Picture this.....I am converting a 3 storey house in Cornwall into three holiday flats. Previous usage was as a house + flat. Got full planning permission, etc, so all by the book so far. My builder is doing a great job with me on the pipes.
Contacted the local water company for a new supplies thus providing each flat with its own water supply so the new combi boilers will provide decent showers with no interaction between flats.
1st quote from the company was £3300 to dig up the main road outside and connect 2 more service pipes/meters, etc. Also included were 'infrastructure charges' for the 2 water supplies and 2 new sewage connections.
I challenged this on the basis that their own pricing structure says that a shared supply, which it originally was (remember house + flat on one supply) carries a 20% discount and therefore only a single 'new' pipe was required as an extra whilst the road was dug up. Because the building is 2/3 below the single sewage connection there is a huge septic tank serving the 2 lower floors, therefore no new sewage connections were required at all.
2nd quote was for £2700 which still included 2 water infrastrucure charges when only 1 new supply was being installed - the other 'new' supply was actually the separation of a shared supply that was already being supplied so no new infrastrucure charge imo.
Challenged again and 3rd quote was £2450...but the sewage infrastucture charge was back in even though the sewage goes to my own private septic tank!
Challenged again and finally got down to an agreed figure of £1900! Phew!
All this began mid November and here we are approaching the end of January and I still haven't got my new water supplies. Oh and the VAT has gone back up to boot!
Latest in the saga today is that the company won't even think about programming the connections until my new trench and pipes are in place and inspected and even then they 'allow' up to 12 weeks to make the connection!
Heaven only knows when I will actually achieve new/separate supplies to each flat. Certainly not before the building is completed and the flats let for the easter holiday season.... dream on!
I am amazed at the bumbling bureaucracy still residing in this privatised water company. They have a multitude of departments who don't know what they are doing. Totally useless.
Sorry to whinge but I suppose the point I'm making is don't take their 1st quote as correct. Or 2nd.....or 3rd come to that. Read the small print in their own pricing and standards documentation and challenge them if you think their wrong.....and I'm amazed at the bumbling of this so called commercial company. Pathetic!
Contacted the local water company for a new supplies thus providing each flat with its own water supply so the new combi boilers will provide decent showers with no interaction between flats.
1st quote from the company was £3300 to dig up the main road outside and connect 2 more service pipes/meters, etc. Also included were 'infrastructure charges' for the 2 water supplies and 2 new sewage connections.
I challenged this on the basis that their own pricing structure says that a shared supply, which it originally was (remember house + flat on one supply) carries a 20% discount and therefore only a single 'new' pipe was required as an extra whilst the road was dug up. Because the building is 2/3 below the single sewage connection there is a huge septic tank serving the 2 lower floors, therefore no new sewage connections were required at all.
2nd quote was for £2700 which still included 2 water infrastrucure charges when only 1 new supply was being installed - the other 'new' supply was actually the separation of a shared supply that was already being supplied so no new infrastrucure charge imo.
Challenged again and 3rd quote was £2450...but the sewage infrastucture charge was back in even though the sewage goes to my own private septic tank!
Challenged again and finally got down to an agreed figure of £1900! Phew!
All this began mid November and here we are approaching the end of January and I still haven't got my new water supplies. Oh and the VAT has gone back up to boot!
Latest in the saga today is that the company won't even think about programming the connections until my new trench and pipes are in place and inspected and even then they 'allow' up to 12 weeks to make the connection!
Heaven only knows when I will actually achieve new/separate supplies to each flat. Certainly not before the building is completed and the flats let for the easter holiday season.... dream on!
I am amazed at the bumbling bureaucracy still residing in this privatised water company. They have a multitude of departments who don't know what they are doing. Totally useless.
Sorry to whinge but I suppose the point I'm making is don't take their 1st quote as correct. Or 2nd.....or 3rd come to that. Read the small print in their own pricing and standards documentation and challenge them if you think their wrong.....and I'm amazed at the bumbling of this so called commercial company. Pathetic!
