Cost update: September 2002 | Features

Hot rates: Groundworks
	Unit	London £	South-east £	East anglia £	West midlands £
Groundwork
Excavating
To reduce levels (1 m maximum depth)	m3	1.70	1.60	1.30	1.15
Trenches over 300 mm wide (2 m maximum depth)	m3	8.00	6.50	5.00	4.75
Breaking out existing materials
Extra over excavation for breaking out concrete	m3	30.00	25.00	20.00	15.00
Reinforced concrete	m3	40.00	35.00	25.00	20.00
Working space allowance to excavations
Reduced levels, basements and the like, backfilling with excavated material	m3	6.00	5.00	4.50	4.25
Earthwork support
Maximum depth 2 m (Distance between opposing faces)	m2	4.00	3.75	3.00	2.10
Disposal
Excavated material off site	m3	24.00	20.50	15.00	10.00
Filling to excavations
Selected excavated material obtained from on-site spoil heaps	m3	7.50	6.50	5.25	4.50
Filling to make up levels
Hardcore	m3	28.00	26.00	25.50	24.50
Granular material type 1	m3	31.75	30.00	32.50	25.00
Filling to planters
Top soil obtained off site	m3	19.00	18.50	18.00	17.50
Surface treatments
Compacting ground	m2	0.20	0.18	0.15	0.13
Compacting bottoms of excavations	m2	0.25	0.22	0.20	0.18

Building Materials: Price changes
	% change since April 2000
Sand and gravel	+4.4%
Crushed rock	+1.5%
Coated roadstone	+8.8%
Flat glass	–1.7%
Ceramic tiles and flags	–3.0%
Plaster	+3.5%
Precast concrete tiles, bricks etc	+1.3%
	(4.8 since March)
Ready-mixed concrete	+3.0%
	(9.3 since March)
Mortars	+1.6%
	(2.7 since March)
Fibre cement goods	+2.8%
Bituminous mixtures	+3.4%
Lead and zinc	–6.8%
Copper pipes and fittings	–1.4%
Metal doors and windows	+1.5%
Insulated wires and cables	–1.3%
Imported tropical hardwoods	+1.3%
(All figures are provisional)

Building Materials: Key indicators
	% change July 2001–July 2002
Retail prices index
Headline rate	+1.5
All items, excluding mortgage interest payments (RPIX) – government’s target index	+2.0
All items, excluding mortgage interest payments and indirect taxes (RPIY)	+1.9
Harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP)	+1.1
Industry generally
Materials and fuel bought by manufacturing industry	–3.5
of which: materials	–3.4
of which: fuel	–4.7
Materials and fuel bought by manufacturing, excluding food, beverages, petroleum and tobacco industries	–2.2
Output prices of manufactured products	+0.3
Output prices of manufactured products, excluding food, beverages, petroleum and tobacco	+0.5
Construction industry
Construction materials	+3.8
Housebuilding materials	+3.4
Machinery and equipment	+0.8
Electrical machinery and apparatus	+0.7
Source: Office for National Statistics. July 2002 figures are provisional. Machinery and equipment includes items such as pumps, taps, valves, lifts, and cooling and ventilation equipment. Electrical machinery and apparatus includes materials such as electricity distribution and control apparatus, wires, cables and lighting equipment.

Labour rates: Heating and ventilating operatives: Travelling allowances
From 3 September 2001
Direct distance from centre to job in miles
Over	Not exceeding	C (£)	M&A (£)
10	20	3.85	3.31
20	30	6.9	5.95
30	40	9.08	7.83
40	50	11.33	9.71
From 7 October 2002
Direct distance from centre to job in miles
Over	Not exceeding	C (£)	M&A (£)
15	20	1.92	1.65
20	30	4.97	4.29
30	40	7.15	6.17
40	50	9.4	8.05

Labour rates: Heating and ventilating operatives: Hourly rates of wages in £
	From 3 Sept 2001	From 7 October 2002
Foreman	10	11.61
Senior craftsman	8.26	9.6
Craftsman	7.56	8.8
Installer	6.87	7.98
Adult trainee	5.79	6.72
Mate (over 18)	5.79	6.72
Mate (17-18 inclusive)	3.72	4.32
Mate (under 17)	2.68	3.12
Modern apprentices
junior	3.77	4.38
intermediate	5.33	6.18
senior	6.87	7.98
Traditional NJIC-based craft apprentices
Year 3	5.7	–
Year 4	6.87	7.98
Responsibility allowance (craftsmen)
Second welding skill or supervisory responsibility
(One unit of responsibility allowance)	35	40
Second welding skill and supervisory responsibility
(Two units of responsibility allowance)	70	80
Responsibility allowance (senior craftsmen)
Second welding skill	35	40
Supervisory responsibility	70	80
Second welding skill and supervisory responsibility	105	120

