£16,500 to redecorate - am I being ripped off? How much were you charged?

[themummyway]

Being quoted the following:

£2.5k for stripping old wallpaper + carpets and clear.
£7k for "complete decorating" (assuming this is painting 3 bedroom, living room, hallway + a installing flooring in said bedrooms)
£7k to plaster all rooms

Based in London. Average 3bed 1930s house. Is this reasonable? Anyone done similar? How much were you charged?

@teabaseddiet Good to hear! I hope it's turned out well for you.

Not sure if it's helpful but a trusted quote for good quality full decorating/stripping/replastering a bit and making good skirtings and ceilings etc was 400 per room, this in the midlands. Not including carpets.

Couldn't afford it at the time so got the b&q magnolia and did the best I could myself. :)

New kitchen and bathroom at a different time, totally redone top to bottom new walls ceilings units tops etc, moving a wall to make space even c but I'll be honest with cheapest functional units was around 15k for both

Rewiring our three bedder a few years back defo under 2k.

It will depend on state of house in question of course. Glad you're getting some perspectives.

Where are you in london? ...it makes a big difference.
What is the flooring they are putting down? This vastly alters the amount if time and skilled people they might need.
That sounds a huge amount for both stripping and plastering.
Decorating itself is expensive. It cost me 17.5k just for the decorating not prep 10 years ago here but my house is huge, and I had the outside repainted 2 years ago, really well done, it took 2 people 3 weeks, you pay for that size of job. But your quote sounds very high. Where did you get the decorator from? Go in the dulux website and find a decoratorn thetes a section there. Get 3 or 4 and have them round. Does your house need replastering not just good prepping and lining before painting?

@GlamGiraffe

Where are you in london? ...it makes a big difference. What is the flooring they are putting down? This vastly alters the amount if time and skilled people they might need. That sounds a huge amount for both stripping and plastering. Decorating itself is expensive. It cost me 17.5k just for the decorating not prep 10 years ago here but my house is huge, and I had the outside repainted 2 years ago, really well done, it took 2 people 3 weeks, you pay for that size of job. But your quote sounds very high. Where did you get the decorator from? Go in the dulux website and find a decoratorn thetes a section there. Get 3 or 4 and have them round. Does your house need replastering not just good prepping and lining before painting?

Outskirts of London (zone 5/6). My house isn't huge - it's a bog standard 3 bed end of terrace, 1930s.

Example below: Not my house but I hope you can get a rough idea from this as it's similar size-wise bedrooms etc.
www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/54793560?search_identifier=330c6596ef0010a46de2c2fa28ab94de

I believe the flooring was due to be wooden flooring.

Walls may need replastering as they're pretty old and have slats(?) in them. This wasn't explained to me though

Decorater's quote was from a builder... I'm guessing he was going to bring someone in.

I think he was just going to get people on the cheap and pay them cash in hand. Clearly added a markup to account for this.

So the guy reckons he will rewire the house, put a new meter box in, as well as a new boiler and do plumbing as well as decorating, fitting a new kitchen, hanging doors, woodwork, laying floors, and fixing roofs?

Is he actually qualified to do all of these things with the correct certificates and insurance? Or is he planning to get other people in... If he is planning to get others in, it will drive the costs up.

Get lots of quotes, and rec's, Have you got a local fb group you could post in or even your own facebook.

Theres checkatrader.com which could come in handy....

Really don't think you should use him. I know you think the male relative can 'keep him in hand', but that's not a good working relationship to have, that's an absolutely shitter of an attitude to have towards women, and this builder will always be looking for a way to recoup funds or cut costs.

I have a builder relative, and while he absolutely WOULD NOT take advantage like that, if someone tried to 'take him to task', that would completely sour the relationship. Think about it- he's buying the materials, at

Didn't mean to post, baby found the dog bowl! He's the one buying materials, he goes to Howdens, where he normally gets builders discount- nah, don't bother mate. His sparky goes round to size up the job, believe me, they ask each other about the client and pricing. The goodwill is gone between you it won't end up well and I PROMISE you will be paying more than 52k.

Definitely make sure you get everything in writing too, ESPECIALLY the finish and snagging, unless you want to be left after payment with small jobs that never get fixed.

For reference, we paid a day rate per worker of £170. We paid the builder and he sent the workers around as we needed them. This is in London too, and we bought materials (or they did and charged us).

Apparently the boiler replacement price wasn't too far off because I have a back boiler which would need to be taken out?

