August 2020

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FixingsFACADE FIXINGS: IS THERE A BETTERWAY TO GET THE JOB DONE?Nathan Ireland, General Manager at Cheltenham-based BBS Facades, thinks contractorscould be missing a trick when it comes to calculating the cost of fixings.Whole life costing – often known as WLC– is nothing new in the constructionindustry. In fact, the term was firstcoined back in the 1930s when developers beganto realise that cutting costs from the outset of aproject often created problems once the buildingwas completed. As the old adage goes, ‘buycheap, buy twice!’This theory is increasingly relevant to subcontractorsand cladding installerswho are constantly faced with‘value engineering’propositions from furtherup the supply chain.We often see claddingcontactors opting forthe cheapest off-theshelfoption when itcomes to fixings, butresearch recently undertakenby BBS Facades provides somevaluable food for thought.We are seeing a major trend towards off-sitefabrication, with contractors turning to BBS to cutboards to size, drill holes and even affix bracketsso that facades can be installed as soon as theyarrive on site. However, faced with a rump ofcladding installers who insist on doing this ratherhazardous element of the cladding fabricationon-site, we undertook some basic research intothe relative costs quoted for this activity. Is itbetter to keep with work in-house (often doing iton-site) or get it done by a third-party specialist?We approached three wellrespectedsub-contractors,each of whom operated on aUK-wide basis, workingwith all the maincontractors on both privateand public-sector projects.First, we looked at the relativecosts of undertaking straightthroughdrill holes for rivet andscrew fix. Assuming 12 holes perm² board, we were surprisedto see that typical labourrates quoted were up to50% higher than thosecharged by us.Mechanical tosecret fix drill holesTurning to mechanicalsecret fix drill holes, the pricedifference between specialist offsitefabrication and on-site labour rates quotedwas equally remarkable. Generally, prices quotedfor this more complex procedure wereapproximately 20% higher than those forstraight-through drill holes. Sub-contractor labourrates for this work came out at 40% moreexpensive when compared to prices quoted byoff-site specialists such as BBS.We also asked installers about typical labourrates when bracket attachments were added tothe drilling of holes for secret fixings – and thistoo came out as around 35-40% higher“We often see cladding contactors opting forthe cheapest off-the-shelf option when it comesto fixing”Left: Nathan Ireland,General Manager atBBS Facades.compared to rates typicallycharged by us.This leads to the question:why aren’t all subcontractorsusing third partyspecialists to cut and prepareboards for installation off-site? Is itabout control and quality? With damaged andpoorly cut boards as the likely outcome, I cannotimagine this is good reason. Also, our use of CNCtechnology ensures boards are cut to within thetightest tolerances, with brackets fixed using theright systems in bright, warm surroundings asopposed to often rain-swept building sites withrestricted space and strict on-site workingregulations.Perhaps some sub-contractors don’t consider thecost of fixings as being that significant? Well, fora project comprising 5,000m² of cladding, ourinvestigation suggests that this could costanywhere from £450,000 to £650,000 in fixinglabour costs alone. That’s not chicken feed inanyone’s book!Based on this information, we know BBSFacades’ fabrication facility is likely to save subcontractorsbetween 35 and 50% on labourcosts, while significantly improving the accuracyand quality of the cladding systems prior toinstallation. Most savvy operators are alreadysub-contracting this element of the job out to offsitefabricators. Is it something you need to lookat before embarking on your next project?Contact BBS Facades01242 222 600www.bbsfacades.co.uk44 TC AUGUST 2020
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August 2020

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