Research from Vivalda Group suggests that sub-contractors could reduce their fabrication costs by 50% by outsourcing the process.
The non-combustible cladding supplier contacted 15 specialist cladding contractors across the UK and asked them to provide their hourly rates for three specific processes: standard board drilling, specialist drilling, and fixing of brackets to boards.
The survey found that for standard drill holes for rivet and screw fix (assuming 12 holes per m2), the average sub-contractor labour rates quoted were up to 50% higher than those charged by Vivalda.
In addition, prices quoted for specialist ‘secret fix’ drill holes were approximately 20% higher compared to the cost of standard drilling. Sub-contractor labour rates for this were approximately 40% more expensive when compared to prices quoted by off-site, high precision material engineers.
Furthermore, fixing brackets/secret fixings to board were also around 35-40% higher compared to rates typically charged by third party suppliers.
Chris Meyerhoff, branch manager at Vivalda’s Hull branch, said: “We are seeing a major trend towards off-site fabrication, with contractors increasingly turning to us to cut boards to size, drill holes and even fix brackets, so that façades can be installed as soon as they arrive on-site.
“Despite the proven cost savings and quality guarantees offered by outsourcing, we wanted to understand why a hardcore of contractors continue to do this job in-house. After all, it’s a notoriously time-consuming job that a lot of subbies don’t like doing on-site. That’s why we undertook this research into the relative costs quoted for this activity.”
Chris continued: “Perhaps some sub-contractors don’t consider the cost of fixings as being that significant? Well, for a project comprising 5,000m2 of cladding, our investigation suggests that this could cost anywhere from £300,000 to £600,000 in fixing labour costs – depending on the location and complexity of the project.”
