Quote much more than expected - are we unrealistic or is it too expensive?

[PippaFawcett]

We have a £25k budget to do the following (and more)

• Removel of chimney breast and associated support installation/making good etc
• Removal of kitchen and relocation of kitchen works - plumbing/gas/ etc into adjacent room
• Stud wall to be built
• Archway to be squared off
• external Doorway and window to be cut in
• Dining room floor to be levelled
• Patio doors plus five new windows to be fitted
• Ceilings skimmed to remove artex upstairs and downstairs of three bed semi.

This is the bulk of the work, what would you expect to be quoted? The quote includes electrics for the new kitchen but crucially not the kitchen itself. I can't decide if we are woefully unrealistic or if the only quote we have had returned to us is too expensive.

Where are you?

I actually think that's not too bad.

East of England in an area where it is difficult to even get tradespeople to turn up to quote. I should have been clearer though, we have £25k to spend, the quote isn't £25k.

What's the quote?

Is the fireplace/chimney downstairs with lots of support needed above?(that's costly)

What are your windows made from? Are they generously proportioned? (You could spend £25k on hardwood sashes alone)

£25k sounds reasonable to me.

Oh ok, just seen quote wasn't £25k

Did you tell them you had trouble getting anyone else to quote?

Pat, no! Definitely not. I don't know what the windows are made from actually, not sure the quote says that. The quote is £55k including VAT.

I think your looking more like 50k to be honest. We asked a builder friend recently how much to relocate kitchen into a garage conversion and we were quote "realistic" 40k!!

Looks like £5k of the quote is on UPVC windows, so nothing flash.

Illbeathespa, oh dear! Tempted to sign DH up for some night school classes!

That does feel steep.

Chimney breast removal is extortionate. You won't do it for £25k.

Looks like around £9k needs to be spent on the chimney breast removal and associated work. Does that sound about right?

We had a wall removed and steels put in, ceiling vaulted and two velux windows installed, plumbing moved and redundant pipes including gas feed for old cooker removed, new electrical feed for cooker put in, new electrics, sockets and lighting, plasterboarding, skimming, new kitchen (from DIY Kitchens), flooring, new rads and skirtings and we don't have change from £25k. That is two linked rooms. We've done all the decorating ourselves. About half of the cost was the kitchen units, flooring, worktops and some new appliances; it's a big space. We thought it would cost us half that, but we didn't plan on vaulting the ceiling and putting the velux in.

Prioritise what you want to do and do it in stages. We also took out a low interest bank loan when we realised we didn't have the money to finish things properly. That was an instant stress reliever!

Chimney breast removal is extortionate. You won't do it for £25k.

+1

Also moving services is expensive

I'd have thought at least fifty yes, and was beforee you posted it, changing windows, adding patio doors, removing chimney breast.

I think you're being woefully unrealistic to think you could get all that on your list done for 25 k.

WowFudge, I don't mind not having change from £25k, but I didn't expect it to be over £50k!

Bluntness, that is what we need to hear. We have no idea how much these things cost and whether it is worth shopping around a bit more but it has already taken all of 2017 to get this far!

£50k easily. The kitchen itself really doesn't cost that much. That is an awful lot of labour

Oh dear. Does it matter that if we were to find the extra money (bank loan, remortgage) that we might not be adding the equivalent value to the house? Or is that just something we have to accept?

I was trying to show we had nowhere near as much work done as is on your list and it cost £25k! We are not in an expensive part of the country for trades.

As for your question on adding value - that is immaterial if you plan on staying in the house in the longer term and the work improves your lives in the house. If you are doing work to make it more saleable in the shorter term, then unless you can realistically recoup your costs, it isn't worth it.

Yes over 50k sounds right. Most improvements don't add on much value. It's for your benefit living there more than to increase the value of the property unfortunately.

Ahh I see, WowFudge. Bunny, that is true enough as the previous owner added in the bloody chimney that we want to remove!

We are planning to stay for at least ten years but I would like to think it wasn't just for our benefit and that it would add some value! But perhaps I need to stop thinking like that.

I would be shocked as well at that quote. Admittedly it's over 5 years ago now but we had a ground floor extension to the side and rear, a kitchen and 2 bathrooms fitted (inc tiles, flooring etc and one moved), 5 x Veluxes, French doors, 3 x new windows, an internal door moved and it was less than your quote.

I'd definitely get more quotes (prices may well have risen hugely and I'm completely out-of-touch) and then decide which jobs are more important and which can wait a while.

Why do you need to remove the chimney? Is it in the kitchen? I've just paid £240 for something like this:
Part of a bigger, not dissimilar to yours job- kitchen, moving doors around rewiring and plumbing for kitchen,
new exterior doors and 3 windows, replastering one big room, knocking down a lean to etc. For about 25 including the kitchen