Is my quote to convert bathroom to 2 small en-suites is taking the p*ss

[TightWadinSurrey]

So, we have been working on our house for 18yrs (labour of love) and want to get the final bits done so DH can afford to help the DC at uni over the next 5yrs and then be in position to retire a few years early. Maybe.

Our final project involves converting a long family bathroom that only my son uses into 2 en-suites (current bathroom is 2.4x 5m). This would create 2 rooms of 2.4m squared. Not huge, but perfectly good sized for shower room/en-suites. We want them to be nice in case we have to sell in an emergency (redundancy etc) so planned on sourcing nice walk-in showers, wall hung basins and loos, smart mirrors and towel radiators. Appreciate in the CoL times that there are few bargains to be had, so allowed £5k per room for these and a visit to Topps Tiles. Obviously hoping to do this for much less if I can snag stuff in the sales.

However… the builder’s quote (we’ve used him before, his work is perfect and he’s possibly overly thorough) to remove/chip out an old chimney breast (no longer supporting anything above it), close off a door and open another one from my son’s bedroom, plus the usual gutting, plastering, tiling, redoing the plumbing (big job I accept), lighting & electrics comes to… 26.5k plus VAT.

Ie, each little en-suite will cost us £21k after I’ve bought the stuff to go in it.

For a guest en suite that my MiL uses at Christmas or a drunken mate stops over in a few times a year and another room my 16yo will use until he goes to uni?

My head is exploding as I am thinking wtf??

AIBU - this is a totally fair rate in current times, so stop being so fricking tight
IANBU - this is taking the piss and I should either bin the idea altogether or find someone else at half the price and put the money towards uni accommodation in 2 years?

As it’s more a ‘desired’ job rather than a necessary one I’d say leave it OP. 42k for two ensuite bathrooms in scandalous!!

Also in smart-ish Surrey commuter town - that sounds about right tbh - plumbing + plastering is SO EXPENSIVE at the moment.

could you reduce scope of works + make it a ‘jack + jill’ bathroom with access from both rooms instead? Then do new fittings + retile / redecorate. Would save you a good chunk

That seems very high!

I'm out of practise but I know someone who is currently having a wetroom in a room bigger than yours. Including floor and full height wall tiles. All sanitaryware, all ancillaries, full shower screen recessed into both floor and wall. Grohe shower, taps, decor, heated towel rail etc.etc. It's costing 12K.

Add extra for taking out the chimney, skips and making good and for boarding up doors. Sounds like you will need new pipework and possibly soil stack? Even so, It's still nothing like what the first quote is.

Refitting my small (5.5m x 2.8m) bathroom 4 years ago cost £5k all in. That was using a run of the mill plain white suite and fitting each bit in the same place as the old one. There was no building new walls, removing chimney breasts or creating new doorways, minimal plumbing and didn't include any decorating apart from tiling.

Given the amount you're having done, OP, and the rising cost of materials and labour, it doesn't seem excessive to me.

We had an upstairs toilet made into an ensuite with shower. Involved moving plumbing, knocking down walls and adding studded wall. And moving toilet and new plumbing to soil stack.

Converted an ensuite into a bathroom. Closed of the door, built a new door and moved suite around.

£18k all in

South East, October 2022.

😯

am thinking I should tell my kids to forget uni and get a trade…

Ask for a break down in costs.
Interrogate the quote.
I don’t think you’ll spend more than a grand or two on builders work materials.

A grand or two on skips.
How many days has he allowed. Expect to pay £300 a day for him and £120 for his labourer.
I’m guessing he’s subbing the plumbing, electrical, tiling and mastic man (he can be very flexible 😆), works out, and then you’re paying him to organise them. He’s also going to mark the materials up as he has to order them.

Have you considered asking him to price the builders work only and then have a plumber price the install and get your own tiler in.

If you want an easy life then sadly you have to pay someone else to deal with the other trades. If you don’t mind rolling your sleeves up, you could halve that.

We had our bathroom completely redesigned by an architect for £8k which included all the materials, down to the light bulbs!
Even allowing for price increases, if you are buying the materials and your quote is for fitting only, they're at it.