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

How big in sq ft and how many rooms?

Hillarys blinds are extortionate. For example, we had a quote from them for a smallish made to measure wooden Venetian blind fitted. Their quote was four times more than the cheaper one. We went with the cheaper one and are very pleased with it.
In terms of carpets, we've just had stairs, landing and two smallish bedrooms fitted by John Lewis. They removed all old carpets and took them away, plus moved all the furniture out and back. In total we paid £1600 for the whole job.
Decorating the same rooms has cost us £850 in total, including paint and making good.
You're being ripped off.

If you're essentially refurbishing a whole house it might be cheaper to employ a builder/architect/interior designer who will know tradesmen and what an appropriate price would be. Have a look on Houzz to find someone local.

With carpet we got a quote from John Lewis for their "own brand" (actually rebadged) and asked a local store to quote for the same carpet under its makers' name, local guy was cheaper. JL were v expensive for underlay I found.

Love the idea of being buried in my curtains, they are nicer than any of my clothes.

Blatantly placemarking as I am currently looking at my tatty kitchen/diner and planning to paint and tile it myself. I'm useless at both. I paid a brilliant guy £1000 to paint the outside of my house and front door (terrace so only one wall) but that included a late decision to add in painting the shed, and a lot of making good, with a huge chunk of one window lintel remade.

@puguin86 and @NurseryFightClub I have pm'd you.