Insurance repairs, builders, quotes and VAT - confused!

[cattypussclaw]

Looking for some help, please. To cut a very long story short, we had a leak, under the (ground) floor from a central heating pipe. Job has snowballed beyond belief to where the insurance company has decided that the only way for this to not happen again is to replace all the ground floor plumbing. Floors have been dug up (nightmare mess), belongings moved out (but not us), pipes relaid and screeding done. Floors now need to be relaid and this is where I'm getting the impression that the builder (appointed by the insurance company) sees a opportunity to make an extra few quid.

The builder has allowed £96 per square metre to reinstate our hall and dining room floors. He has told us to look for tiles and wood flooring at c£40 per square metre. But his £96 excludes VAT and the prices we are looking at are retail (Topps Tiles) and include them. So, per square metre, he's being paid £115 and we are only allowed to spend £40 on the actual tiles (or wood). Really? The fitting and fitting materials (grout, latex, whatever) cost so much more than the actual flooring? Can anyone tell me, please, if this is a fair proportion of materials against fitting cost? Especially considering, additionally, that the prices we're looking at are retail and he'll be buying trade so it will be cheaper for him (no idea of trade discounts but guessing it must be something).

It just seems a huge gap between what we're allowed to spend on tiles and wood and what he's being paid. Has he given us a fair amount to spend and I'm underestimating the time and work involved in laying these floors, or are we being fobbed off with less than we should be entitled to?

Anyone?

I can't really comment on whether it is a fair price, since I don't really know what his work will involve. However, I just wanted to point out that if his charge is £96 ex VAT, that means that he ends up with just £96 in his pocket (not £115), as the VAT will need to be paid to to the taxman via his VAT return. However, it does mean that he can claim back any VAT he incurs on your flooring, so if you choose £40 sq m flooring (retail) then he will in effect be paying £33 sq m even before any discount, ie it's about one third of his total charge to the insurance company.

£40 sq m should get you something decent though, I would have thought?

It will not get much choice in engineered wood! Also, presumably, you can replace the flooring with like for like. What was the flooring before? Was it tiles or wood? He does not get the VAT himself, but he might get a discount at the tile shop to make it a better deal for you. Fitting costs can be high due to levelling, laying, grouting etc. However, lots of tilers have a day rate and then give you the quote in number of days. Could the tile shops not give you a rough idea of fitting costs? They have tilers they recommend usually.

Just looked on Moneysavingexpert. They have a conversation suggesting £40-45 per m2. I would push him up to £50 m2 at least for your flooring if you need to. If you want a lot better than you had before, you might need to pay the difference.

If your builder will be purchasing the flooring on your behalf then he can reclaim the VAT so I think you just need to clarify with the builder if your £40 is including or excluding VAT.

I would assume that it excludes VAT and so you could be looking at a retail price of up to £48 incl. VAT.

Thank you for the replies. Yes, that was my point, his £96 was excluding VAT but prices we were looking at were including VAT, which he'd claim back, plus any discount he got for trade, so he'd be getting a little bit extra all round and pushing us down to cheaper flooring.

The tiling is replacing a tiled floor (hallway) and the wood flooring was replacing carpet (dining room) but the insurance company were fine with that (the floor needed to be reinstated and they weren't particularly bothered what it was we put down).

We are happy to "top up" a bit, especially as we have decided on an engineered wood floor which isn't cheap.

It's been a struggle to get this far TBH, I'm sick of my house being a mess, workmen only seem to turn up when they feel like it and the fact it now feels we're being screwed just a little bit more so they can make a few quid more out of an insurance job makes me cross.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

really the only question you need to ask yourself is how much your original floor would have cost to reinstate. anything more than that and you are both profiting from the exercise and should argue it out between yourselves.