Did your "professional" Contractors carry 10 million dollars in insurance?I installed about 1200 square feet of patio with cedar deck and stone work. All done by a professional carpenter and landscaper. As well as 70 feet of new fencing. Lighting by electrician and two gas lines.
All in about 32,000.
And they want double for this? Bullshit. It's a gouge. I don't care what you say Kirk. It's a gouge. It should be tendered out to contractors with reasonable pricing.
This should not cost what you said. I did all of that for my patio. Leveled, proper footing driven into the ground, proper screening, lights, safety rails, all of it. For something about 40 times the size of this.
It's bullshit.
What about bonds? Did they have to give you bid bonds, material and performance bonds to 100 percent of the cost of the work?
Did they give you a 2 year Maintenance guarantee?
Did you get a structural Engineer to provide you with signed and sealed drawings, a detailed specification, tender, and an Engineers cost estimate?
Were your Contractors all unionized? The City of Toronto's Fair Wage Office requires that only unionized Construction Companies be able to bid on City of Toronto Construction projects. Not only that, they specify which locals must be used as subtrades. For example, a General Contractor, despite being certified with LiUNA local 183 cannot use local 183 iron workers, he MUST use local 721 iron workers. Do you have those constraints?
Do you even adhere to the Fair Wage Office of the city of Toronto? (Or did you just pay cash?)
Did you require your Contractors to be COR certified?
Did you ask your "professional". Contractors for copies of their Health and Safety Policy?
Did you ask them for a copy of their most recent WSIB clearance certificate? For that matter, we're your professional Contractors even subscribers to WSIB?
Did you use a Toronto Hydro approved Electrical Contractor to do the work?
Did you obtain all necessary building permits?
What about Certificates from the Electrical Safety Authority?
Did you get a permit from the Electrical Safety Authority?
What about TSSA? Did you get the permit and inspection done for the gas work from TSSA?
Did you have the work inspected as it progressed by the Engineer?
No?
You don't know the cost of things.
The boys from the City do. Their estimate is probably very close to what it will cost.
Lastly, a job like this would be tendered out. I don't think the city would undertake this itself.