Astonished by quotes

[MeMeMeow85]

I’ve been gathering quotes for work on our new house. Really basic stuff, nothing fancy/elaborate and I’m really astonished by the quotes I’ve been sent!!

The decorating quote is £11.5k excluding paint!!! The curtain quote is £14.5k. Carpets for just stairs/landing/bedrooms are £6.5k (and that’s not even a wool carpet).

Our new house is in Surrey (we moved to UK recently). Are these quotes normal??! I haven’t chosen luxury suppliers/designers. Just smaller companies and people recommended and well regarded on local networks.

Do contractors look at a house and charge more if it is bigger/nicer area? Is it subjective based on what they think you can afford?

I don’t mean charge more because you need more materials (like more carpet/material), I mean are their actual labour charges higher.

2 builders quoted to replace a bathroom. The labour costs and plumber supplies (not the sanitary ware or tiles which I’ve have to buy separately) are between £5-7.5k!! Just for the work in a medium size shower room (estimated 10-14 days work).

Starting to think that my DC should skip uni and learn a trade instead!

Any thoughts please?

P.s. this isn’t intended as a “stealth boast” or whatever the mumsnet term is. Interested in how to get reasonable quotes. If labour is really so expensive here, fine, but I don’t want to be taken for a ride, because I’m not familiar with what the normal rates are. Thanks

Decorating is expensive if it's done well. We're in the middle of redoing some badly done paint work, and I wish I'd paid more for it to be done right first time.

The carpets and curtains do sound expensive, but it depends on what your having done. I can recommend Tapi Carpets and Hillaries Blinds for good quality, fairly priced standards.

Some of the reviews I've seen of Hilary's blinds, I'd steer well clear.

There's a lot of labour in decorating well, especially if restorative work is needed eg stripping or filling. I'm always wary of guys who do a whole room in a day or two for a few hundred quid.

Painting is around 500 a room I find including material for an average room of say 3m x 4m... so your house must be huge or it's too expensive. Do you have dado or picture rails

Hi Op. we be just finished renovating a 4 bed house in the North West, cost £22kfor decorating, bathroom , new boiler l, new windows and carpets.

Carpets for the whole house were £3k fitted with underlay from carpet right. Decorating quote was £2.5k but we got that down to £1k by doing nearly all base coats / woodwork ourselves.

Bathrooms I bought all the suites from Victorian plumbing online then got a guy to fit for £1.5 k. Originally had quoted around the £7k mark for bathrooms. So much cheaper to buy direct them pay for fitting. !

Fucking hell. How big is your house?

I think a big part of it is because you have asked for quotes for a whole house and to do a whole house at once you have to have money.

Surrey/ London prices are higher and if youve gone to a local interior shop for carpets and curtains that again will be more expensive. Im in SE and can get most work done for £200 per person per day labour.
Made to measure Curtains, I suggest a quote from John Lewis.

Wow. I just moved into a new house. I covered fifteen windows, some with lined curtains, some with Roman blinds, some with roller blinds. New poles were needed as none were fitted. This includes curtains for a set of patio doors. I got them all for under £1000 - Dunelm is your friend here.

Depends how big your house is 11.5k for decorating could be cheap. Shower room on the face of it is expensive , 14 days for 2 builders so 28 days labour ? They are definitely trying it on.

Get an indepenant carpet fitter. Get carpet on line. You save loads.

Get a few quotes from big companies like Laura Ashley or John Lewis to compare

I live in a "naice" area, and one decorator confessed he charges 50% more for the posher post codes like ours, for the same work. So yes, they may well charge youmore. but a company like JL would charge everyone the same (high) price

@puguin86 We're in the NW as well and we'll be looking to renovate soon. Looks like you got really good rates with your renovation. Are you able to share more details of the work you had done and tradesmen details please ? Happy to PM. Thanks

If you are looking for bespoke curtains I can recommend Barbara Smith in Sawbridgeworth. I love my curtains, and even the window fitters commented on how good they were. She’s not cheap, but for handmade curtains with all the hours and effort put in I respect the craft.

en-gb.facebook.com/barbarasmithcbu/

Yes, definitely tell your DC to skip University and get a trade.
There is a LOT of money to be made in being a skilled trades person
The quotes sound very over the top, maybe time to shop around

Definitely shop around and yes a lot of people do give higher quotes for nice/big houses in nice areas.

