I don't know if it is the turmoil in the economy, or too much sun, but the prices for building works that we have been getting back in the last few months have been extraordinary.

Customers (understandably) always want to know how much their building works are likely to cost from an early stage. One of the things that makes it so difficult to confidently predict prices is that at the best of times, I have always found wild variation in the prices bid by different builders for the same set of works. For example, it would be quite typical for a project that I would have thought would cost (say) £250,000 to have a range of price bids submitted from £190K up to £320K. I generally ask four or five contractors to price for any one project.

However, in the last month, we have tendered three projects and the variations in price have been more wildly spread than I have ever seen before. A single storey extension saw prices ranging from £36,000 up to £139,000, and a much larger project with a large extension, roof works and complete internal refurbishment saw a spread from £336,000 down to £128,000 - these are extraordinary by any standards.

I know that the price of building materials has rocketed recently, but this would not account for greater variation as surely this affects all contractors. The only explanation that I can think is that some contractors are looking pessemistically at the coming months, and thinking that they need to get work in whatever the price, while others are clearly busy and confident of continuing to be busy.

Strange times indeed!