Aerial costs, quoted by CAI fitter, are these about right?

[ebiumn]

I live in Chelmsford, Essex. I have 2 aerials on the roof, 1 is 14 element pointing at Sudbury, and 1 is 18 element poining at Crystal Palace. These are combined, but blocking channel 5 due to old diplexor, I recieve digital and analog on these but wanted a complete new installation to inprove signal strength and distribution to 5 points. This will allow us to get rid of telewest and have freeview at some tv's and analog at others.

The man who quoted last night said:-

Aerial £139
Amp £69
Cabling £75
4 x wall plates £40

total £323

This includes fitting and setup and using hi quality cabling and wideband aerial, but excludes VAT

We then negotiated to £300 for cash, the job is not done yet, but I would like to know if this is excessive? I dont fancy climbing on the roof myself, but dont want to be ripped off.

Can anyone recommend someone in this area?

[Bernard Barnett]

Sounds hugely expensive to me for what seems a straightforward job. I suggest you look up the CAI website to see what other registered installers operate in your area and get a couple of competitive quotes.

[FunkyMonkey]

Mine cost £60 for wideband aerial. £40 for amp. £20 for sundries I guess. £120 altogether. I thought he was ripping em off but evidently not.

Mine was loft aerial and was already wired into wall socket so wire was already in loft. Picture is about 80 to 90% on my Nokia 221T.

He said he'd charge £15 for each additional wall socket I wanted provided I wanted at least 4. Otherwise £20 a pop.

Originally posted by ebiumn
Aerial £139

Is it Gold plated?

[ebiumn]

Just spoke to another CAI fitter for my area, and price is similar? Seems that this is a good earner for aerial fitters at the moment, this price is for fitting to chimney stack as well, not sure whether to cancel him are just get the job done now

[GaryB]

Ask him if you can buy the parts yourself and just get him to do the Spiderman impression.

I think this is reasonable. I paid about the same 2 years ago. Remember though - no VAT = no receipt = possible problems with warranty.

At the end of the day I think if you pay this much it should be a professional job. Will he be chopping out walls to mount the sockets flush and if so will he make good? There is always someone who will do it cheaper but will it be any good?

Good luck.

[ebiumn]

yep, he is chopping out walls for flush mount, and he lives local to me, so i'm sorta thinking im gonna go with him now

[Bernard Barnett]

Well obviously it's your decision but I don't think there's any doubt you're being overcharged. And my experience of people who overcharge is that they do NOT do a good job. It's really worth your making a few more calls.

Depends on your definition of overcharging. If builder 1 says it will cost £10000 to do a job and builder 2 wants £13000 does that mean that number 2 is automatically overcharging? He may have his own employees; have proper offices with receptionists/secretaries; pay holiday/sick pay to his employees, and actually fix problems should they arise, etc.

If ebiumn gets 3 quotes and they are about the same then I'm sure he will be ok to go with them.

[hornydragon]

Well a top of pile Televes Wideband aerial is £35 from TLC Direct so £139 is excessive!!!!! I would shop around and ask at a local TV retailer, who they reconmend. They normally know decent firms who wont overcharge. Although i have no idea how being so close to london will skew the cost!!!!

[Bernard Barnett]

Hmm. I got interested in this as I've had quite a lot of recent experience of aerial installations, so I rang Aerialect of Colchester (CAI members who cover Chelmsford) and asked them what a full rig including masthead amp would cost. They said £250 top whack. I thought that was pretty expensive too! Mind you, a bit different from the original quote of £323...

[ebiumn]

was the £250 price including fitting and distribution to 5 rooms? flush mounted sockets? what about VAT?

[Bernard Barnett]

No idea I'm afraid. All I asked for was cost of "a full installation." I presume this would involve multi-points.

Originally posted by Bernard Barnett
No idea I'm afraid. All I asked for was cost of "a full installation." I presume this would involve multi-points.

You presumed wrongly. Full installation involves installing the aerial safely, aligning it with meter, cabling down to TV.

Wall socket fitting costs extra as it's time-consuming. Additional points are usually around £30 each plus the distribution amplifier to feed them (you can't simply run more wires from the aerial).

I think if you look at the total parts cost plus labour at a mimumum of £30 an hour, the CAI quote is about right.

Bear in mind that a CAI fitter is required to wear a safety harness and secure his ladders before he even starts. That can easily take 30 minutes - especially for a chimney job.

Ask in advance for an itemised invoice including all parts and labour. (If this is refused I would dump him quick!)

I recommend you watch him work (discreetly). Be sure to take photos of each stage including after he tidies up - that's part of the job. Make sure he uses proper (copper foil) satellite cable. Send him packing if he makes excuses. The difference in cost is tiny.

Remember that you can complain to the CAI and probably get a refund or the job put right. You can't do that with a non-CAI installer.

Fman

Been watching too many American movies. I've edited "CIA" to "CAI"!