We had two bathrooms replaced last year. All our quotes were for around £3.5k per bathroom for installation. I bought all the sanitary ware myself from various places online. One guy’s quote was weirdly low so I was double checking everything he had said would be included when he suddenly piped up that he had charged me the wrong rate - he had charged me the rate for a nearby area that’s not as nice rather than the rate he charges for my area! Couldn’t believe he admitted it to my face and the rate was double!!

Carpets I agree but online and get a fitter.

I personally think Hilary’s are expensive for curtains and blinds. Again shop around, maybe head to towns a bit further away and try independe places there. It is nice to use local, independent companies but they can be more expensive.

Get several quotes for painters too, again in my expensive they can be vastly different and most expensive also isn’t always best.

Have a look at Blinds 2 Go for cheap, great quality blinds and curtains.

I would go to John Lewis to compare, certainly for carpets and curtains. They have decent carpets at good rates because they bulk buy. They will beat local suppliers quite often. Choose a plain carpet.

Curtains - well it depends on the size of the windows, the cost per m of the fabrics and the number of windows. Are you £30 per m or £130 per m. I spent around £4500 including poles for one room. However the fabric was very expensive and the windows are huge. Roller blinds cost way less than curtains for small windows, and Roman blinds use less fabric. Ring the changes to reduce the outlay. Even bespoke Roman blinds might be £1000 a window fully fitted. I have 18 windows with curtains or blinds, not counting any bathrooms and the kitchen, laundry or cloakroom. It adds up!

I live in a leafy area but to the NW of London. My built in wardrobe maker/fitter definitely tried it on. Charged my friend for identical about 33% less. I recommended him to her! I never used him again.

A large room will be about £1000 labour to decorate if it’s a bit tricky. So removal of light fittings, switches, fiddly numerous windows to paint and removal of window catches and door handles all costs money. As does decent prep. So how many rooms and does it include stairs and landing? Always costs more money as it’s awkward.

However get more quotes.

I agree with PP, if you can find out the hourly rate you can sonetimes get a better comparison of quotes. We are Cambridgeshire and builders are £175-200 a day (no materials), plumbers £250, decorators £175-200 (not including paint), electricians £200 + materials. Unfortunately the expertise level of each can vary for each trade but not be reflected in the price. And larger companies will have VAT on top.

A large room will be about £1000 labour to decorate if it’s a bit tricky. So removal of light fittings, switches, fiddly numerous windows to paint and removal of window catches and door handles all costs money. As does decent prep.

Wow! The room. Must be the size of my whole house then, I'm guessing!

Decorating quote of 11.5k exc paint could be expensive or cheap, we don’t know what they’re doing. Do they have to strip and make good old walls? Are they painting fresh plaster? Are they taking off wallpaper and then replastering?

I recently had my whole 4-bed house painted in 1 week for about £1,500 (inc paint) in London, but that’s because he was working on fresh plaster in every room, no furniture, and correx laid on all floors so didn’t need to bother with drip sheets.

It depends what they’re doing.

I'm in Essex and we've just been quoted 5k to fit the bathroom (we have bought the sanitary ware separately) it's a tiny bathroom too!

£5-12k for a bathroom sounds about right. I've been charged £1000 a room for decorating as well

Just been quoted £35k to fix the roof. Fix. Not Replace.

I live in the Midlands.

Just curious as to why so few people seem to do their own decorating etc these days?

(I personally don't find it difficult and there's always videos on You Tube so maybe you should encourage your son nto a trade, certainly never will be poor and out of work!)

I do most of my own decorating. I got a quote for the hallway because I couldn't see myself coping with doing the ceiling and high part of the wall above the stairs. It was £300, I never got it done as I've never had the £300. I'm in London. Its a normal/small hall

We’ve been quoted approx £4000 to decorate a 4 bed house from top to bottom including all materials and a bit of plastering and I was a bit but maybe it’s not such a bad deal after all. We want it done by someone else as we have done it ourselves in the past several times and done it ok but without the preparation perhaps that a good professional would do. Just want it to look immaculate like a fresh start.