Base Levelling Steels

Why Should You Be Buying Base Levelling Steels With Your Water Tank?

The short answer is to save time and money, but we guess you are thinking that surely buying base steels up front costs more money?

Well, the answer is actually No and here’s why…

Up until a few years ago, abortive site visits were a very common occurrence and in the main, down to the fact that the proposed base constructions we were encountering did not meet the tolerance requirements as detailed in BS EN 13280:

At the time, Dewey Waters always offered base levelling steels, but they were rarely purchased because they were not specified and we were often advised that the tank base is the responsibility of the builder, so why should any M&E contractor pay the extra?

It was a very valid point at the time, but it became clear that the tolerance requirements were and still are rarely achieved. Projects started to fall behind and unbudgeted costs started to spiral and client/contractor relations suffered as a result.

However, at that point in time the benefit of using base levelling steels was often overlooked and that by purchasing them, any irregularities of the existing plantroom floor or cast plinth up to 18mm (+/- 9mm) could be absorbed as our skilled engineers can shim the steels to suit and continue the installation as originally planned.

The realisation that said prevention (buying the base steels upfront) was actually cheaper and contractually savvy came almost overnight. Granted that it took a while to get to that tipping point, but the cultural shift paid dividends to us all, as not only did the base related abortive visits almost vanish, fewer building programmes slipped and unbudgeted costs were greatly reduced. Resulting in less hassle for Dewey Waters, Contractors and Clients alike.

So, next time you are comparing costs and a competitor isn’t including them, is it really worth the short term saving?