Council charged £600 for a mats that was £3.00 in shop
Council charged £600 for a mats that was £3.00 in shop
Author
Discussion

snotsnfarts

Original Poster:

237 posts

258 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
just reading about council being charged £2,000 a metre for central reservation metal and reminded me of 25 years ago working for lift company.

Anyway new health and safety law came in regarding working the supply a rubber mat to stand on whilst working on Lift control panel(normally 3 phase 415v) we ran out of a roll of rubber matting so my boss told me to go down to local car shop and buy rubber mat and use a stencil to spray "tested to 5000v" on the back by chance I found out the charge to the council as it was a council block was £600. In hindsight disgusting but i imagine someone on there "job/pension for life" position rubber stamped it, and a cheque was sent..anyone else have tales of Councils waste ?

Edited by snotsnfarts on Saturday 27th December 23:26

KingRichard

10,146 posts

261 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
snotsnfarts said:
just reading about council being charged £2,000 a metre for central reservation metal and reminded me of 25 years ago working for lift company.

Anyway new health and safety law came in regarding working the supply a rubber mat to stand on whilst working on Lift control panel(normally 3 phase 415v) we ran out of a roll of rubber matting so my boss told me to go down to local car shop and buy rubber mat and use a stencil to spray "tested to 5000v" on the back by chance I found out the charge to the council as it was a council block was £600. In hindsight disgusting but i imagine someone on there "job/pension for life" position rubber stamped it, and a cheque was sent..anyone else have tails of Councils waste ?
fking hundreds of stories... But I'm not allowed to talk about it wink

tinman0

18,231 posts

269 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
snotsnfarts said:
just reading about council being charged £2,000 a metre for central reservation metal and reminded me of 25 years ago working for lift company.

Anyway new health and safety law came in regarding working the supply a rubber mat to stand on whilst working on Lift control panel(normally 3 phase 415v) we ran out of a roll of rubber matting so my boss told me to go down to local car shop and buy rubber mat and use a stencil to spray "tested to 5000v" on the back by chance I found out the charge to the council as it was a council block was £600. In hindsight disgusting but i imagine someone on there "job/pension for life" position rubber stamped it, and a cheque was sent..anyone else have tales of Councils waste ?
Should see what your council charges your boss in business rates. Your sympathy for the council will soon be short lived.

Deva Link

26,934 posts

274 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
snotsnfarts said:
by chance I found out the charge to the council as it was a council block was £600. In hindsight disgusting but i imagine someone on there "job/pension for life" position rubber stamped it, and a cheque was sent..anyone else have tales of Councils waste ?
That's not an example of council waste, that's an example of rip-off over-charging by a contractor.

richyb

4,615 posts

239 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.

pies1981

8,995 posts

216 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
richyb said:
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.
3 hours max? £533 per hour, not bad work if you can get it i suppose...

redvictor

3,152 posts

266 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
pies1981 said:
richyb said:
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.
3 hours max? £533 per hour, not bad work if you can get it i suppose...
i think you'll find they WONT be getting it any time soon....

Police State

4,366 posts

249 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
KingRichard said:
snotsnfarts said:
just reading about council being charged £2,000 a metre for central reservation metal and reminded me of 25 years ago working for lift company.

Anyway new health and safety law came in regarding working the supply a rubber mat to stand on whilst working on Lift control panel(normally 3 phase 415v) we ran out of a roll of rubber matting so my boss told me to go down to local car shop and buy rubber mat and use a stencil to spray "tested to 5000v" on the back by chance I found out the charge to the council as it was a council block was £600. In hindsight disgusting but i imagine someone on there "job/pension for life" position rubber stamped it, and a cheque was sent..anyone else have tails of Councils waste ?
fking hundreds of stories... But I'm not allowed to talk about it wink
so just leak some to the press; they can't all be traced back to you, surely?

richyb

4,615 posts

239 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
pies1981 said:
richyb said:
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.
3 hours max? £533 per hour, not bad work if you can get it i suppose...
2 non skilled guys two hours and use of a flat bed van for an hour to get it there. Its silly money for what is involved. The big problem is nearly all councils do exactly the same.

Edited by richyb on Saturday 27th December 23:53

pies1981

8,995 posts

216 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
richyb said:
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.
3 hours max? £533 per hour, not bad work if you can get it i suppose...
i think you'll find they WONT be getting it any time soon....
Andy, little unrelated, do you know/remember a chap called martin payne? races a big block chevy v8 ford pop?

redvictor

3,152 posts

266 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
pies1981 said:
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
richyb said:
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.
3 hours max? £533 per hour, not bad work if you can get it i suppose...
i think you'll find they WONT be getting it any time soon....
Andy, little unrelated, do you know/remember a chap called martin payne? races a big block chevy v8 ford pop?
yes i do? may i ask why?
and is that you on that aircraft window..LOL

pies1981

8,995 posts

216 months

Saturday 27th December 2008
quotequote all
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
richyb said:
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.
3 hours max? £533 per hour, not bad work if you can get it i suppose...
i think you'll find they WONT be getting it any time soon....
Andy, little unrelated, do you know/remember a chap called martin payne? races a big block chevy v8 ford pop?
yes i do? may i ask why?
and is that you on that aircraft window..LOL
I used to work with him at land rover, spent a 2 week shutdown working with him once basically talking about your car the whole time!!

