Is 60% rise in soakwell cost acceptable?

oncewerefurriers · Jun 19, 2013 11:21 pm

I think the title sums it up. On our PCQ we were quoted $2500 for soakwells, we've just recieved the the contracts and now the soakwells are going to cost $4000. On the PCQ it is states "Site work costs are provisional sums.... based on level, sandy, class A" block. The building hasn't increased in size.
None of the other siteworks costs have increased, so what could account for the extra 60%?

Wandin Valley · Jun 19, 2013 11:38 pm

Sounds unreasonable without knowing all the facts.
Is there caprock to deal with (I know soakwells are shallow )?
Can you do them yourself?, buy the stuff from bunnings get a guy in with a bobcat. I'm doing mine and reakon about $2k should easily pull it up.

oncewerefurriers · Jun 19, 2013 11:44 pm

Wandin Valley

Sounds unreasonable without knowing all the facts.
Is there caprock to deal with (I know soakwells are shallow )?

As far as we know, there is nothing to deal with. I'd have thought if there was, the costs for the earthworks/footings would have gone up too.

Wandin Valley

Can you do them yourself?, buy the stuff from bunnings get a guy in with a bobcat. I'm doing mine and reakon about $2k should easily pull it up.

That's looking like what we'll do. Cheers.

turquoise_star · Jun 21, 2013 12:32 pm

This is similar to what happened to us. Initially we were quoted somewhere between $2000-$3000 for soakwells, but by the time we got our contracts, the figure had gone up to over $5000. Apparently the council we are in recently changed their requirements from allowing for a 1 in 100 year downpour to a 1 in 20 year downpour, which meant we needed more soakwells than originally thought by the builder.

Might be worth checking what your council requirements are?