poles through.