Why does it cost so much to repair the church roof?

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cjard

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At a recent wedding I was in conversation with the vicar about the apparent damp patches on the underside of the church roof - large sections of the ceiling plasterwork were black or discoloured, spreading down some walls. It wasn't particularly ornate plasterwork or woodwork, though apparently is Grade II listed. It came about that the quote for repairs was £750,000 - I was somewhat surprised at how high this seemed; I reckon that church was approx. 20x30 metres in size, so at most 600 sqm of floor space, let's say 750sqm of roof.. £1000/sqm is normally the sort of figure you can build an entire house for..

..so what is it that makes the church roof so expensive to repair?
 
4 mtr hoarding with anti climb paint, three strands of barbed wire, monitored alarms. even before the work starts.
usually the best of everything material wise....organ protection, work stopping during services.. it goes on
BUT! £750,000 sounds a lot for that metre age.. maybe some additional stone work is required and of course dealing with the mess inside
 
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God knows.

But you tend to find that everything is done by the book, with all risks allowed for and unforeseen work taken into account. Specialist workers at a premium price, and high professional fees.

Gravy train comes to mind. The work needs doing, the client will pay what can be screwed out of them.
 
^woody^ said:
But you tend to find that everything is done by the book
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Yes, you only have to read the reams of (expensive) restrictions, rules and often unnecessary demands put out by the architects etc.

I turned down a job for a bloke whos son was the architect. The last straw was when he wrote "builder to taper board edges (5mm) to ensure adequate filling of plasterboard abutments......." And where he thought I was going to get code 6 lead for the flashings I do not know.:rolleyes:
 
^woody^ said:
God knows.

But you tend to find that everything is done by the book, with all risks allowed for and unforeseen work taken into account. Specialist workers at a premium price, and high professional fees.

Gravy train comes to mind. The work needs doing, the client will pay what can be screwed out of them.
Click to expand...

Exactly just like when an insurance quote is mentioned everyone involved in those sorts of repairs start rubbing their hands together in greedy anticipation.
 
No doubt such a project will have numerous specialist architectural consultants, listed building conservation specialists.

There will be some massive thick contract with pages and pages of details.

I expect an architect will be contracted as project manager.

The project will go to a main contractor, who will sub contract work to out to specialist contractors.

Im sure there would be loads of time consuming site meetings.

And somit goes on.
 
pete50 said:
insurance quote is mentioned everyone involved
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Not strictly true, some people realise that we all pay in the end..
^woody^ said:
Gravy train comes to mind
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Yes controls are strict, especially insurance cover requirements during works.Gravy train...Twaddle
Notch7 said:
The project will go to a main contractor, who will sub contract work to out to specialist contractors.
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We actually do a lot of this work and do not sub contract to others. It isn't that easy in the rules of the contract
Over seen by Architects that are very knowledgeable and know the work.
Restrictions are high.
 
If the Church is anything like the salvation army, then they don't tend to know what they are doing, so pass it over to someone who does things by the book. Better to pass the buck to someone else, and pay through the nose so that you can say with a clear conscience, it's not my fault, if something goes wrong.

And that's no reflection on you Datrebal. The idiot next to me was the the local Sally Anny minister, and he insisted on getting the roofer they'd used before to do the shared chimney, even though I pointed out that he didn't know what he was doing, and wouldn't have him on the roof. In the end, I repointed the chimney, and then got someone better than me to do the hips and the tiles when I realised how bad they were, and roofer knocked on his door to see about doing his side whilst he was up there, and got ignored.
 
I don't think a sally army building is comparable to the structures we work on . But yes there are plenty out there that have not a clue.
What did you point your chimney with ?
 
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