We had a back boiler replaced and location moved at our BTL last year. Replacement boiler was a Worcester Bosch (ie not bottom end of the market). Cost us under £3,000, including VAT.

The one on our house I quoted earlier included moving the boiler and gas supply from the kitchen and putting in a pressurised HW tank, as well as replacing all the heating system in a 5 bed house, and that was STILL over a grand cheaper than the quote you were given - and that included VAT too!

The one on our house I quoted earlier included moving the boiler and gas supply from the kitchen and putting in a pressurised HW tank, as well as replacing all the heating system in a 5 bed house, and that was STILL over a grand cheaper than the quote you were given - and that included VAT too!

As OP has said, it was clear he was going to bring in his own plumber, but then charge a £1.5-2k mark up (for himself, just for organising) which is pretty bad. I imagine they wouldn't have even put in a top of the range boiler for that price.

As I said at the beginning of the thread if you don't want to pay a markup for someone else organising the jobs and coordinating the trades do it yourself but do not expect it for free. His time, knowledge, contacts and experience are valuable assets if you don't want them don't use him . All the posters replying my mates bother just put of college did it for £100 are spectacularly missing the point. I think it's a high quote but you are asking for a lot to be done and don't want to do any work.

@InfiniteSheldon

I'm sorry, but that's not an excuse to overcharge by that much. You think it costs him £2k to ring up a mate, explain the job to him and then coordinate him doing the work? The plumber would then source materials needed (as mine did) so what more will the builder be doing to justify that cost? I project managed my own, simply because I wanted full control of my project rather than leaving this to a single builder. I don't feel I can leave ownership to a single builder and allow them to PM; in my own personal experience (and those of posters in this thread) builders will look for short cuts out of convenience for themselves, rather than what's best for the client.

Your first question references gender do you mean sex?

@lauranimhathuna Done.

@InfiniteSheldon

Your first question references gender do you mean sex?

What's the difference?

Sex is real gender is a construct. I am female this has influenced my whole life, if my sex is relevant to your survey I am happy to answer. If an imaginary gender, that I can pick out of a range is relevant why? And I don't have one so would need that option in the answers please.

Wow, really does sound too expensive but I think you know that now!

We live in the NW so will have different prices to you, but we did renovate our flat in SE London recently. It’s a very large 3 bed flat, we had the whole thing painted and lots of maintance jobs done for £3k. We also had the whole thing recarpeted for about £2k.

My sister uses a brilliant guy for all her work, he wouldn’t travel to SE London but he might cover the NW. she is in west London and I think he said he was NW. he has decorated most of their house, built lots of bits etc. Let me know if you want his number.

@InfiniteSheldon There are a gazillion other threads where you can share your transphobic views. This isn't the one. Perhaps try growing up too. It helps.

Not transphobic at all

If they're plastering all of the rooms why are they striping the wallpaper?

If they're plastering all of the rooms why are they striping the wallpaper?

Presumably they'll strip the wall and then re-plaster depending on how bad the walls are. Though I'd question whether a re-plaster is 100% necessary. They may just need a good sanding.

This is why you should always get 3 quotes.

We've had a lot of stress with tradespeople in the past. We are now planning an extension and because it's such a big project we are doing it "properly" this time around, we have an architect and from the process so far we are beginning to realise the value of having a detailed brief and using a contract. We will probably do that in future even for smaller jobs.

I found these links helpful:

www.self-build.co.uk/get-realistic-quotes-builders/

www.self-build.co.uk/how-to-write-a-construction-contract/

@Smallgoon

If they're plastering all of the rooms why are they striping the wallpaper?

Presumably they'll strip the wall and then re-plaster depending on how bad the walls are. Though I'd question whether a re-plaster is 100% necessary. They may just need a good sanding.

Exactly this! But there were no tests to determine how bad the walls were. Male relative pulled him up on this.

The builder also told him that he essentially devised the figures with a mark-up to cover himself.

[quote AnotherEmma]This is why you should always get 3 quotes.

We've had a lot of stress with tradespeople in the past. We are now planning an extension and because it's such a big project we are doing it "properly" this time around, we have an architect and from the process so far we are beginning to realise the value of having a detailed brief and using a contract. We will probably do that in future even for smaller jobs.

I found these links helpful:

www.self-build.co.uk/get-realistic-quotes-builders/

www.self-build.co.uk/how-to-write-a-construction-contract/[/quote]
Thanks!

I just had an architectural designer round earlier and he was extremely thorough with measurements, explanations etc.

Really lovely chap. Will be interesting to see his design and build prices... hoping their not too dear. He has really good reviews online and seems to love his job