Items that are missed in construction cost plans
Items that are missed in construction cost plans
Introduction
When preparing a construction budget it is common to simply miss out on items as there are a lot of items to be identified, measured and included for.
These are some of the items most commonly missed:
- Refurbishment of existing windows and doors
- Works around new openings such as windows and doors including closing cavities, cills, decoration of same
- Refurbishment of existing walls and ceilings before decorating
- Cleaning of external brickwork
- Balconies
- Render
- Specialist conservation works
- Environmental works e.g. moving protected species such as bats
- Refurbish existing cills
- External painting of property
- Painting pipework
- Local authority fees
- Sewer, gas, water, electricity connections
- Roof light blinds
- Insulation between the roof rafters
- Insulation between the floor joists
- Insulation and screed to the ground floor slab
- Insulation between the timber or metal stud frames
- Extent of tiling – does client want full tiling of walls or just a small amount
- Kitchen appliances
- Access -scaffolding, rental of cherry pickers
- General labour for cleaning day to day
- Labour for moving materials off trucks and around the site
- Sealing gaps -air tightness
- Attic ladders
- Builders work – forming holes for pipework
- General grunt work
- Refurbishment of stairs
- Painting of staircases
- Plus sloped ceilings and cupboards to staircases.
A huge item that is constantly missed is unforeseen work. Clients rarely realise that in an old house there can be a lot of rotten timbers, crumbling brickwork that are completely hidden by existing plasterboard. So once the plasterboard is taken away there may be a lot more work to be completed.
It is always best to have a reasonable contingency for unforeseen work within your cost plan just in case.