Is this quote fair?

[BrickProblems]

Namechanged for this. Just bought a house that needed some work (new kitchen and new felting in the roof) before we can move in. When the roofers starting taking the tiles off they discovered that the outer brick wall was wobbling. They’re now saying that the mortar is crumbling and quoting us £7k to take down the bricks to a safe level and then rebuild the outer wall. Does this seem fair? It’s a small 1980s ex council end of terrace in Bristol.

Surveyor put a yellow warning that he wasn’t sure if the pointing was in good condition but didn’t raise any serious concerns about that.

We’re currently renting and this is all a huge stress - can it really cost £7k to take down bricks and put them up again? I’m ready to hear it if so, but I worry about whether we’re being ripped off.

We need a square metre measurement as I believe that’s how it’s priced. Do you know what that is? Plus is there scaffolding or is that already in place?

That sounds really stressful. I'm afraid I am not in that line of work so can't comment on what is reasonable, but I tend to ask people for recommendations on builders / roofers and then get three quotes to give me an idea for what is reasonable pricewise.
(For what it's worth, I'm sure there are decent surveyors out there, but from my experience I wouldn't rely on a surveyor's report - the ones I've had have not been worth the paper they're written on and I wouldn't waste my money on one again. Next time, I would get a trusted builder to have a look.)

Previous questions are all good ones. Scaffolding where we are costs about £1500 - 2000 for initial set up, depending on the scale of the building, then there would probably be at least 2 people working on this for however many days at a day rate of £200 - £350 per day, plus materials and possibly a skip which will be £200 - £300. If it takes them 5 days, 7k is not impossible tbh, but it feels a touch high if it's just for the brickworks.

Does the quote include the re-felting of the roof as well?

The quote should really break down the costs, if it doesn't send it back and ask them to itemise it more for you.

I'd also ask to go up and have a look yourself. A nice builder will show you the problem.

Can it really cost 7grand to remove and replace bricks? NO... taking the absolute pea and hoping you will agree so "we will do the work when we are here"..Get a second...and third opinion.

Thanks all - that’s not including scaffolding which is already up. Also I mistyped in the OP, it’s a builder saying this not the roofers.

Here’s what’s been said about costs:

• around a week stripping the external shell which would be £600 a day = £3000
• 2 bricklayers and a labourer or 2 to put it back up - £700/£800 a day for another 5 days so = £3.5/£4k

Also said “We will have a better idea on time scale once we start to remove bricks from the property” which makes sense.

Sorry I don’t know it in square meters but it’s a pretty bog standard ex council semi.

Thanks for the posts so far - I’m not trying to be cheap but we’re far from well off and this is hard.

Why can’t they rake out the loose mortar and redo?
Have you asked for a price for that ?

tbh you could do that yourself to save money.

Agree

‘A better idea on timescale’ when the price is based on that is not a
finite quote
its a get out clause to charge even more!

Sorry to be dim, what does that mean?

If the mortar is lose or missing on brickwork you take out ( it’s called rake out ) the lose mortar and repoint ( put mortar back to replace it)
Missing or loose mortar does not require a complete rebuild.

Have you got an external picture of the wall including a close up of the brickwork

Here’s the top of one of the walls. I will be there tomorrow so can take more.

I think it's fair of the builder to say that the work is dependent on the extent of the problem.

How can they determine exactly what work will be required without first dismantling? If the wall is actually wobbling it sounds as if it could need a full rebuild. The builder is alerting the OP to the possibility of this.

The roofer is alerting the OP to the problems with the wall. The roofer doesn't get anything out of it.

I'm referring to the quote for rebuilding the wall that the builder gave the OP.

The roofer flagged the issue up and the OP is looking to engage a builder to rectify. Hence her post.

The brickwork looks very tidy, I assume they are saying the bricks are loose not that the pointing is failing, not that the bricks have anywhere to go and all the joints are in compression. Are any of the corners cracking and potentially leaning, if anything is moving you would see a zigzag cracking along the join lines. I would get up there yourself and see if any of the bricks are loose without encouragement from the builder trying to knock them out! I would be concerned it's just jobs for the boys.

How far are they thinking of taking it down? As far as necessary (in their opinion) could be a long way and cost a lot. How reputable is the builder? It's easy to scare people into having unnecessary work done. Do you know anyone a friend of a friend maybe who knows about these things and could take a look for you?

Sounds like the builder is employing the roofers and will do the wall work for a price. Otherwise how did the builder know anything about it and quote for work he hasn't been asked to quote for? Definitely at least get other opinions and quotes.

That looks like it could be patched up and repointed possibly?

You need more quotes. I had quotes for trades converting my garage and they varied widely.

Yet the surveyor didn’t flag the wall as needing rebuilding and the photo so far isn’t flagging such an issue either

The Roofer / builder could simply be looking for more work to do, it wouldnt be the first time

So far I’m not seeing an issue

some mortar has weathered and so minor repointing needed and obviously three bricks are missing.

If they are pricing for the removal and rebuilding of a wall it’s quite obvious what size the wall is.

There aren’t any unknowns, they can see it all from the outside.

In some cases works might be an unknown but not this one.

I’m not convinced about this and definitely think you need more quotes. Start asking around friends and see who people have used. We had a quote for 10k for some work that has come in around just over half that with someone else, I’m not that far from you.

There was a bit of water damage from an old leaking door that had been replaced and I asked the 10k to include replacing those floor boards and he started going on about the joists might be rotten underneath. I was thinking WTF are you on about, it’s a door been put into an external wall, it is obvious the foundations are under it . He was someone a friend had used so I thought he would be ok but talking to her further I think he tried it on there and she didn’t realise unfortunately.

Be really careful before you agree to anything.