[Walter Sobchak]

I've given almost £40 now, that will help build over half of a public toilet facility....
which made me wonder, Ant and Dec said it cost £90 for the toilet facility, yet when a local authority build one it usually costs around £30,000, AND we have more resources, how strange?

Mr Kwyjibo I think you should back up your facts there. Theres no way it costs anything like that figure but you should also consider they will not be to the standard we expect over here nor will they pay the high prices we do for labour and land.

Ok, I take Yudsters point, on risk assesments, and Gaspodes point on paying CIS, (Do builders need CRB checks??) -as well as each job having to have a person certified to carry out the works- and the standard of expectation, and another point I thought of, they wont need to be vandal proof as that village would be very thankful for the facility, plus they cant afford aerosol cans of paint.

I have done a little research on new build costs though....

£75,000

£170,000

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

Mr Kwyjibo I work in Local Govenment and what you are comparing is like saying why does a house cost more than a shed.

Also the £90 figure I would dispute. They said it was for one toilet in a block which clearly had more than one and would not be for the block as a whole. I am not saying it is going to get anywhere close to the costs that it would over here but you have to accept the facts that that is life.

[Walter Sobchak]

Surely though Mr Gaspode sir, you have heard of ridiculous sums of money being spent on public buildings, the team that you work for may not be as frivolous as some other local authorities have been.

In Yeovil they built a clock tower that looked like it came from the 19th century to mark the coming of the 21st century, at a very large cost, (I've tried to find out how much,I know there was an outcry, but can't find any info).

I do think that the problems lie more with manufacturers and suppliers, who mark-up prices and costings for business (usually because it goes through an account, which is often paid without checking - or seeing- the product)
like I said before, I work in a school, and they recently bought a very small cabinet which cost £280.00, it broke when they delivered it so it was sent back, and we built a better stronger one for less than £20.00

like you say, we just have to accept the facts that that is life.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

I agree with you on ridiculous money on public buildings and that isn't confined to the public sector as Wembley is the best example and that was private sector but obviously public generally comes under more scrutiny and there is also the Dome, Holyrood and the like. I think you will find though that on the whole money isn't just thrown at things because to be quite honest there isn't enough of it about any more.

If you want to know how much the Clock Tower cost send in a Freedom of Information request.

I think the fact things cost more in general is just down to the way our economy works and you have to accept that.