Newsbot Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 More than £300,000 of additional funding is needed to complete work on a school extension on the Isle of Man. Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/6536901.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Smelly Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Do any of these builders that work for the government take of a fixed price ? No wonder they don't do private work they wouldnt last 5 mins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sound of the underground Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 No wonder they don't do private work they wouldnt last 5 mins So you think that a builders price should be inclusive of elements that they have not been asked to price for originally. I agree they wouldn’t last five minutes in the private sector. I will get them to quote for an extension and then have them build a new house instead. After all they should have seen it coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karellen Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 In the private sector the contractor would be given a detailed specification and the employer would employ a project manager / QS who would know the cost to complete. In addition, the work would be tendered either as a whole, or in parcels of work so that the employer gets best value. Specifications change along the way - that is a fact of life - but changes to specifications should be agreed, costed and documented by the professional teams. Why should the public sector be managed any differently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
%age Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Poor ground conditions during the first phase and the need to install sprinklers has added to the cost of the project Perhaps they do, but maybe the Education Department should employ an extremely costly consultant/project management company who would have the expected know-how and experience to foresee such matters. Has there been an unusual geological shift or something in Ramsey? Did the Building Regulations suddenly decide there was a need for sprinklers? It's all a bit like the £100,000s the dry rot cost us in the Government Building. It sneaked up on us, sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pragmatopian Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 In theory at least, governments should be pretty good at getting value from their contractors because of their purchasing power. Unfortunately, though, it seems civil servants aren't as effective as they should be at getting value. The contracts they sign on our behalf aren't tight enough and they don't seem to use their strong negotiating position to beat people down on price. If they were in business, they would have gone under years ago. There need to be much clearer lines of accountability and performance-related pay for civil servants before things will change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Smelly Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Well what i would like to see is the same as in the private sector. A fixed price for the work and thats it, no more running back for more money. This whole thing smells, either a QS made a mistake and did not include the work or they are trying to milk the cow for a second time ? In the private sector a builder would have to pay for these mistakes out of the profit on the job. Why is it the government just let them come back with the begging bowl time after time. Some companies do this type of contract so they can win the tender they price for 75% of the work and put in the contract that anything more is extra. I would also like to see more than one company building schools etc, its not fair that one company get's it all while other local companies don't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feelslikeitshould Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Well if the contractor has been able to go back and get money then the 'mistake' is likely to be on the Governments side. Why do you (Roger) assume that the contractor is milking the Government in this case? As was pointed out by sound of the underground, they can only price work that's included in the tender, of course they should be reimbursed for extra over work. I can assure you that Governement contracts have no holes in to allow contractors more money than they are due under the terms of that contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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