redvictor

3,152 posts

266 months

Sunday 28th December 2008
quotequote all
pies1981 said:
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
richyb said:
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.
3 hours max? £533 per hour, not bad work if you can get it i suppose...
i think you'll find they WONT be getting it any time soon....
Andy, little unrelated, do you know/remember a chap called martin payne? races a big block chevy v8 ford pop?
yes i do? may i ask why?
and is that you on that aircraft window..LOL
I used to work with him at land rover, spent a 2 week shutdown working with him once basically talking about your car the whole time!!
ah,sorry about him boring you to tears there....lol

pies1981

8,995 posts

216 months

Sunday 28th December 2008
quotequote all
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
richyb said:
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.
3 hours max? £533 per hour, not bad work if you can get it i suppose...
i think you'll find they WONT be getting it any time soon....
Andy, little unrelated, do you know/remember a chap called martin payne? races a big block chevy v8 ford pop?
yes i do? may i ask why?
and is that you on that aircraft window..LOL
I used to work with him at land rover, spent a 2 week shutdown working with him once basically talking about your car the whole time!!
ah,sorry about him boring you to tears there....lol
ha ha, no, it was very imformative!!! im gonna try and get down to a few meets next year and watch him race, if you happen to be around i'll say hello!

uk_vette

3,336 posts

233 months

Sunday 28th December 2008
quotequote all
KingRichard said:
snotsnfarts said:
just reading about council being charged £2,000 a metre for central reservation metal and reminded me of 25 years ago working for lift company.

Anyway new health and safety law came in regarding working the supply a rubber mat to stand on whilst working on Lift control panel(normally 3 phase 415v) we ran out of a roll of rubber matting so my boss told me to go down to local car shop and buy rubber mat and use a stencil to spray "tested to 5000v" on the back by chance I found out the charge to the council as it was a council block was £600. In hindsight disgusting but i imagine someone on there "job/pension for life" position rubber stamped it, and a cheque was sent..anyone else have tails of Councils waste ?
fking hundreds of stories... But I'm not allowed to talk about it wink
.
.
You can tell us, we won't tell anyone smile

redvictor

3,152 posts

266 months

Sunday 28th December 2008
quotequote all
pies1981 said:
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
redvictor said:
pies1981 said:
richyb said:
Its disgusting when you see the figures charged. In my field of work I've seen £2k charged for a standard park bench that costs £400 direct from the manufacturers. £1600 to take it to the site and cement it in.
3 hours max? £533 per hour, not bad work if you can get it i suppose...
i think you'll find they WONT be getting it any time soon....
Andy, little unrelated, do you know/remember a chap called martin payne? races a big block chevy v8 ford pop?
yes i do? may i ask why?
and is that you on that aircraft window..LOL
I used to work with him at land rover, spent a 2 week shutdown working with him once basically talking about your car the whole time!!
ah,sorry about him boring you to tears there....lol
ha ha, no, it was very imformative!!! im gonna try and get down to a few meets next year and watch him race, if you happen to be around i'll say hello!
come and say hello for sure.Glad you found it informative..

TheEnd

15,370 posts

217 months

Sunday 28th December 2008
quotequote all
OMG!
it's that guy off the telly with the drag car!

Anyway, back to benches, well, you'd generally be charging for 2 men for the day, as they probably aren't going to be doing much else after, and that'd come in at about 250 quid, maybe more, i'm not sure of the markup.

You'd then charge for digging stuff, kango, genny or an air compressor, a few bags of cement, sand etc.

hmmmmm.
Running out of chargables now actually, but i suppose you'd still want to add in a profit for the boss at 200-300.

It's criminal, but it one of those council things where no one cares about price, they just receive a bill and pay it.

silver.fox.2008

820 posts

219 months

Sunday 28th December 2008
quotequote all
Its because its not their money. No matter whether its council or central government, they don't give a st. They'll gladly rubber stamp anything as its the public purse.

Imagine if a private organisation received an invoice from a contractor for that amount.

V8A*ndy

3,697 posts

220 months

Sunday 28th December 2008
quotequote all
I know a guy that did a job for the council one new years day.

Now the time he was required at and the date alone would require triple time but the £200 job that he would have charged £600 for, earned him a stagering £4k for 1 hour. 30 min setup, 20min job, 10 min strip down and off home back in bed for 8am.

Deva Link

26,934 posts

274 months

Sunday 28th December 2008
quotequote all
My FIL works for a company that does work for councils, schools etc, and they've been a right pain for years about Health and Safety, making every job take twice as long as it needed to with scaffolding etc where a step ladder would be fine etc.

However in the last couple of years all the private companies they work for have done the same too - even simple jobs becomes insanely expensive.


On the park bench job referred to earlir, it's not a matter of paying for a couple of blokes and a van for an hour. There's the cost of everything it takes to get the people to the right place and with the equipment needed to do the job, down to the canteen person who serves the HR person their lunch. In any big organisation these costs are immense. It's a bit like the £100/hr garage labour charge, when the mechanic is getting £12.50/hr.