Can you work alongside our M&E contractor?
Yes. Send the installation programme and the builders’ work schedule so we can discuss interfaces and release dates.
Builders’ work & making good in London
Building work around electrical, plumbing and ventilation installations needs clear boundaries and the right sequence. We welcome builders’ work in connection (BWIC) enquiries from main contractors, building-services contractors and property owners across London.
Quick answer
In construction, making good means repairing and reinstating the finishes disturbed by other work, such as openings cut for pipes, cables or ducts, so walls and ceilings are returned to the agreed finish. Builders’ work in connection (BWIC, sometimes written builderswork) is the general building work that supports those installations: forming openings, boxing in services, fitting access panels and making good afterwards.
Define the work around the installation
A services contractor may need access through existing finishes, new boxing, ceiling alterations or making good after installation. List each location and the required finish, because a single allowance for all builders’ work hides the differences. The drawings and quotation should separate access work from the specialist installation itself.
Coordinate before closing up
Confirm when the services will be installed, inspected and ready for enclosure. Agree who authorises closure, the access panels needed for maintenance and any supporting or backing details. Ceiling grids, board edges and retained finishes should be coordinated with the other trades so the reinstatement scope is clear.
Price the specified system
Where a wall or ceiling has specified fire or acoustic performance, send the relevant system details and responsibilities for penetrations and sealing. Structural openings, service isolation, specialist fire-stopping, testing and certification are included only if expressly agreed as part of a suitable package. Do not assume a making-good quotation covers these appointments.
Information for a trade-package quotation
Send marked-up drawings, quantities, wall and ceiling types, opening and access-panel details, finish requirements and the programme. Confirm labour-only or supply-and-fit, access equipment, waste arrangements and work by others. Tell us about any return visits needed after testing or later installation.
Who does what at a service opening
Four tasks meet wherever a duct, pipe or cable passes through a wall or ceiling: forming the opening, installing the service, fire stopping the gap and making good. Each can sit in a different package, so check that all four are in somebody’s price.
On one fit-out we priced, the plumbing and ventilation scope excluded builders’ work openings, making good and decorations, and left fire stopping to others. The drylining tender covered the partitions, the ceilings and the framing around a provisional number of door openings. It excluded specialist fire stopping at service penetrations, along with taping, skimming and decoration. Neither package priced the openings for the services, the fire stopping or the decoration. Work that falls between packages like this is what a builders’ work package picks up.
| Task | Where it sat on that job |
|---|---|
| Partitions, ceilings and door-opening framing | Drylining package |
| Ducts, pipes and their testing | Plumbing and ventilation package |
| Openings for the services | Excluded by the services scope |
| Fire stopping at penetrations | Excluded by both scopes |
| Making good after the services | Excluded by the services scope |
| Decoration | Excluded by both scopes |
Send the exclusions page of each trade quotation with your enquiry. It shows quickly what has not been priced.
Before you enquire
Do you offer labour-only packages?
We can discuss labour-only or supply-and-fit. The quotation must say who provides materials, equipment, supervision and disposal.
Does making good include the whole room?
Only the agreed extent. Local repairs, full-surface preparation and complete redecoration are different scopes and should be listed separately.
What is the difference between builders’ work and making good?
Builders’ work in connection covers the building tasks an installation needs, such as openings, boxing and access panels. Making good is the reinstatement afterwards: board repairs, plastering and decoration to the agreed extent. Both are easier to price when each location is listed with its required finish.
Does making good include fire-stopping or certification?
Not unless it is expressly agreed. Where a wall or ceiling has specified fire or acoustic performance, send the system details and the responsibilities for penetrations and sealing. Specialist fire-stopping, testing and certification need their own suitable appointment.
Tell us about your project.
Send your postcode, the work you need and your preferred timing.
Request a quotation