Tiling Contract in London

[jonnyc]

looks like a decent enough job if you need the work. rate for fixing doesnt seem very good to me , but i dont do commercial stuff.
just remember big areas dont necessarily mean big dosh.
some key info missing, like access , who brings stone in, ground floor work or 10th floor with no lift!!
restrictive hours?
stoneface cotracts have a nice looking website .
i have checked them out and they were only incorporated 2 years ago.
could have been going for years before but maybe only as a non ltd company.
stoneface would need to have plenty money in bank to run a job like this, if payments get behind from his emplyer to pay whoever does the stone fixing.
you need to do plenty of homework on what youre getting in to and long site visit.
pebbs knows more about this type opf work than me , but just make sure you have covered every angle.

 

[nybor62]

sounds to good to be true , i will take lynn,s advice and leave this one alone,

 

[Dan]

I'll download their accounts for anybody who is interested if that gives you any assurance. It tells you their profit and loss, and if they've been incorporated for 2 years they should have one set of accounts filled I think by now, right?

 

[Pebbs]

Yes defo should have one set of accounts filed by now.

Lynn

 

[jonnyc]

i have acess to companies house through being a member of riskdisk and have looked them up already.
what you find is that they only show abreviated accounts which is all you see if you look me up as well.
ie you only see the net worth of company. you wont see turnover /profits etcc.
this is quite normal.
you can see all this for free on internet with one company, which i dont agree with at all.
anyway, you might find that a company net worth is very low but i work for many companies i have known for years who have very low net worth but are very good payers.
there is also another reason why many companies you might think are doing well ,dont seem worth much and that is because they simply take most of the money out the company over course of the year and it goes in their private account, having paid tax of course.
if i went by what i read on riskdisk and similar credit rating agencies i pobably wouldnt work for 30% of people i do work for.
but the difference is i know them and have a good working relationship over a long period. a contract might be between 2k and 60k tops.
but if its big i dont expose myself too much, by getting regular payments.
in this scenario where you might take the work with an unknown contractor for quite a big job and have no experience of how payments will go .
could be absolutely fine but in these times you have to be careful.
i got hit for about 40k two years ago in an 18 month period with six bad debts, and the two biggest were for two of my oldest clients,. I just didnt see it coming and did more value of work than i should have before getting a stage payment.
I am very careful now and we all have to be.
this could well be a good job for someone and it could simply be a case of stoneface having the contract already , works delayed and when main contractor ready stoneface too busy.
they may have a good price on in and not want to lose opportunity of a good profit especially oif they supply all materials.
the bit i find strange is that they would come on this forum to find a gang of tilers who they obviously woulndt know.

 

[Pebbs]

John, that is not a good price, its stone all the way through, no cutting rates, and no mention of who is in charge for the distribution of the materials. And whats the bit mean about the client is a good payer, who gives a fig about the client being a good payer? Anyone subbing to this Stoneface should get paid on time regardless of the client being a 'good payer' does that mean they arent going to pay the subbie till they get paid? What if its a stop and start contract? then some poor gang are going to be hanging around waiting for the other trades to finish?

Ok someone should ring up and get the lowdown, and don't look at me, whos going to do it?

Lynn

 

[Dan]

I'm checking with an account mate who has access to 'RedAlart' which should show us everything about their directors and all their companies. I'll hit you back when I have all information physically possible to get.

 

[jonnyc]

lynn .not sure if you are refering to me or not.
cant see any other johns comments.
i actually said it wasnt a good price in first post and i wouldnt touch it personally .
what i said in second post was that stoneface might have a good price on job already and what with them supplying materials , and paying very little to a fixer , they dont want to lose the job even if it means taking on someone they dont know which i would never do.
of course it is irrelevent whether they are waiting to be paid by main contarctor . stoneface should still pay on time but in reality doesnt always work like this with some people.
i pay my guys regardless of my problems getting paid.
if you read between lines you might see that i was warning that i have have already looked at this company and am advisng to be wary as on any job with an unknown contractor.
I dont think it is fair to condemn someone without knowing all the facts so it might be a good job for someone but def not for me.
I am quite staggered by some of the rates i see bandied around on forum that seem acceptable.
i just say to myself i am lucky to be working in area i do.
one of the many questions i would ask apart from the obvoius we have all touched on, is what proportion of this big job is 200 x 200.
in fact i would have dozens of questions

 

[jonnyc]

have just reread the original post from stoneface , and i took it to mean that they were paying 25-30 quid a meter for main tiling, but now see that it probably refers as well to the 250+ stairs which i assume means no of stairs or sq mt of stairs plus cladding.
if this is the case then i would advise an absolute no no even if youre desperate.

 

[Spud]

sounds to me like a 9 piece pattern floor 80x80 surround by 80x20 with a 20x20 corners ,the stairs should be priced seperately and no stair case is easy as you are govern by the storey heights and 1mm gain per step can cause a night mare the cladding will be lift surrounds or reception lobby wall linings or could even be coloums and depending on the detail they can be straightforward or a nightmare either way the price is far too low for both the stairs and the cladding ,it also doesnt mention what type of fixings for the cladding if its stainless wire then its not going to be too bad but if its on a frame with soffits and t bolts who is drilling and prepping the stone I always find that in life if some one tries to sell some thing a a dream job its often because its a nightmare and if they have time to do all the levelling and ditra which is the easy bit but they havent got the time to do the fixing which their reputation relies on it makes me think give it a wide berth but I am a cynic so good luck to the gang that takes it on