Yes — where demolitions are selective rather than total, extra care and labour are required to neatly separate walls without damaging the remaining structure. This often involves hand tools, small-scale demolition, and careful treatment at junctions. The BOQ should allow for cutting, isolating, and making good of the adjacent surfaces, typically measured in linear metres or number, depending on the extent and complexity of the work. This is not part of standard demolition rates.

Yes — if the BOQ didn’t specifically call for protection of existing services, this is a legitimate extra. Protecting ducts, pipes, electrical cabling, or other retained installations often requires temporary boxing, dust sheeting, and sometimes even careful hand demolition in tight spots. These extra precautions carry both time and material costs, and if not clearly included in the tender documents, they would qualify as a variation.

Yes — if the BOQ only covered the removal of a flat slab, additional work like breaking out upstands, edge beams, or thickened sections is measurable as extra. These elements require careful cutting, increased breaking effort, and additional disposal due to irregular shapes or reinforcement density. An extra-over item or separate rate may be justified.

Yes — enlarging door openings, especially upwards, is more involved than forming new ones. It often requires cutting into existing lintels, temporary propping, and careful making good of disturbed finishes. This is a recognised measurable item and should be recorded separately, either as a number of openings or by linear metre depending on the method used.

In general, if the screed was intended to remain and wasn’t identified as an item for removal, the contractor carries the risk of protecting it during removal of finishes. However, if the screed was heavily bonded or the removal was inherently difficult, and this wasn’t made clear during tender, the contractor may have grounds to claim for unforeseen additional repairs or for altering the method.

Yes — demolition typically ends at exposing the bare structure. Any plaster patching, skimming, painting, or finishing required to make junctions match adjacent surfaces is measured separately as a “making good” item. These costs can easily be missed if not highlighted during pre-demolition discussions and must be properly described.

Yes — dismantling for reuse is always more laborious than simple demolition. It involves careful removal, labelling, protection, and sometimes off-site storage. This is a measurable item, usually by number, and if the BOQ didn’t explicitly distinguish between “remove and dispose” and “remove and retain,” the contractor may be entitled to claim additional costs.

Rubble disposal is generally measured by the solid volume removed, not by how much fits into skips. Loose skip volumes can vary depending on material breakdown, voids, or site conditions. Unless there’s an agreed measurement rule allowing skip counts as the basis for deduction, this adjustment should be treated cautiously and preferably resolved via actual site measurements.

Yes — changes in sequencing often cause real cost implications. If the revision results in hand demolition, changed access, or other additional precautions to avoid damaging heritage features, these measures are considered variations. The contractor may legitimately claim for extra time, materials, and methods required to comply.

Yes — if this restriction was not part of the original tender or was imposed later, the contractor can claim additional costs for night work, shift allowances, security, and even modified work methods. Night work is not equivalent to daytime work and justifies an adjustment to preliminaries and resource rates.

Yes — asbestos is a regulated hazardous material, and its handling is outside of normal demolition scope unless disclosed upfront. The contractor is entitled to claim for delays, remediation, and the use of a licensed asbestos removal contractor, provided they were not contractually responsible for detection.

If the original instruction was only to clean and prepare the existing screed — meaning scraping off adhesives, loose particles, or surface contaminants — then any request to apply a self-levelling screed constitutes a scope change and should be measured separately.

The clearing and prep work falls under Alterations and is measured in square metres (m²), based on restoring the existing substrate without applying new materials.

However, placing a self-levelling screed goes beyond surface preparation. This is a new material layer applied to correct surface tolerances or level variations and is not part of typical making good unless specifically instructed. The self-leveller should therefore be measured under the Plastering trade (if treated as a finishing layer) or Floor Finishes trade (if part of a flooring system), depending on how it's specified in the BOQ or finishes schedule.