Is this a decent quote for my kitchen renovation?

[Splandy]

Just been sent a quote of just over £4100. This is removing current kitchen, removing ceiling, replacing two doors with frames and architraving, capping off and removing part of a gas pipe, new radiator in a new place with pipework moved slightly, putting some other water pipes in the wall, replaster whole room and ceilings, level floor and lay parquet style luxury vinyl tiles, fit new skirting, tile a hob backsplash and obviously fit the actual kitchen. This will include a small amount of extra work and materials as we are having a built in bench (made mostly from standard kitchen cupboards) and a digital piano hinged box/holder type thing built to fit - the quote doesn’t specifically mention that but we talked about it in detail so hopefully he has remembered, I will double check.

It doesn’t include any electrical work. An electrician will be coming over next week as he thinks we will need a new fuse box and rewire.

The room is about 18 square metres and we live in a ‘cheap’ area.

I had a quote of around £3300 a few weeks ago for everything including electrics, but the job hadn’t been properly looked at by a plumber or electrician. He seemed very inexperienced and I didn’t have confidence in him, so don’t intend to use him.

That seems OK in price to me but I live in London.

Can you ask for an estimate of how long it will take? Then you can work out can very rough daily rate, abs if there are two people factor that in too.

You could also go to a DIY store and work out a rough cost of materials to add in.

Get each job broken down in terms of price then get some comparisons. Is someone doing it all as plastering needs a plasterer and gas, corgi registered plumber etc.

Think that sounds pretty reasonable overall. All about the contractors though. Wouldn't hesitate to pay that to a top class builder/trades, but would be crying if someone bodged it for that price.

Seems about right. I was quoted £2500 by IKEA just to fit the units. Did it myself in the end. You are getting additional work done so yeah. Seems fair.

Actually priced individually it wouldn't be more than £2000 but that's you organising the trades to come and go and live in a shit tip longer -

If that include the cost of the cupboards and appliances it's a good quote - if not it's getting expensive

I was quoted 2k for a simple kitchen fit so I would say probably ok, but I am in a not-cheap area.

I'd love to hear more about the piano box, if you'd share.

He has estimated 2 weeks, excluding the electrical stuff beforehand and it is two people. I’m not sure two weeks is that likely in reality. The electrics will be done by an electrician and a gas person will be coming to deal with moving the gas pipe. He will do the plastering. He has recently done a lot of work on my brother and sister in laws house, including plastering. It all looked perfect to me so I’d feel ok about him doing that. It is not including the cost of appliances and cupboards. They are quite a bit more on top. Our house isn’t worth much, but we’re going to be here for a while and want it exactly as we want it but the cost is making me panic a bit. I have thought about sorting all the trades seperately myself but I just don’t know if I can cope with it. It’s already going to be bad enough with the kids.

Piano box is quite simple - I’ve had some cupboards made to a custom size which house speakers underneath, one on each side. There will then be some sort of board across the top, strong enough to take the weight, and then it will be enclosed and open with a hinge, like a real piano. Similar to this, but with cupboards underneath rather than free standing amberinteriordesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Amber-Interiors-Client-For-Realz-The-Nicest-People-On-The-Planet-65.png

The cost is actually making me feel sick, to be honest. Altogether the kitchen, excluding any trades, is costing just under £10,000 for everything. I keep telling myself that’s not a bad price for a kitchen our size with quartz worktops and painted wooden doors and all new appliances. I am naturally tight and spending makes me nervous.

I’m a bit torn because I don’t have any other personal recommendations. He didn’t fit the kitchen in my in laws house but he created a new downstairs toilet space including moving walls etc and basically gutted the whole of the downstairs. My sister in law was really happy with them both, said they were great to have around the house, nothing was ever too much for them and they were very reliable. The work I’ve seen was all done well, though I wasn’t inspecting it with future work in mind. I had a few issues with my bathroom guy two years ago and I just want somebody I can rely on. Not sure what to do! Asking for recommendations seems to result in people recommending their husbands or family members which isn’t the same as a happy customer.

Nothing to stop you getting a quote from someone else though. We have had good experience with people who were recommended by their family members. Maybe we just got lucky, but I think that if your relative recommends you, you want to do a decent job.

Thanks for explaining about the piano box. Wish we had space for a piano in our kitchen!!