STATE HOUSING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 128, 16 June 1937, Page 4

STATE HOUSING

-Press Asspciatioi!,!

Builders Dissatisfied with "Master Schedule" BIG FIRMS FAVOURED

»Bj Telegraph-

IN v EaRCARGIIiIj > I^^3t Tenders were receutly invited for two important Government construction works in Invercargill, tbe new post office and the first block of Gqwernment houses, but from opinions ob" tained from leading Invercargill coptractors, it appears unlikely that there will be many tenders from the local builders for tV«e contractprs, whicli are expectcd to have ap aggregate value of qver £70;Cj0 There is a' goqd aeal of dissatisfactiop among the builders about the term-s under. which the tenders have been invited. One builder st-ated that the system adopted by the Public Works Department tended. to favour large outside contractors, and that it was probable that local builders would not benefit from the contracts. Tenders for Government houses fequire itemised schedule prices for each section oi work on each honse, the total prioe being arrived at from the sum of the individual lists; occupying several sheets of paper,' The contractors contend that thi» reqnirement is ah imposition and greatly adds to the work involved in- supplying an estimate which, for an unsuecesful tenderer, is entirely non-produe-tive. It is stated that the "ma'ster schedule" system has been introduced in the north to a considerable extent, but. the present contracts are the first experiences of it Invercargill builders have" had. Some confusion has also been caused because of the fact that the specifica- 1 tions, having been prepared ih Wellington, are in accordance with the Nqrth Island system of timher'grading whereas the system followed in jSouthland is entirely differentl. The tenders for the 22 houses in the first block to he erected under the Government housing scheme clos? in Wellington tomorrow, and while it is understood that several tenders from Invercargill have been submitted, it is considered that. there has been much less pompetition frpmi Invercargill contractors than there would have been had the tenders been called under conditions to which contractors were accustomed.