Labour rates: Heating and ventilating operatives: Wage agreement summary for major wage-fixing bodies
Operatives	Agreement body effective since	Wage rates	Details in	Date of next review
Builders and civil engineering operatives	Construction Industry Joint Council	24 June 2002	Cost Update 31 May 2002 Spon’s Architects’ and Builders’ Price Book 2003	Likely to be June 2003
	Building & Allied Trades Joint Industrial Council (BATJIC)	10 June 2002	Cost Update 31 May 2002 Spon’s Architects’ and Builders’ Price Book 2003	9 June 2003
Plumbers	The Joint Industry Board for Plumbing Mechanical Engineering Services in England and Wales Builders’ Price Book 2003	3 September 2001	Cost Update 31 May 2002 Spon’s Architects’ and Builders’ Price Book 2003	2 December 2002 (second part of two-year agreement)
	Scottish and Northern Ireland Joint Industry Board for the Plumbing Industry	8 April 2002	Cost Update 8 March 2002	28 October 2002 (third part of four-part two-year agreement)
Heating and ventilation operatives	Joint Conciliation Committee of the Heating, Ventilating and Domestic Engineering Industry	3 September 2001	Cost Update 9 November 2002 Spon’s Architects’ and Builders’ Price Book 2003	7 October 2002 (third part of three-year agreement, see above)
Electricians	The Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry	7 January 2002	Cost Update 31 Augsut 2002 Spon’s Architects’ and Builders’ Price Book 2003	6 January 2003 (second part of three-year agreement)
	Scottish Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry	7 January 2002	Cost Update 8 March 2002	6 January 2003 (second part of three-year agreement)

The annual cost of a notional 12 man-gang
		Foreman	Senior craftsman (+2nd welding skill)	Senior craftsman	Craftsman	Installer	Mate (over 18)	Sub-totals
Number of men employed		1	1	2	4	2	2
Hourly rate from 7 October 2002		11.61	10.00	9.60	8.80	7.98	6.72
Working hours per annum per man		1,702.40	1,702.40	1,702.40	1,702.40	1,702.40	1,702.40
£ per annum		19,764.86	17,024.00	32,686.08	59,924.48	27,170.30	22,880.26	179,449.98
Overtime rate		16.36	14.09	13.53	12.4	11.25	9.47
Overtime hours per annum per man		314	314	314	314	314	314
£ per annum		5137.04	4424.26	8496.84	15574.4	7065	5947.16	46,644.70
Total		24,901.90	21,448.26	41,182.92	75,498.88	34,235.30	28,827.42	226,094.68
Incentive schemes	5.00%	1,245.10	1,072.41	2,059.15	3,774.94	1,711.77	1,441.37	11,304.73
Daily travel time allowance (15-20 miles each way)		1.92	1.92	1.92	1.92	1.92	1.65
Days per annum per man		224	224	224	224	224	224
£ per annum		430.08	430.08	860.16	1,720.32	860.16	739.20	5,040.00
Daily Travel Fare (10-20 miles each way)		5.80	5.80	5.80	5.80	5.80	5.80
Days per annum per man		224	224	224	224	224	224
£ per annum		1299.20	1299.20	2598.40	5196.80	2598.40	2598.40	15,590.40
National Insurance Contributions:
Weekly gross pay (subject to NI) each		26,577.08	22,950.75	44,102.23	80,994.14	36,807.23	31,007.99
% of NI contributions		11.8	11.8	11.8	11.8	11.8	11.8
£ contributions/annum		2607.68	2179.78	4147.24	7443.66	3286.43	2616.39	22,281.16
Holiday credit and welfare contributions:
Number of weeks		52	52	52	52	52	52
Total weekly £ contribution each		60.22	52.51	50.60	46.77	42.85	36.82
£ Contributions/annum		3,131.44	2,730.52	5,262.40	9,728.16	4,456.40	3,829.28	29,138.20
Holiday top-up funding including overtime		10.71	9.23	8.86	8.12	7.36	6.20
Cost		556.92	479.96	921.44	1688.96	765.44	644.80	5,057.52
Cost of 12-man gang sub-total								314,506.70
		Training (including trade registration)					1.00%	3,145.07
		Severance pay and sundry costs					1.50%	4,764.78
		Employers’ liability and third-party insurance					2.00%	6,448.33
		Annual cost of 12-man gang						328,864.88
	Men actually working productively = 10.5	Annual cost per productive man						31,320.46
	Average number of hours worked per man = 2016.4	Cost of man-hour (exclusive of prelims and overheads)						15.53
		Cost of preliminary items (per man-hour)					7.50%	1.16
		Site and head office overheads (per man-hour)					12.50%	2.09
		Profit					5.00%	0.94
		Cost of inclusive man-hour						19.72