Gutter repair - Am I being mugged?

Marakith

Marakith

Marakith

Associate
Joined
22 Nov 2004
Posts
412
Location
London
Hello!

I had new gutters fitted by a really rubbish fitter some years ago. Wonky and with clips missing. Additionally there are some loose tiles on my roof. One part of the gutter is leaking.

Someone was doing some work next door so I asked if he'd be able to fix the leaky gutter. He recommended removing and re-seating the gutters properly and reseating everything to slope correctly. I got the impression he'd do a good job and he's locally recommended.

For removing and re-fitting the gutters (front and back of a 8m wide house - so 16m of gutters) and fixing some tiles on the roof he wants £450.

I've a feeling that's a lot of money but also conscious the work needs doing. Would really appreciate your advice.

Thanks
 
You are in London right? £50-60/hour doesn't seem too crazy for a trades person down there. I have heard of sparks charging £100/hour in London now.

Presumably that includes VAT, not sure how they couldn't be VAT registered with these sorts of prices so that is 20% right there.
 
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The only way you can tell if a quote is competitive is if you get some more quotes.

Cost for such work is likely to vary by area of the country.

I've never had to get a quote for this, but it doesn't seem that unreasonable to me, given it is a fair amount of work. The important bit is you feel they are going to do a decent job.
 
sigma said:
They can charge what they want these days. Try calling random roofers and asking them to do the work, you might be in for a surprise :( you'll likely struggle to get any to answer the phone let alone come out and do the work.
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Sadly yeah - we've got roofers in at the moment, I say in, they pretty much pick and choose the days they work and the prices are not exactly keen - but good luck finding someone who'll do it cheaper and do a good job (they are rectifying a not great job by someone else who did it cheaper :s).
 
Thanks - I'll go with it. Appreciate the sense check. It's just I've been burned on the guttering previously so I'm a bit wary.
 
Rroff said:
Sadly yeah - we've got roofers in at the moment, I say in, they pretty much pick and choose the days they work and the prices are not exactly keen - but good luck finding someone who'll do it cheaper and do a good job (they are rectifying a not great job by someone else who did it cheaper :s).
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Yup and a full day... they do not work a full day.
 
Marakith said:
Thanks - I'll go with it. Appreciate the sense check. It's just I've been burned on the guttering previously so I'm a bit wary.
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Yeah I was burned too, had to get a second person out to actually do the work that needed doing. Seems like a common occurrence.
 
sigma said:
Yup and a full day... they do not work a full day.
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First day they were in 9-5, IIRC was close to 10 start and gone by 16:15, the rest have been half-days. They are only charging based on what they actually work though.

EDIT: To be fair they are having to work around the weather somewhat as well.
 
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To answer the thread title: yes most likely being mugged but I'm not sure you have much of a choice. Expect the worst!
 
Rroff said:
Sadly yeah - we've got roofers in at the moment, I say in, they pretty much pick and choose the days they work and the prices are not exactly keen - but good luck finding someone who'll do it cheaper and do a good job (they are rectifying a not great job by someone else who did it cheaper :s).
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The roofer i use isn’t cheap he fits weather slates for me when i do a flue through a roof. I pay him £140 it usually takes him an hour or two. But he turns up when he says he will and he’s good so i know there won’t be any issues plus it saves me having to get up there!
 
henry hoov3r said:
The roofer i use isn’t cheap he fits weather slates for me when i do a flue through a roof. I pay him £140 it usually takes him an hour or two. But he turns up when he says he will and he’s good so i know there won’t be any issues plus it saves me having to get up there!
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Can't mess around with roofs ££££
 
don’t think that’s two bad, replacing the gutters, changing some tiles, working at height is dangerous and requires skill

£450 inc vat?
 
ChroniC said:
It is outrageous money, but for some reason every tradesman in the last decade has decided that his 10 years of experience smoking fags and leaving the job site at 2pm is worth as much a doctor gets paid. You won't find one who doesn't.
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It is an exploitable skill. Personally I would not be wandering around roof tops for much less and in a competitive market he price can be checked.

As for doctors, their pay rates are fixed by being part of the union although when working in private practice can charge eye watering sums to fix your guttering.
 
With what I have had to pay out this year I would snap his hand off. Also if he has done a good job next door your in.

Sometime with jobs you think that's a lot of money but when it's finished and you stand back and look at it hopefully you can say that looks so much better and breath a sigh of relief.
 
£450 for that is in no way outrageous, what kind of roofers are the people saying it's expensive getting?! Around here they're like gold dust, they either don't turn up to quote, don't turn up for the work or, even if they do start, they pick their hours.
 
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Sounds about normal. Depends if he will come back though.

Had some touch up done on porch and they guy started saying it needed more work and whoever did it was bad job until i told him it was his bosses work...
 
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