£70K to rewire, £110K to replumb

[MamaPumpkin21]

We are purchasing an old home in Dumfries + Galloway that is currently occupied but does need upgrading.

It's a large property (around 6,000 square feet) and purchased for £400k. According to the home report, the property will be worth £200K more than we paid for it when renovations are complete (£600K).

There are 5 bedrooms, 4 reception rooms, 1 bathroom, 1 cloakroom. Property isn't listed.

We requested quotes from local tradesmen. Today we got some quotes back:

To replumb the property + install central heating: £110,000 including VAT (of which £70,000 is labour)
To rewire the property: £70,000 including VAT (of which £44,000 is labour)
Estimated time to complete work: 6 weeks

We haven't received the roofing and decorating quotes yet, but we are seriously considering dropping out of if the quotes are considered reasonable (we're floored!). The area is v. rural and the tradesmen are local to the property.

The vendors are currently living in the property (it's not a total wreck), and though there are some issues (roof could do with replacing, damp etc), we cannot understand the rates. At all.

Are we missing something? The tradesmen all know each other (we found a joiner via Google and he recommended his friends). They joked about "Southerners with deep pockets" (certainly not us!).

Any insight? Prior to making an offer we googled average prices and multiplied several-fold to take into account the square footage. Didn't expect this.
TIA

I wouldn't be going ahead, that's for sure.

I'd walk away too sorry.

Does it actually need a complete replumb and rewire? Both are pretty big jobs but that does sound like a lot. For labour £300 a day should be the very top end - how many people are they proposing to use for 6 weeks?

I think trades are in pretty high demand at the moment, if they are giving very high quotes it’s usually an indication that they don’t really want the job. How many quotes did you get?

Those quotes are taking the piss. Replumbing to include central heating is about four to six grand including labour, tops. Rewiring, ditto.

You could knock it down and pretty much do a new build (re claim VAT) for that.

If tradesmen don’t really want the job they overprice it massively.

The electricians are a team of two.
I believe the plumbers are a team of 3 with apprentices.

The home report mentioned that the electrics and plumbing are dated and could benefit from upgrading. We'd budgeted around £40k for them combined, as still need to do roof, remedy damp, windows, decorating etc

We will try hitting google again tomorrow and getting more quotes. Sadly, it's a small community and everyone seems to know everyone – so I'm not sure if they'll differ. If we drop out this will be our second failed sale (first collapsed due to vendor sadly dying just before completion). Thanks for your replies. I appreciate the perspective of those not emotionally involved.

Yes, I did wonder if they are deliberately pricing themselves out of the job because they are not interested.

Those quotes are ridiculous. At £300 per day that's - what? - 240 days? Nonsense.

I would say that due to the way lockdown has worked in Scotland it's almost impossible to get trades at the moment and I think they're pricing to not get the job, or to rip off the incomers.

I'd actually call the sellers (I know you're normally not supposed to do that) and say, look, the quotes we're getting for the work we want to do are ridiculous, can you advise/recommend, otherwise we're going to have to pull out.

But if you can't get better prices you absolutely should pull out. There are a lot of big properties with grounds in that part of the world and you mustn't fall into the trap of thinking you'll get that sort of money back.

Don't use local tradesmen if they're quoting that. Either they don't want the job or they think you are rich and stupid. Those quotes are so ridiculous.

They either don’t want the job or are taking the piss.
I’m in Yorkshire and have done a few houses. For one that size upto 15k for the rewire depending on what lights etc you choose, thickness of walls, beams etc to get wires round without them being on show. Saying that a 2 bed was my last property was £4K.
Plumbing each bathroom costs £1k in parts and £1k in labour, a new boiler fitted can be £4-6k for a big house. So for all new pipe work, rads etc you could spend £20k on the plumbing.
I used to live in Dumfries and Galloway and labour costs were always cheaper than back home in Yorkshire.

Those prices are a joke. Woukd you consider contacting an out of area firm for a quote, with you paying transport and accommodation from e.g. Glasgow, Ayr or Edinburgh.

Or try putting into mybuilder or similar for quotes.

Are you sure they haven't put an extra zero on my mistake?
We are in London and paying a tenth of that for a large house.

Did they give you a complete breakdown? I replumbed and rewired my house and it was closer to £30k, but it wasn't nearly as big a house, but still (i was adding a floor so it was all new).
I was once quoted £10k to replace a shower, including retiling, new shower tray and lighting (but not for the actual materials). I just told the guy it was completely ridiculous. I've had whole new bathrooms put in (where there was no bathroom) for less.

It's heartening to hear that we are not being unreasonable and the prices are loopy. We'd budgeted £40k (max £50k) for rewiring and replumbing inclusive of VAT.

We're going to try and contact tradespeople further afield and offer to pay their travel and accommodation.

The cost for materials were broken down, but the individual rooms and labour. We thought we'd deliberately kept things "simple" - ie replacing like with like, not creating anything that was not already there.

Oh my god, those quotes are nuts. I recently got prices on a big seven bed that needed total rewire and replumb including heating...15k and 25-30k. They are taking this piss out of you, I think - sorry.

I was going to say it looks like they've put on an extra zero too! Maybe just ask. If not then they clearly don't want job.

6 weeks labour costing £44k would mean they need around 7-8 labourers working on it in those 6 weeks to not be charging a normal rate

My parents house of similar square footage and size was completely rewired and replumbed during an extension a few years ago and including the huge unusual extension came in at £300k

Eight years ago I had a four bed, unlisted, detached Georgian house rewired, re-plumbed and gas mains central heating installed from scratch for less than £10k.

They're taking the piss. Don't loose a lovely property over a trades quote!

Those prices are absolutely insane!! Get lots of different quotes and compare.

PMing you OP so as not to totally out myself!

The local trades have got together and are hugely over-quoting so the house won't sell and then they can swoop in, buy it for a bargain price, do it up and sell for a mahoosive profit.

If there are hotels nearby I’d be getting quotes from other companies, even if they factor in a hotel I’m sure it would be cheaper!

*hotel stay

Ask on local Facebook pages for recommendations. We have found all recent tradesmen this way, and they have all done a decent job without ripping us off.

I had a Victorian, four bed 2500 sq ft house in Hampshire rewired in 2015 and it cost £6,000. So multiply that up and an equivalent price would be about £15k.

Prices may have risen in 6 years but not by 400%. Unless you've specified gold plated light switches and your own generator in the grounds.