Excess Construction Charge

[AlasdairMacmillan]

We live in  a rural area, and the house is 132m from the public road. We're an existing BT Broadband customer. Fibre has been laid along the public road and we've been invited to connect, so we have applied. An engineer has been to visit, and we have been advised that an 'Excess Construction Charge' applies. The quote is as follows:

Job Description: 132m Duct and 1 joint box.
£6561.12  (£3400 paid by Openreach)
Subtotal = £3,161.12
VAT at 20% = £632.22
Total to be paid = £3,793.34

so £50/m overall.

My question is - can we lay the duct ourselves and ask them to re-visit the quote? We have a friendly plant operator experienced in laying service trenches/ducts.

Also - what happens if we cant afford it? Will we eventually be cut off from our existing BT broadband service as it ceases to be supported in years to come?

Thank you in advance.

[imjolly]

to lay 132m of ducting cost is not as expensive as I expected but you really need to check with openreach about laying your own ducting and if ok how much would cost now be.

FTTC will be available for years it is only the ability to make calls  - PSTN service that is supposed to cease in 2025

[AlasdairMacmillan]

Thank you for that, good to know we won't be high & dry in 2025 if finances don't permit a fibre upgrade.

(To save other beginners looking them up  - FTTC is Fibre To The Cabinet; PSTN is Public  Switched Telephone Network)

When the engineer visited, one of the things he checked for was an existing duct to the house, so presumably if we're able to magic one up than that will be a good thing.

Now all I need to do is figure out a way to contact BT Openreach's quotation department..!

[iniltous]

If the excavation is on land you own , then you should be able to reduce costs by installing ducts yourself, you would be supplied with enough Openreach duct and probably a drum of draw rope , and information about depth of cover etc, then when you have installed it can be used to supply you with service, this obviously would significantly reduce the costs to yourself,

I’m surprised the survey officer didn’t indicate that this is available as it’s not that uncommon a solution to reduce excess construction costs

[AlasdairMacmillan]

Thanks very much for that - it is indeed on land we own, essentially grass field next to the drive, so straightforward excavation with little in the way of artificial surface finishes to make good.

[mikemod]

I have just installed 300M of ducting, Openreach supplied the ducting, straight, 45 bends, 90 bends, three inspection boxes and pull through rope

Just cost me the hire of the digger and a case of beer for my BIL 😀

All now installed and went from 1.5Mbps to 500Mbps

[dombullion]

Try Openreach Planning team- 0800 032 8660