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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
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Energy Assessment: Back of beer mat calcs - help needed!

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1 to 13 of 13

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  1.  
    So I've done a quick calculation on a refurb' project the LA is proposing to inflict upon my property.

    General jist is that they want to charge a fortune to badly over clad my maisonette. - trying to get my head round what the effect on the gas bills would be.

    Sooooo....

    A quick calc with areas and U-values shows that the heat loss through fabric is roughly halved.
    Current heating and hot water is a B rated condensing combi
    Air leakage probably medium but not helped particularly by the bad/partial over cladding
    Current gas bill ~£60pcm

    Very roughly, any idea how much that would all end up as in terms of £££s? ie allowing for heat loss through leakage and gas spent on water?

    Thanks,

    J
    • CommentAuthorsinnerboy
    • CommentTimeMar 16th 2009 edited
     
    DHW won't change ( approx 30%* of your £60 )
    And vent losses ( controlled and uncontrolled) will make up another 30%*

    Leaving remaining 30% * for heat loss through fabric - which should halve

    (*10% margin of error :bigsmile: )
  3.  
    Cheers,

    that's kind of what I thought, so plugging those numbers in gives a grand total of about £125 saved over a year of which only 50 quid is due to the over clad (the rest being the cavity fill).

    mmh... not quite sure that's worth the £15k their asking! (especially since the cavity fill will only cost a few hundred quid per unit.

    Interestingly most of the aforementioned cavity fill will go in the space they insist is a cavity between two skins of brickwork (1970s social housing masionette), which based on my knowledge and as far as I can tell* is currently full of concrete...

    So £14.5k to save £50 year... grrrhhhh :devil::devil:

    J

    (*based on limited investigative drilling now banned by Mrs James).
  4.  
    £15k a house, eh? I'd like that contract (snouts in the trough :devil:). I'd ask then for a spec and the £15k and do it yourself :bigsmile:
    • CommentAuthorRobinB
    • CommentTimeMar 17th 2009
     
    Might be worth spending just 1% or 2% of that proposed £15K on draught proofing and cutting down your vent losses to a healthy minimum. Less fun though....
  6.  
    Chris,

    Entirely, every price they give me for work to the estate seems to be 50-60% above the going rate, they recently tried to charge me £3.5k for two doors!

    The idea is that if I can build up a case based on how I'm getting very little and get some real prices from real contractors then I might be able to get out of paying the stupid money and only have to pay a reasonable amount.

    Any one know any real contractors who woud so this sort of thing - initially just for pricing, but possibly my block of 10 units and you never know possibly, the whole estate of 1000 units...?

    Robin,

    As a leaseholder of ex council property I don't get to choose how the 15k is spent... but still have to pay it! hence the angst.

    J
  7.  
    PS

    Even really going for it and adding in loads of extra bits the most I could make it cost was £8k per unit (inc VAT, scaffolding, profits, overheads, preliminaries, removing existing finishes, altering vents. lights etc.)

    J
    • CommentAuthorSimonH
    • CommentTimeMar 17th 2009
     
    Posted By: James Norton

    Robin,

    As a leaseholder of ex council property I don't get to choose how the 15k is spent... but still have to pay it! hence the angst.

    J


    That sucks. Seem like your best option is to do it quick before you get ripped off. Or knock the house down out of spite and sell it as a building plot. A rought figure someone else came up with was £100/m2. Which after I did the same costing excercise on my own house ended up roughly the same.

    Have the council showed you thes "Best Value" tenders they used (or whatever it's called these days)? There should be a 2 part tender that goes out - 1 on cost which will be the bulk of the points but also a capability section.

    Do you have to go with their tender? Or can you substitute your own equivalent.

    Tenders to council tend to go in high as "people spending other people money on other people" don't tend to carry out much due dilligence. Ass covering by picking someone who has a track record and isn't the most expensive is the name of the game.

    Also there's a risk that tenant won't be in, sue for a blob of plaster spilt on the grass etc. I.e more risks and costs than a direct to homeowner job (who actually wanted the work doing).

    Simon
    • CommentAuthorjamesingram
    • CommentTimeMar 17th 2009 edited
     
    Buy the freehold , then you can tell them where to stick it
    might be cheaper than £15K, mine was £7K , 4 years ago , though they quoted £1500 when I first ask 7 years ago
    that some hefty inflation for 3 years
    It was for a block of 2 masoniette by the way , and I now get to charge my leaeholder £10 a year ground rent
    yes , I am the new Rackman
  10.  
    mmmh there's a thought, not sure they'd go for it though as am one unit in a block of 10... worth a look though, thanks,.

    J
  11.  
    I may be be wrong but I think if any leaseholder requests to purchase the freehold they have to sell it
    it doesn't need to be 50% as was previously the case
    I'd put that down as a 40% fact though

    cheers Jim
  12.  
    When you say you have to pay it, do you mean you have no choice, you can't just say "no thanks"?

    Sounds to me like the 10 of you need to buy that freehold and set up a company to manage the block. Then make your own decisions on what should be done and get your own quotes etc. They ain't doing you any favours at £15k a piece.
  13.  
    Have to = no choice

    Only 3 of the units of 10 are leasehold the others are council tenants... think its off to the valuation tribunal...

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