soffits and fascias

[RanjS8]

Couple of weeks ago, I was looking at the front of my house and comparing it to the neighbour and i thought the guttering could do with cleaning.....but i m scared of height and thought the only way i d get up there is with a scaffold.

Well as luck would have it, I happened to answer a random telesales call selling fascias and soffits....now usually i just put the phone down without even saying a word but i thought you know what lets see what they have to offer.

So a chap comes round...in his 60s, suited and booted and carrying a big black suitcase....noticed he pulled up in a merc c180 estate too....

Anyway, I'm expecting him to say 'ok let me do the measurements and I ll give u a quote'

But instead, he says 'can I come in'...just my luck, this was one of those typical sales calls where they spend ages buttering u up about who they are, what they do, what so special about them, and so forth....he wasted an hour going through all this and eventually he says ok let me have a look around the house.

We then come back inside...and this point it has been 1hr 40 or so...and i m truly anoid cos i wanted to change the front brakes and the sun has gone down now....

I m sitting there and he says rite i need to do some calculations....in the meantime i google price estimates on my iphone and see that you should haggle for at least a 75% discount...so i m kinda prepared for an inflated quote but i couldnt believe what he came back with.....

he says it will cost £10000 pounds and no i m not adding an extra zero by mistake!!!!...and he goes you can take out finance with barclays at favourable rate of 13.9apr to pay it back over 10 years....payments of 201 per month...

I started doing calculations...i m like if i take out finance over 10 yrs this is gona cost me something like 22k....and even so i said howmuch are parts gona cost that you will fit....

now the total length of pvc i needed was about 30 metres, and i told him rite now you are quoting me 300 pound a metre for plastic....and much to his credit he kept a straight face and goes well thats what it costs!!!!

At this point, i had lost patience and said look mate i m not even gona start haggling your quote is insane!!!!!...to which he responds how much will you spend....i said i m looking to spend a 1000 at the most...so you stop wasting my time....he tried the usual let me call the headoffice and let them know you arent interested and came back with some jargon about needing to make a sale today and would be willing to negotiate...but at this point i just felt insulted and said look just go....you are just not getting anything today!!!!

I m still looking to do this....so has anyone done it recently and what kind of quotes were they getting....plus if i was to do it myself does anyone know any decent suppliers?????

thanks

Ranj

[The_Laird]

Sounds like Everest - they did the same to me over a garage door

[RanjS8]

I think they are called 'Summit Fascias'

apparently the biggest in the midlands, and offering the best job with a 30 year warranty on their work...they only been going 10 years!!!

I barely remember their name today, how am i gona remember them in 30 years...

[PsYcHe]

Pretty much any builders merchant will have soffits and fascias. as long as the wood underneath is still good to attach them to, it's not that difficult. Really just the ladder/scaffolding depending on how high you go up. Ideally you need an assistant and a nailgun.

[Architex_mA8tey]

I'd find an odd job man or a local builder/roofing company if you dont feel like doing it yourself, and get some quotes from them. Often the small odd job man will be happy for you to buy the materials and then pay him for his labour. He might take slightly longer to do it but something like £100-200 a day would normally be the case

[47p2]

Last time I did this job it cost me around £600 for the materials and a few days work on top of a ladder

[Adrian E]

Cost me £1k to DIY on our house, but that's wood effect trim, plus all gutters and downpipes and on 3 sides of a semi-detached. We used Floplast from a local merchant and it worked well

It comes in 5m runs so depending what access is like around your house if you can't get a 5m wide tower anywhere you need to get to I'd look at hiring 2 towers. We did it with 1 and a ladder and it wasn't much fun trying to attach the end from the ladder with plastic headed pins

Scaffold costs a fortune but does make it so easy to do as you can work at height. We were quoted £650 for ours

We painted the whole house (2 coats) as well and it took about 6 days work but if just doing soffits and fascias it'll be much less. First run will take you about a half day and then you'll be motoring

[David's8]

Originally Posted by Adrian E

. We used Floplast from a local merchant and it worked well

Flop-Last! That must be like the Viagra of guttering - stays up forever??

[Architex_mA8tey]

Originally Posted by David's8

Flop-Last! That must be like the Viagra of guttering - stays up forever??

Err wash your mind out David lol
I think thats as in FLOW PLASTIC

[tonupkid]

Used Anglian three years ago. I wont be repeating that mistake
You live and learn. I agree, a local builder - odd job person is the way to go