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Level Building contractor · Kingston Price my drawings

Rates and stage payments

What we charge per square metre, and when each payment falls due.

These are the rates we price from. They are not your quotation: your quotation comes from your drawings and states one fixed sum. But a builder who will not tell you his rates until he has seen inside your wallet is telling you something, so here they are.

One-storey block house JMD 165,000per m² of floor area Block and steel, concrete slab roof, standard local finish. Block and steel, slab roof · 22 to 28 weeks on site · from 90 m² Two-storey block house JMD 180,000per m² of floor area Two floors, poured stair, the same standard finish. Block and steel, suspended slab · 28 to 34 weeks on site · from 140 m² Two-storey with an imported finish JMD 235,000per m² of floor area Where the tiles, joinery and sanitary ware are specified by name. Named finishes, schedule attached · 32 to 40 weeks on site · from 180 m² Extension to a house you live in JMD 195,000per m² of new floor area Higher rate because you are in the house while we work. Occupied house, dust screens · 10 to 18 weeks on site · from 18 m² Shop or office fit-out JMD 120,000per m² of internal area Inside an existing shell, working to a landlord's hours. Existing shell, landlord hours · 8 to 16 weeks on site · from 40 m² Roof replacement JMD 58,000per m² of roof on plan Strip, re-sheet or re-slab, and make good the ceiling. Sheeting or poured slab · 3 to 5 weeks on site · from 40 m² Retaining wall JMD 46,000per m² of wall face Reinforced wall with drainage behind it, on a Kingston slope. Reinforced, drained, engineer above 2.4 m · 4 to 8 weeks on site · from 12 m² Slab, driveway and paving JMD 38,000per m² of slab Ground slabs, driveways and yard paving with a fall that works. 100 mm with mesh, saw cut · 2 to 4 weeks on site · from 20 m²

Rates reviewed quarterly. Steel and cement move, and when they do the rate on this page moves with them, which is why a quotation holds for 30 days and not for a year.

01 / Inside the rate

What the rate covers, and what it does not.

The second list is the one that ruins budgets, so read it first.

In the rate

  • Labour, materials, plant and scaffolding
  • Setting out, footings, slab, block, steel and the roof
  • Internal and external render, and two coats of paint
  • Windows and doors from a local supplier
  • First and second fix plumbing and electrical
  • Floor tiles to the allowance stated in the specification
  • Kitchen and bathroom fittings to the stated allowance
  • Site clean, rubbish removal and the handover file
  • Insurance: Public liability and contractors all risks, JMD 50,000,000

Not in the rate

  • Drawings, structural design and the approval fees
  • The land, and any survey of it
  • Cut and fill over 300 mm, and rock breaking
  • Retaining walls, boundary walls and gates
  • Septic system, water tank and pump
  • Air conditioning, solar, inverter and generator
  • Burglar bars, grilles and security systems
  • Landscaping, pool and driveway beyond the apron
  • Furniture, curtains and appliances

Each of these is priced as its own line if you want it. That way you can see the figure and decide, instead of finding it inside a lump sum.

02 / Stage payments

Eight stages. Each one is invoiced after it is signed off, never before.

The percentages below are the same on every contract we write. The weeks are typical for a house; your programme states your own. To make it concrete, the money column is worked out for a 232 m² two-storey block house at JMD 180,000 per square metre, which comes to JMD 41,760,000.

Stage payment schedule, worked at a contract sum of JMD 41,760,000
Stage Typical weeks Share On this example, JMD Signed off by
01 Set out, footings and foundationPegs in the ground, excavation, steel and the first pour. 3to week 3 10% 4,176,000 Engineer, steel before the pour
02 Blockwork to ring beamWalls up, columns poured, ring beam cast level. 5to week 8 15% 6,264,000 Client walks the openings
03 Roof or suspended slabThe building gets a lid and the inside can dry. 4to week 12 15% 6,264,000 Watertight after rain
04 Windows, doors and external renderThe building closes up and the outside gets its coat. 4to week 16 12% 5,011,200 Openings sealed, render cured
05 Plumbing and electrical rough-inEverything that has to be buried, buried and photographed. 3to week 19 12% 5,011,200 Pressure test, wall photographs
06 Plaster, screed and tilingInternal finishes, floors laid, bathrooms waterproofed. 4to week 23 14% 5,846,400 Shower flood test, tile set-out
07 Joinery, fittings and paintKitchen, wardrobes, sanitary ware, switches, two coats. 4to week 27 12% 5,011,200 Electrical certificate
08 Snag list and handoverYou write the list, we clear it, then you get the keys and the file. 3to week 30 10% 4,176,000 Client snag list cleared
Contract sum 30 weeks 100% 41,760,000 Handover file issued

Retention

5% is held back from every stage payment. On the example above that is JMD 2,088,000 in your hand until 90 days after handover, when we walk the building again and clear anything that has shown itself in the meantime. Doors stick in the first wet season, not on handover day. That is what retention is for.

Variations, up and down

A variation sheet states what changes, what it costs, and how many days it adds. Nothing is ordered until you sign it. It works downwards too: a client on the Liguanea surgery dropped a glazed partition and JMD 330,000 came off the final account without being asked for.

See the quoted and final figures

Getting a real number

Send the set. 10 working days later you have a fixed price.

We measure quantities off your drawings, price the materials at this week's prices, add labour and plant from our own records on jobs like yours, and put one sum on the front page with the exclusions under it. Then we build the programme backwards from the date you want to move in and tell you whether that date is real.

Price my drawings See a programme in progress

If the drawings are not finished

Say so. We will walk the site, give you a range from the rates on this page, and put you with a draughtsman or an architect. Their fee is theirs and we do not mark it up. When the set exists we price it properly, and the range we gave you is usually within a few per cent of the fixed sum, because the range came from real jobs.

What we will not do is give you a fixed price from sketches. That price would be a guess with a cushion in it, and you would pay for the cushion.