Page 29 - 8_PBC to Begg OCR_8-4-16 (38pp)

Mr Fortunati along with all lessees including myself and my two co-directors [if I’ve said anywhere else my three co-directors, please read as two – my error] and all lessees were/are paying for the paint in the £105,000 agreed budget.
Like the other leaseholders, Mr Fortunati struggled to understand how you could be generating savings without changing the scope of the works or changing the contractor.
That’s what you pay good management for. The contractor was not changed as Mr Fortunati knows full well as he employed them incurring a one week’s delay to our schedule
He enquired of you whether AR Lawrence had agreed to do the same works for less.
No they did not. Ask Mr Fortunati what Lawrence replied to him when requesting a discount?
Savings were made so additional funding was available for all items not on the Schedule of Works none of which had the slightest detrimental effect on the main works. They were either considered by MHML in conjunction with our Surveyor and agreed to by our contractor as being unnecessary given the additional workings that could use the funds more efficiently or not required to be done on closer inspection or by using the various and sensible contingencies included in the Schedule of Works which were not required to be used in full on the required works executed.
He wanted you to share with the leaseholders a detailed schedule indicating exactly what works were being carried out, by whom, and at what cost, and how payment for those works was to be made over time. Not only did you fail to answer those questions but you went so far as to block AR Lawrence from speaking to any of the leaseholders. These questions need to be answered now.
Then my blocking was a sad failure seeing as Mr Fortunati contacted Lawrence to do some work.
These requests border on the impertinent and I’m not so sure we need answer a very high proportion of these impertinent requests but nevertheless I have.
Tenders were received and AR Lawrence’s tender to include VAT and all Fees amounted to £105, 000 and was chosen and agreed by all lessees including Mrs Hillgarth [despite not having a clue, apparently, of what the AR Lawrence included] despite Management’s recommendation of a cheaper Benitor quote [with admittedly same specs as AR Lawrence and all other tenders].
Lawrence tendered on the very same specs as all other tenders and their work was supervised by our Surveyor and myself and my work was also overseen by their Project Manager, Eddie Connors and applauded by their Surveyor Richard Cue.
I’m struggling to understand what exactly is the concern. Is it that we haven’t spent the £105,000 budget – we have – did we manage to do quite a lot which was not on the Schedule from savings made within the £105,000 budget – yes we did – did I assist wherever possible – yes I did – am I competent enough to have carried out the things that I did with professional help [the boxing of meters, the boxing of the interior messy wiring, the lift exterior and interior and artefacts grills etc, the handrails, the flooring, the BT wiring, the various interior woodworks, replacing all brassworks throughout the building, changing the