Are unforeseen extras just that, or are they a reaction to the economic climate.

It’s strange how the demolition industry is subject to its own fashions and trends. A few trendsetters buy themselves a high reach excavator, and before you know it, they’re the industry’s must-have accessory.

The fashion trend for the past year or more has been one of low bid prices. With demolition contractors across the US and Europe struggling to keep men and machines gainfully employed, bid prices have got lower and lower to the point that, in many areas, they now need to look up to see a snake’s belly. Indeed, during the past 18 months or so, we have typed the term “low bid” so many times that our PCs have now taken to filling in the blanks as soon as we type the letters L and O in quick succession.

But, like all fashions, low bids’ place in the spotlight has been relatively fleeting. And while large swathes of the industry are still wearing last season’s cut-price colours, there are those among us who appear determined to set a new trend – Demolition Extras.

For the uninitiated, this is not some kind of designer accessory; nor is it an offshoot of the Ricky Gervais comedy TV series.

These demolition extras are those unforeseen yet oddly predictable bills that land on a client’s desk during or just after a demolition project. The reasons for these extras are numerous – almost too numerous to mention – but can range from the obvious undisclosed asbestos to the slightly more esoteric contaminated corn. But, whatever the reason, these extras seem to surprise everyone except the demolition contractor issuing the invoice.

So, in an age when clients are expected (and, in some areas, legally obliged) to disclose precisely what the unsuspecting demolition contractor is letting himself in for, are these a legitimate additional cost? Do they highlight the ignorance of clients and their project managers? Or are they a sign of something a little more sinister? Are demolition contractors attempting to offset the demand for low bids by bidding cheap to win the work and then ramping up the extras to achieve something approaching a profit?

Certainly, demolition contractors are constantly required to make changes to their plans; clients are often ignorant of the techniques and processes that will be employed which can cause confusion further down the construction chain; and asbestos (and bats, shrews, lizards and a multitude of other protected species) does have a nasty habit of hiding itself away only to leap out when it’s least expected. But when these extras can raise the cost of demolition from an agreed $7.366 million to $15.3 million, something’s not quite right.

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