[quote=“MattB” post=23332][quote=“bucketofinstantsunshine” post=23323][quote=“MRAR” post=23316]I can’t claim to be a fan of that particular building nor the idea of sharing with the ACF but I suppose needs must.
We had a brand spanking new building just for us two years ago (or thereabouts) and whilst it took some getting used to compared to our previous 60 year old shed it’s very comfortable. I can’t claim to know how much it cost but I don’t think there was much change out of £300,000 (may be completely wrong).
I would say that the classrooms are too small and that the main hall is of rather odd proportions but we muddle by. One benefit is that we now have a wired network that the squadron computers run off because the wires can be routed above the ceiling tiles (no asbestos!) compared to the old building. We did however have to lose our two Link trainers (one in full working order) in the move which was a shame. Another oddity is the ramp at the front which means meandering your way up to the front door, I believe there were supposed to be stairs as well but they were never put in. The main building is sited some distance away from our portacabin which whilst annoying isn’t really a problem at all but we do use the portacabin a lot less than we used to which seems wasteful, one side has been turned over to storage when it could be a classroom.
Having visited other squadron HQs in the wing I know just how lucky we are to have what we do, but maybe the money could have been used more wisely?
[attachment=212]sqnbuilding008.jpg[/attachment][/quote]
All newbuilds must have disabled access. Hence the ramp. Where I live the local climbing wall has a disabled parking space![/quote]It does seem fairly typical of the way things are that we all now seem to have to be inconvenienced in addition to helping out the disabled.
What’s wrong with having steps AND a ramp?[/quote]
Interestingly whilst the only way up to the front door is by means of the ramp the only way out through the fire exit is down a flight of steps!!
Ok try this link.
Looks like job expired yesterday. Typical! This is a 3rd party site with the full details.
First 5 or 6 paras are the Gold info.
“Reserve Forces and Cadets Associations chief executives are retired military officers and Reserve Forces and Cadets Associations membership varies significantly by region, in both size and quality.”
Towards the bottom… my bold.
Says it all. Useless organisation. I for one am glad it’s being reformed properly.
I would rather local relationships are diminished.
Some units get everything because they have ‘connections’ if the decisions on funding are made purely on financial reasons etc it will hopefully help spread the benefits.
A national works required list would be a good start.
That and breaking the link to over priced contractors.
The MOD was billed recently for over £550 for replacing 2 lights at my unit.
Nope. The works will end up with everybody’s favourite uber contractors instead. Mitie. Emcor. Sodexo. Capita. Carillion. CBRE. ISS. Amey. Interserve.
The quality of workmanship will remain subpar. The overheads will remain massive - probably bigger than Bodgeit and Scarper (and sons) Ltd - your local RFCA contractor.
Certainly when I’ve seen Mitie contracts recently, £550 will remain the average costs for changing lights - and will involve 6 site visits - 1 to price it up, 1 to do it, 1 to sign it off. Then additional site visits to work out what Mitie’s subcontractor ((Bodgeit and Scarper (and sons) Ltd) did wrong, price up the fix, a 5th visit to fix it, and a 6th for sign off.
Throughout all of that, Mitie have skimmed a 25% “management fee” and still given the works to the original contractor…
Learning from experience is a key thing… when people bother to learn, instead of revisiting the same mistakes over and over again!
The cost of any work doesn’t just include parts. It also has other overheads built in - labour, insurance, training, fuel, admin cost, etc etc, and not forgetting profits. Plus, the bills will still have to be paid, even if there is no work for any period of time (for example, during lockdown).
When you look at it in that context, it’s not as bad as you make out.
If you used local contractors rather than MOD preferred suppliers you could slash those costs, you might even get a Cadet discount rather than an MOD premium.
It’s still very poor value for money.
£150 is about a fair daily rate for a specialist contractor. £550 could get you a lot of electrical work done by 3 guys in 8 hours, or 1 guy for three days, plus £100 for materials.
Changing two fluorescent fixtures which cost just under £20 a piece is a 2 hour job, tops, from arrival to ‘paperwork complete, see you later’.
Now, for the average RFCA contractor it take longer than that because we don’t have a sensible system which provides them with trusted information, nor do they seem to come equipped with required items.
So they’ll arrive, poke around a bit, decide that “yes the fittings do need to be replaced”, go off to a supplier, grab some lunch, come back, and then do the job.
The number of times I’ve reported an issue with full details of what’s required and the contractor arrives without any of the required kit…
Yeah if they gave me 10% of that £550 I would happily have changed the light bulbs!
Saving of 495.00 and I would even make enough to justify spending the all of 30 seconds doing it.
Ah… Now if we’re talking about just swapping tubes over that’s even worse!
I know of a contractor who was engaged to replace the catches on three internal doors. Somehow they managed to invent work for themselves by replacing every single set of handles (and in fact failed to replace the broken catch on one of the three doors to boot).
All cheap, poor quality hardware which failed within a week locking a cadet inside one of the classrooms.
When you do get a good RFCA contractor they’re worth their weight in gold.
We had one building/general contracting company on a job once. They turned up early instead of 2 or 3 hours late, they got the job done within the day, and called to check up no it a week later.
From then on we always ‘requested’ quite strongly that they be given the jobs because the other bunch of crooks were a total joke.