Bathroom quotes - HELP PLEASE!

[madcows]

Hi there,
We've got 3 plumbers to quote for us, and they've come in with very different quotes.... so would appreciate any thoughts.
We're in an expensive town in the SE.
We are having 2 bathrooms and a downstairs loo ripped out, and replaced with 2 new showers, 1 bath, 3 basins, 3 loos. The ceilings will need replastering, and floors and walls re-tiling. Also the hot water tank needs replacing. Here are the (labour only) quotes including VAT:
Quote 1 - £13092
Quote 2 - £12591
Quote 3 - £7776

The quotes do not include all the 'stuff' (which comes in at about £5000 from a local bathroom supplier, who recommended all 3 of these bathroom fitters. We haven't been able to get any personal recommendations.)

So - are 1 and 2 a rip off, and 3 the only honest one around? Or is Quote 3 going to be a hopeless job, causing us endless problems?
You can tell I haven't done this before...
Many many thanks....
madcows

1&2 are very close and so it is tempting to think that £13k is the right price for the job. But you do need to look at 3 as the saving is so great. I would ask for his most recent jobs and references, and talk to him about why his quote is just "slightly" below other quotes. The clever trick for him is to get his foot in the door and then pile on the variations - the tiles were stuck better than we had thought, the plumbing was all in the wrong place / had to be repositioned. Once he has secured the job, you are pretty bound to pay what he asks and be subject to his timescales. If he has a better job on , he may leave yours and go and do that.

But they could all do that.

If 3 seems satisfactory and you are tempted , I woudl ask hi to put in writing exactly what is included and excluded so that you know in advance what will happen in various circumstances. you don't want to find out too late that he thought you were paying for all the extras, and you assumed that abslutely everything was included.

Maybe have a chat to the bathroom supplier about it, without mentioning the actual prices or differences between them.

Thanks, midnight. In fact Quote 3 gave us the most detailed quote of the lot! We're going to see the bathroom suppliers tomorrow, and will try and get more of a sense of what they think of the 3.
madcows

madcows - it's worth trying mybuilder.com for further quotes too.

we got our tiny bathroom refitted - old suite and tiles ripped out, walls and ceiling plastered, new tiling done, new suite fitted, shower fitted, bath was turned the opposite way so new plumbing for that, towel rail fitted and new light fitted. They also put hardboard flooring down; we have to do the tiling.

Our total cost, including the parts, was £3.5K. this was with the bathroom suppliers fitter, as we were in a hurry and didn't have time for quotes etc. I'm pretty sure we could have got it cheaper, but we have a bathroom now!