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Original poster

Quote for fitting new bathroom - does it sound right?

28 replies

CurlyhairedAssassin · 06/02/2012 22:39

I would be very grateful if someone could have a quick look at this breakdown for fitting our new bathroom. It is the first quote we've had and the bloke seems a decent enough fella - he would be doing all the work himself. We are supplying the suite, radiator, tiles and bathroom cabinet ourselves.

Removal of old suite, radiator etc
Stripping tiled walls back to brick and re-doing them properly by drylining
Fitting a false ceiling thing with downlights
putting false wall in to house shower workings
installing new suite (inc. swapping toilet and sink over, position-wise and altering taps on bath - ie. from one end to the other)
Fitting electric shower over bath
Fitting tall towel radiator wotsit
Fitting cabinet to wall and wiring up to electrics (has lights and shaver point)
Tiling walls (from floor to ceiling) and floors inc relaying boards properly under tiles on floor.

Quote is £2800 and he reckons it'll take about 2 weeks.

I was expecting a fair bit less money and slightly less time!

We are in the northwest. If you are stripping back to brick then are these the sort of prices I'll have to pay? I don't want to spoil the look of the whole thing by cost-cutting on say, the ceiling which is currently a right mess. We couldn't just paint over it if we wanted it to look decent.

OP posts:

Selks · 06/02/2012 22:41

Sounds roughly ok....you've got a few biggish jobs in there.

pineappleupsidedownpudding · 06/02/2012 22:47

I was expecting you to say about £4000,that sounds ok to me.
and time wise 2 weeks sounds about right. we were told about 10 days, and it took a bit longer.

Original poster

CurlyhairedAssassin · 06/02/2012 22:53

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I said I'd call him tomorrow and let him know. DH said just go with him (although he doesn't have any real idea of prices either), and I was thinking of telling him we'd come back to him when we'd got another couple of quotes.

But if you think it sounds about right.......

I know nothing about cost of totally stripping back and making good etc, only a rough cost of simple like for like refit, so am wary of getting ripped off.

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fivegomadindorset · 06/02/2012 22:54

Sounds fine to me.

DoFliesHaveKnees · 06/02/2012 22:54

We were quoted over £8k for removing our old bathroom and fitting a new one. I think you have a bargain on your hands there!

Original poster

CurlyhairedAssassin · 06/02/2012 22:59

£8K?!??! Oh my god! I would have asked if it was a typo ha ha!

I do get good vibes off him, he really does seem like a decent bloke who knows his stuff, and recommended by the bathroom shop AND he washed his mug out himself after I'd taken a cuppa up to him when he came round to make notes on the job etc - surely a sign of a tidy worker!

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hatesponge · 06/02/2012 22:59

I think it sounds ok I was quoted £1500 for tiling and installing a new bathroom & a weeks work for 2 guys - it's an empty bare room so nothing to rip out, walls and floor ready to tile, ceiling plastered etc. Given your guy has to take everything out first, the extra price doesn't seem unreasonable.

ChippingInLovesEasterEggs · 06/02/2012 23:02

It sounds like a reasonable price to me (and I've had loads of quotes on work over the last year).

However, I suggest you check him out properly through his trade quals and make sure he is who he says he is. Also, I'd see if you can go and see some of the jobs he's done. I know it's a complete FAFF - but it's a lot more of a faff if he's a bastarding twat or just fecking useless.

WetAugust · 06/02/2012 23:41

Am about to enbark on exactly the same amount of work and estimated it would cost £4,500

pippala · 06/02/2012 23:47

just paid 6k in london for half the amount of work! suite cost 3k so think you are quids in!

aviatrix · 06/02/2012 23:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheDetective · 07/02/2012 00:06

I think it sounds quite expensive?

I'm in the NW and got quoted for my bathroom by the plumber who did my new boiler. For fitting a new (mixer) shower, bath, sink and toilet would be £400. The only additional costs are for the suite, and the tiler.

Whole thing comes to way less than £2000 for us.

If you want his details, I'll pass them on. He did a fab job on our boiler, and even told us he found the boiler he recommended for £100 cheaper online, so we bought it ourselves and saved the £100 - he could have taken that for himself! Total cost for fitting the boiler (straight swap) was £200, and we paid £656 for the boiler! Bargain :) and a good job too!

Pannacotta · 07/02/2012 09:16

Sounds ok to me and we have just put in a new shower room.
Dry lining and moving the soil pipe are quite time consuming jobs. Did you ask if he usually takes on the building side of a bathroon re-fit? Plumbers are rarely good at carpentry so I would be cautious about that.

