Question:
Mark I have an item on a bill that I’m sure you will come across very often. It’s simply a m2 rate for stripping wallpaper. We have won the project which is for 10 void flats.
I’ve now had a site visit and came across many areas where the papered walls are actually layers on top of layers of wallpaper.
It’s an old tenement building. Some areas have 3/4 layers of wall paper. Is there challenge here I could go back to the client as it’s not as simple as just stripping one layer of paper ?
Painting Estimator Reply:
It depends. If in your tender submission letter, you stated that the 'stripping rate' was based on a maximum of 1nr. layer of paper, then definitely yes. If however, you have not qualified your quotation in this way, you are going to struggle. You could argue that the nature of the base was not adequately described in the BoQ and that the BoQ should have stated 'multi-layered' existing wallpaper. However, the Contractor QS may well say that you did, or had the opportunity to visit the site prior to commencing works or at the pre-start. Either way, you have a fight on your hands.
Note to All Quick Paint Rate users:
At the point of pricing, if you know that there are 3-4 layers that will require stripping, use the ‘Hard to Strip’ option which should allow for this. I know it’s difficult to judge how difficult it will be to strip existing wallpaper until you get started, but obviously at pricing stage you may not get a chance to do a ‘test strip’.
If you are not sure, make sure you include a qualification in your tender submission letter that states that your price/rate is based on one layer of paper only and that ‘multiple layers’ would be subject to an ‘uplift cost’.
Kind regards,
Mark
Painting Estimator-panddonline