Over the last couple of days, we have been receiving a number of quotes for our materials.
Today, we had a good price from our own local timber merchant (in Great Yarmouth) which is quite nice. They offered the cheapest price on the CLS timber, both treated and untreated. But they weren’t so hot on the 12mm plywood – they were £3 per sheet more expensive than the cheapest!!
Also we got more prices for our cement boards and another localish firm (in Newmarket) came back with the cheapest so far AND they included their delivery and crane facility in the quote too!
But one of the biggest shocks we have received (so far), is the price for the Cedar Shingle Tiles. Several years ago, probably about 5 years, we were getting a price of about £35 for British sourced Cedar tiles and Canadian prices of about $30. All these prices are for “bundles” and 4 bundles covers one hundred square feet (yes imperial measurements!) so one bundle covers about 2.28 square metres of roof area (and slightly more on walls). This works out that we would need about 235 bundles (including the garage) in total.
But the shocking discovery, is that ALL the prices has gone shooting up, even in USA and Canada! It is now more like £50 for British and $60 for American and the exchange rate is not good at the moment too!
But hold your hat again, these prices are for untreated ones! We need to have at least a third of the bundles treated for fire retardant to conform to the building regulations, and, wait for it, it’s doubled!! Yes the price doubles!! OUCH!!
Roughly, the cost would be running around £16,000 just to buy the Cedar tiles!! AND we were originally thinking of using fire retardant treated Cedar tiles for all our external covering, we felt happier with the house being better protected against the risk of fire nearby. This would now make the price nearer £25,000!! Oh WOW!
So, putting a grim face on it, we have resumed investigating alternatives. We had previously explored the possibilities several years ago of course and we rather liked the all timber approach but after that shock .. we are re-examining some other options!!
Roof Options as follows: (prices are approximate and for each square metre)
- Concrete tiles : £8
- Red interlocking clay tiles : £20
- Slates : £25
- Treated Cedar tiles : £45
Wall Options:
- Slip Bricks : £15 to £20
- Solid coloured panels : £30 to £40
- Cedar treated tiles : £30 (less needed)
We are analysing all these options and talking among ourselves to get a sense of which one to go for! Phew!!!