Does this seem reasonable or am I on my own in thinking this is expensive?

[maybeIwillmaybeIwont]

I was thinking of repainting all the roofline peeling wooden sofitts, fascia and barge board thingies, but on reflection I decided that my local handyman, despite telling me he wasn't afraid of heights, might not be the best man for the job. He's very good, but I feared for his safety.

So the next thing I thought of was to replace it all with good quality Upvc stuff. I called a local family company who have done excellent work for my sister and in fact built the conservatory I have [for the previous owners], and the surveyor has just left .

The quote is £7428! I have a large 5 bedroom detached house with various gables and bays (not easy for access to roofline] and a large conservatory (ditto), and it's all singing and dancing stuff but really! I apparently need full scaffolding on both end gables [it is high] . The quote also includes replacing all the gutters and downpipes. It is a total replacement of everything not a cover up job, and they have full insurance cover.

Anyone any idea if this is about right? I think I'm in shock

*purpose

The other two quotes are in!

£3552 and £3060

Now the dilemma is which one but at least I won't be paying twice the amount. Wait until I ring HIM up to tell him I won't be using them .

Maybe they don't need the work, maybe they are double the quality, but it's plastic soffits, for Goodness sake!!

Thanks for all the words of advice, it did help enormously, for all.

That sounds a bit more healthy (although still a lot of money for something so boring!)

Can I just ask what part of the country you are in, in case I need some recommendations?

Cointreau yes it is isn't it?

Who ever thought I would be so consumed by plastic roofline fittings, come back lost youth!

I am on the Northamptonshire/Bedfordshire border but one of them does work here and in Buckinghamshire.

Ha! Just rang the first surveyor with his £7428 quote and told him no thanks.......suddenly he can quote me for a different thickness profile and something else and they'll do this and that and how about £5000?

I said, you know if you'd have quoted that last week , the job would have been yours that day due to your reputation, (well maybe ).

He then goes on about technical stuff but I said, you could have used any thickness you wanted, I would never have known the difference either way, would I? So why quote me for the most expensive?

Then he asked about the other quotes, how far away were they and what would it take to keep me as a customer and I have to say, I was very tempted to start playing them off against each other. I didn't, I don't want them to do the work now, they tried to rip me off.

But it infuriates me that there is so much flexibility on a quote. Either it is xxxx amount or it isn't! I know it is a marketing ploy with double glazing etc, but he walked away for almost a week without offering any discount, even when I said it was too much.

He's asked me to think about the new quote and ring him in the morning. But he is still almost £2000 more than the lowest which is probably the one I am going with. I would have chosen this company even if they hadn't been the cheapest.

Glad this bit is all over, let's hope the job goes smoothly, please.

Update ! They finished all the work last week.Only one afternoon of rain stopped them and it took a week.

They did have to get some 'hired' extra scaffolding in for the highest corner once they got to that bit, but it made no difference to the quote .

I am very pleased and quite irrationally desperate to ring up the original surveyor who quoted £7428 and show him what I got for £3060! [Mind you, I'm still that I would ever spend that much money on plastic gutters and soft thingies!]

sofit ffs!

Great news maybe.

I hate spending thousands on boring jobs. Now that money you didn't spend, something nice instead?

I like your thinking financialwizard

That sounds pretty exorbitant to me - I had my 3 bed semi done about 4 months ago, by an excellent outfit. No scaffolding - a couple of fitters, all done in 2 days, and a shade under £2000. I always use Checkatrade (having lots of work done at the mo), shame you couldn't find anyone local. There are other sites you might be able to use - Trustatrader I think is one. I'm in Surrey, so not the cheapest area either.

Hello NanTheWiser, yes it is a lot of money but it is a big detached house with lots of difficult access.

They couldn't have done it without masses of scaffold, including double towers while they did over the bay windows and the conservatory.And it is on an incline so one gable is, in effect, 3 storeys high.

Actually, they are not insured to work that high off ladders, I do know that much.

I see that you suggest that I try to find someone local....I did, they are from the next village, all the quotes were from local companies, but I have already had it done , so I don't need to look for anyone now.

Still, thank you for the comment

Oh, stupid me! I hadn't read the 2nd page, or the date! The other quotes you got were far more reasonable, considering the size of house and access, etc. Glad you've had it done, weight off mind!