Should trades take away their waste in the quote?

[Mark300zx]

I am doing a house refurb and got a plumber to do a lot of work, I naively presumed he would be taking away his waste, but he then said he thought I was getting a skip and I would have to take care of the waste, is this the new norm?

[Jeremy-75qq8]

Depends. If there is other work going on and the job is small then they stick in the skip that is already on site.

If a stand alone job then 100% they should take it away unless there has been a discussion to the contrary.

[Belle427]

I say yes. I bet he took any copper away if there was any.

[sherman]

My bathroom fitter arranged his own skip hire. It was part of the quote.
We got the middle skip.

[eltawater]

The trades get charged by your local tidy tip / recycling centre for disposal.

Normally they ask you to confirm this before they start the job so they can add the cost on top of your bill or point out that it's normally free for you as a householder to take it to the tip yourself (sometimes you need a permit from your local council too).

[jmn]

Doesn't the transport of scrap/waste now require a licence?

[allegro]

I've been a furniture installer for 35 years and my mantra has always been to leave a place like you found it, if not cleaner

[smokey mow]

Most trades I know won’t have a waste carriers license so would expect a skip on site.

[Aluminati]

jmn said:

Doesn't the transport of scrap/waste now require a licence?

Yes.

[fat80b]

I think it’s fairly normal for a plumber or electrician to leave all their waste on site. Ours did.

The builder / main contractor then removed it all

The electrician would leave a tidy pile in a corner somewhere, the plumber would just scatter it randomly around the place and thought nothing of just leaving Costa coffee cups wherever he liked…

Maybe it’s a plumber thing….

[Wings]

Belle427 said:

I say yes. I bet he took any copper away if there was any.

Just had a new bathroom suite installed, and yes the plumber took the copper waste away.

[Snow and Rocks]

Like anything - just ask, that way you know for sure.

No way would I want them to organise a skip and include that in the quote automatically when I can sling the stuff in my trailer and take it to the dump next time I'm passing but everyone's different.

[bogie]

Recently had a days worth of electrical work which involved some cutting of plasterboard and on the quote it mentioned they assumed they would leave any waste onsite otherwise it would be charged at £60+ vat per sack for them to dispose of. First time id seen this myself listed on a trades quote. Last year when we had a kitchen refit a skip was included in the price and all trades used that.

[037]

If you are the main contractor overseeing the project then id expect you to supply space in the skip as you will be making a % of the customers bill.
Any skip onsite is generally a free for all with contractors bringing waste from other sites. Simpler to let the customer pay for it.

[Douglas Quaid]

jmn said:

Doesn't the transport of scrap/waste now require a licence?

It’s £105 for 3 years so not expensive for the licence. Tip charges are more though, you get weighed on the way in and after you’ve emptied off, that’s charged at £170+vat per ton for mixed waste. A van load of stuff can cost £3-400 so it’s not cheap, depending on what’s on there of course.

None of this is an issue if you’ve had it confirmed beforehand that the guy is taking the stuff but it’s worth confirming before as it does cost £££ to chuck stuff nowadays and the cost is only going up. Apart from the cost it also takes time to chuck it too obviously.

Certain kinds of people just dump it in a farmers field and save themselves the money but that’s not what proper tradesmen do.

[reggie747]

Mark300zx said:

I am doing a house refurb and got a plumber to do a lot of work, I naively presumed he would be taking away his waste, but he then said he thought I was getting a skip and I would have to take care of the waste, is this the new norm?

What kind of waste did the plumber generate ?
Are you talking about old bathroom fittings and fixtures ?
Sounds like a genuine question from him about the skip I think...?
Down the line, ask the relevant trade if removal is included.....if it's not, be prepared for the price to increase for it to do so.

[Stick Legs]

I always have a written spec for big jobs.

Builder quotes to spec.

Everything is agreed & that way there’s no argument.



So yes, but only if you made it clear.

[MitchT]

Perhaps I'm being naive but I would expect someone to take their crap with them, same as I'd expect to take my car for an oil change and not to be handed a carton of old oil to dispose of myself afterwards. My mum had a new roof on her house recently. They arrived. They did everything. They left. House with old roof. Then house with new roof. Simple as that. A skip was a part of the equation but my mum had nothing to do with it.

[OzzyR1]

If it's a small domestic job, unless you ask them to take it away & include that in their price it's normally excluded.

In Essex, trades aren't allowed to use the local recycling centre to dispose of business waste even if they have a carrier's licence:

https://www.loveessex.org/policy-and-site-restrict...


Last year I had a small plasterboard ceiling taken down after a leak, re-boarded and skimmed. Bloke bagged up the old board in rubble sacks, I put them in the shed and got rid on the next tip run as DIY waste which is permissible.

[Shooter McGavin]

On our kitchen refit the fitter/plumber made it clear we would need to arrange a skip. I got a Hippobag, it was great value and fun to watch the massive wagon come and take it away.