But I do agree that you should follow up references and ideally go and have a look at a previous job. Best way to sort the wheat from the chaff!
I woudl also get another quote or two but I am quite careful now, having employed a fair few duffers over the years....

Twunk · 07/02/2012 09:19

Think yourself lucky, we've just had our bathroom moved and it cost ?14,000! It's not luxurious or anything, and is in a room 2m x 2m.

On a more serious note, tiling walls is a bugger of a job and I'm amazed you got it for that little even in the UK.

Original poster

CurlyhairedAssassin · 07/02/2012 09:43

Aviatrix, we are supplying the shower, suite, tiles, radiator and bathroom cabinet oursevles. The £2800 he gave us is for the labour as well as all materials he will use to fit, eg. plumbing pipes etc, plaster & plasterboard, adhesives, plywood, transformers blah blah. Oh, and he is suggesting we go for PVC boards on our ceiling so it includes the boards plus halogen downlighters.

Forgot to say as well that he is also moving our loft access door from the bathroom to the landing - I didn't include that in the cost on here because it was only 55 quid and I realise not everyone has that done. But it would be part of the 2 week time estimate obviously.

One of the mums at school can recommend someone who might be a bit cheaper but they are usually booked up - our fella could probably start very soon as he has had a client put him back till March.

Hmmmmm...

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Original poster

CurlyhairedAssassin · 07/02/2012 09:46

Pannacotta: he does everything. The only building/carpentry elements will be fitting a new false wall to house shower cables etc, and moving loft access in bathroom ceilings.

He has offered to show me some photos of jobs he's done (although he'd downloaded them from his phone to his computer at home so didn't have them with him when he came last night with the quote), and he is recommended by the bathroom shop who have dealt with him for years so presumably they wouldn't want to recommend anyone who is duff as their reputation would be at stake?

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Original poster

CurlyhairedAssassin · 07/02/2012 09:48

TheDetective, I forgot to ask: did you just get a quote from your bloke or has he actually done the bathroom yet?

OP posts:

aviatrix · 07/02/2012 10:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ScoobyDooWhereAreYou · 07/02/2012 11:06

That sounds spot on to me. We've just had ours done, in the NW also, and paid exactly that for labour only. We had plastering and electrics on top too. Our plumber was also recommended by the bathroom shop and him already having a good relationship with them saved us loads of hassle (changed my mind about a few things last minute etc) as we just left him to get on with it.

Pannacotta · 07/02/2012 11:09

Good point re bathroom showroom.
Quote sounds good to me but I woudl still follow up references and ask to see photos.

Smum99 · 07/02/2012 11:21

Does that include VAT? We had similar work done for that cost - 2 weeks is also about the right time, ours took 9 days. Hope you have a separate loo whilst the work is ongoing:)

Original poster

CurlyhairedAssassin · 07/02/2012 16:01

Smum99, re VAT - It doesn't mention that on the quote so I need to check as I can't remember whether he told us last night whether it's included in the cost.

ScoobyDoo, yes, I am thinking the good relationship with the bathroom place is a good sign.

Seems like people think it is about right and I got good vibes off the bloke. I'll see if he can email me some photos of jobs he's done then when I call him to double check about the VAT.

Thanks again, everyone, you have all been sooooo helpful!!! Very grateful!

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Clownsarescary · 07/02/2012 16:03

Make sure it includes VAT and removal of old stuff i was about to confirm with a builder to install my bathroom once and then he changed his quote to include the above and I was so miffed i didn't give him the job.

JumpJockey · 07/02/2012 16:30

£55 to move the loft access seems remarkably low price, unless it is literally just covering the materials (and even then there's quite a lot needed). He'll need to cut a hole in the ceiling, board over the old hole, build an architrave, plaster over the old opening - we had ours done and it took a good couple of days (though some of that time was plaster drying etc).

Rest of the price sounds reasonable, we had a similar job with taking out old shower room and refitting but no moving of anything so all plumbign stayed in the same place. Quotes came around 2k.. Ended up costing us £4k because a) thefloor turned out to need fully replacing, and the hall ceiling below, and b) the first guy who did it was an utter cowboy and we ended up having to pay someone else £900 to put his errors right

TheDetective · 07/02/2012 17:19

It was a quote for the bathroom Curly. I'll pm you his yell.com ad if you like, as he was really good and competitive, and in fact you can see his reviews - including mine - on the ad. (Boiler quote total from him £856, from others £1200-1650, so saved ££!)

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