HELP. I think that my plumbing quote is too high.

[Tralalalalz]

We're half way through a renovation project. We thought that the only work that we needed on the plumbing was a new boiler and a megflow to cope with the increased water pressure in our loft conversion.

The builder told me about 3 months ago to estimate another £8000 worth of work as we need to also replace all the piping in the house and to replace the radiators, just bog standard ones with thermostatic valves, no underfloor heating. I've been asking him for weeks and weeks for the final plumbing quote and he kept reiterating that it would be another £8000 or so. Today he has sent me the quote and it's £12350 plus vat bringing the total cost of re-plumbing a 5 bed 2 bathroom house to £18.5k plus VAT. Our build has already gone massively over budget due to unforseen costs and at no point did he give me any indication that the increased costs for the plumbing would be so high. This does not include any installation costs for the bathrooms nor for the sanitary ware.

I have told him that it sounds extremely high and have asked him to come back to me with a full breakdown of how the costs are made up to the penny before I can sign it off.

I know him well and he has completed some very big projects for us in the past but I'm not feeling happy about this at all and am starting to feel that he underestimated us on the original quote knowing that we would go with him as we knew him.

This is all he has given for the quote and I feel like I need more detail

To replace all old pipework with upgraded version
New water mains
All new radiators P+ with thermostatic valves
New boiler & cylinder in loft

I guess my question is - does over £20k sound like a lot for a new plumbing system including boiler, megaflo and radiators?

I can't say whether it's too high, but I would get more quotes. When we did our ensuite & family bathroom there was £7000 difference in quotes!!!

It's quite hard as the builders are there 6 days a week and are taking on the whole project, it would be close to impossible not to use them although I am seriously considering if I can get someone to come in on sunday to quote when they're not there and use that as leverage.

I would get another person in to quote. FWIW I think we paid about £1.5-£2k for new boiler , remove old tanks, put in new shower, upgrade some pipes but not complete house). We just used the old rads and got plumber to fit thermostatic valves on them. We already have a loft though but we will redo the plumbing/install a shower another time.

Get another quote - it's up to you who works in your house

Thank you. I've had another heated discussion with the builder today who accused me of not trusting him. I pointed out that when he comes back to me with a figure so wildly different from what we have been working on it's not unreasonable for me to want to know exactly how it's broken down. I'm absolutely certain that he has accidently charged me for thw boiler and megaflow twice which is why I've asked for the figures. I've told him that I want exactly the same detailed breakdown for the electrics too. He's getting it all done but kept stressing that it's a big job so will be expensive. I pointed out that I'm not trying to prevent the work being done but with such huge figures I need to know exactly how they've come to them. That's not unreasonable is it?

I wouldn't bother with this builder anymore.

Anyone making this much fuss about providing a bit of detail in a quote is going to be a nightmare to work with.

He's actually not a nightmare at all generally, he's a very good builder and he has an excellent team who we have worked with in the past and I know that he will do a great job. I think that is part
Of the problem. He knows us well and he knows we trust him which is why I think that he can't fathom why I'm challenging him on this. I'm challenging him because I'm sure he has made a mistake somewhere but I don't think he's trying to rip us off.

We're also half way through the build and it has gone very well so far so I'm definitely not going to change builders

Just ask him then, "Are you sure you haven't accidentally charged me twice for the boiler & megaflow?"

That gives him a get-out if he still wants your business, but has been overcharging you.

I have and the figures he has given me are so confusing that we need to go back to the start, I don't think that he actually knows what each part refers to and has got himself into a muddle and on the phone this morning he was throwing different figures at me. I'll feel much happier when I can see it written down

That's the problem - many builders are useless at the paperwork side of things. Why don't you quietly get a quote from a plumber and see what they come with.

It depends on the length/diameter of pipe, overall size of the job and how many heating engineers the job requires. Throw in overtime if their running behind schedule (which company pays, not you) a couple of wrongly cut pipes and a gas safe engineer to switch on the gas and give appropriate certificates then it could amount to near that.

That being said, I would say it's around £10k plus vat.

I would get another 2 quotes.

Sorry I've just read that doesn't cover the installation of the bathroom/s. that quote should cover that with tiling being separate.

Thanks, I've decided not to dwell on it for the time being. He has asked the plumber, who is also a gas safe engineer to work with his quantity surveyor to get me the figures. I'll see what they come back with. If the figure is correct that's fine and if not then we will know for sure