Lump-Sum Quote for Four Toilet Cubicles
A coaching centre asks for a lump-sum quote to renovate four toilet cubicles. The scope is four Indian-style WCs, four wash basins with bib taps, and four bib taps in the corridor, with all existing 100 mm CI soil pipe and 15 mm GI supply pipe replaced by 110 mm PVC and 20 mm CPVC. You measure 20 m of 110 mm branch and main run and 18 m of 20 mm CPVC. You will need 110 mm fittings of ₹7,500 lump sum and CPVC fittings of ₹3,200 lump sum. Supplier rates are: 110 mm PVC ₹340/m in 6 m lengths, 20 mm CPVC ₹210/m in 3 m lengths, WC ₹4,200 each, basin with fittings ₹2,200 each, bib tap ₹480 each. Labour is 20% of material cost, wastage on pipe is 7.5%, GST is 18% on material plus labour, and you want 10% profit. The client's budget is ₹85,000.
1. Compute the quotation, rounding pipe purchases up to whole lengths.
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Pipe, with 7.5% wastage: 110 mm: 20 × 1.075 = 21.5 m, so 4 lengths of 6 m = 24 m × ₹340 = ₹8,160. CPVC: 18 × 1.075 = 19.35 m, so 7 lengths of 3 m = 21 m × ₹210 = ₹4,410. Material: pipe ₹12,570; fittings ₹7,500 + ₹3,200 = ₹10,700; WCs 4 × ₹4,200 = ₹16,800; basins 4 × ₹2,200 = ₹8,800; bib taps 8 × ₹480 = ₹3,840. Total material = ₹52,710. Labour: 20% = ₹10,542. Cost = ₹63,252. Profit: 10% = ₹6,325. Price before tax = ₹69,577. GST: 18% = ₹12,524. Quotation total = ₹82,101, say ₹82,100. Against the ₹85,000 budget the headroom is only about ₹2,900, roughly 3.5%. That is not a comfortable margin for a job involving breaking walls, so the price should not be treated as generous.
2. Assess whether the budget is adequate and list the clauses you would put in the quotation to protect yourself.
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The budget is adequate only on paper. A 3.5% margin disappears if one unforeseen item appears - a chase in RCC, a broken tile run, or extra pipe embedded in a wall. Either price the job at ₹82,100 with a strict scope statement, or negotiate to about ₹88,000, or offer the client a reduced-scope option such as retaining the corridor bib taps. Clauses to include:
- Scope and quantities as measured, with extras paid at an attached schedule of rates.
- Unforeseen work - embedded CI pipe, RCC chasing, making good of tiles, plaster and paint - excluded.
- Client to provide water, power, storage space and uninterrupted access.
- Payment: 40% advance, 50% on completion, 10% after 15 days; rate validity 15 days.
- Workmanship warranty 12 months; fixtures as per manufacturer's warranty.
- Site measurements recorded and signed in a measurement book. These clauses turn a possible argument into a documented variation.
3. During the work, 6 m of CI pipe is found embedded in an RCC beam and must be cut out and re-routed. Estimate the impact and explain how you would handle it commercially without a dispute.
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Extra cost: 110 mm pipe 6 m with wastage = 6.45 m, so 2 lengths of 6 m = 12 m × ₹340 = ₹4,080; two bends and a junction about ₹1,200; RCC chasing, breaking and making good about ₹2,500; labour 3 man-days at ₹800 = ₹2,400. Total ₹10,180, plus 10% profit ₹1,018 = ₹11,198, plus 18% GST ₹2,016 = about ₹13,200. The headroom on the whole job is about ₹2,900, so absorbing this would turn a small profit into a loss of about ₹10,300. Handle it as follows: stop that part of the work; photograph and measure the obstruction; record it in the site diary and measurement book the same day; issue a written variation quoting ₹13,200 and the added days; get the client's written approval before proceeding, and note that the completion date shifts accordingly. If the client refuses, offer the alternative of a surface-run pipe in a boxing at a lower cost. Never carry out extra work first and argue about money afterwards - the clause in the quotation exists precisely for this.