Look out for your carpentry length
We see an increasing trend where the carpentry length in the quotation is understated, in order to land the deal.
Watch our tiktok video on this if you lazy to read.
Carpentry often forms the largest part of a renovation quotation. It is typically charged in terms of foot run (primarily) or by square feet.
Hence, the simple formula is unit rate (eg. $150 per foot run) x carpentry length (eg. 8 feet) = carpentry cost (eg. $1,200).
We have touched on how the unit rate is computed earlier, and we believe that many homeowners are now aware of this as well, to determine how “affordable” a firm is.
In fact, even the IDs themselves know that homeowners know.
So what we have recently seen is due to the focus on the unit rate and total carpentry cost, some IDs might be starting to fiddle with the carpentry length.
By reducing the carpentry length, and lowering the unit rate this will make their carpentry cost much lower, and hence land them the deal. Subsequently during the renovation, the additional length will result in added costs for the homeowners.
This is the potential “hidden costs” that many homeowners are afraid of.
Source: Deconstruct
You can check out the conversions above.
As we are more used to metres rather than feet, it is important to convert it to metres.
Then, we can visualise whether the length given is suitable for your needs, or is it too short. This visualisation process is extremely important when you get the quotation, so you are not underquoted!
Let’s use an example of your vanity carpentry top in your bathroom.
Often, the quotation is for 3 feet. But we have seen a few 2 feet around. Of course, this reduces the cost. But how long is 2 feet.
Source: Deconstruct
Two feet is about 60cm. This is a normal-sized door, two feet is as shown above, slightly smaller than a normal door.
In our opinion, it is too small to be used conveniently for your bathroom accessories.
If you missed this out, chances are either you will need to top-up, or you will need to redo the carpentry, both scenarios being unpleasant, while you might have eliminated the “more expensive” IDs who actually quoted you the right length.
So definitely do look out for this, and do the visualisation! Or just take a measuring tape!
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