Thursday, November 5, 2009

The final cost of the roof

I had posted that Jesper (plus three helpers) got our roof done last week, and I promised that I would be transparent in accounting for the roof's costs. So here we go:
  • The roof panels and trim materials: 19,000kr
  • Jesper's labor to install: 13,000kr
  • Transport of materials from Stavsnäs: 3,000kr
So the total for roofs on both houses was 35,000 Swedish kronor. This is more than my original estimate of 25,000. However, it's a lot less than all of the recent job quotes I received, which ranged from 40,000-75,000, and not all of those quotes were for a metal roof.

I managed to save money in a couple of significant ways. Firstly, as a favor, Janne ordered all of the material on my behalf through his account at Fredells, so I was essentially able to order direct.

Secondly, I provided the labor to carry all the panels from the dock to the house. (Actually, Janne and Tony did a lot with Janne's ATV, and Sooz helped me carry the biggest panels.) Jesper quoted me 8000kr to transport the material, so even if I subtract the 3,000kr to move the panels from Stavsnäs, I saved 5,000kr just by moving them myself. That's nearly 15% of the total bill.

As an aside, I paid the full freight for the trip to deliver the goods. Typically, I've been able to pool my material delivery with others and therefore share the cost. However, to have everything delivered in time for my visit, so I had to bear the total price. Lesson learned for future projects!

No comments: