£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

My house is 1500 space wise and cost 5k to rewire. I live in expensive area in south England but not London or the Home Counties.

Surely a rewire for you should be about 20k or a bit more if there’s outbuildings or tons of sockets.

My rewire was a couple of years ago

Replumbing to include central heating is about four to six grand including labour, tops. Rewiring, ditto.

That’s certainly the case on an average 1200sqft 3 bed semi, not one a house of 6000sqft! Having said that the quotes do seem rather high.

Bloody hell, I didn't pay anything like that much for those jobs in my last house and I lived in the southeast at the time.
I'd get a lot more quotes if I were you.

Op go on the all local Facebook pages for the area and ask for recommendations for roofing and plumbing. Don't give other details. It’s likely the same names will be put forward. Then get three separate quotes.

I’d expect 20k plumbing and 20k wiring

What a pile of crap.

If these are locals, I'd interpret this as 'strangers not welcome'.

I'd avoid for that alone.

Also look for other new trades men through Facebook recommendation. There will be honest upright workers about.

Also explain the issue to the estate agents as they are likely to know trustworthy trades people

Will you be living there at the time? If not you may well get someone from further afield who works camp out, particularly thinking of Eastern European types who may not have family in the UK anyway, so no great need to her home each night. I have a builder in London at the moment and he does a lot of work on welsh churches, says he won’t go on the road until the pubs reopen, so that’s something to factor in too.

Shop around and get a few quotes.

A long time ago admittedly, but when we had quotes for a loft conversion they ranged from £20k to £47k for the same job.

Also ask for references or where you can see their work.

That is an insane amount for rewiring. I live in a pretty big 6 bed Victorian house that needed complete rewiring when we moved in and it came to less than £7k

Please make your decisions soon though if you are considering pulling out of the sale.

I assume the vendors have plans, and perhaps a house they are buying that they may lose If you walk away.

It’s an incredibly stressful process.

If you know local people in your current area why not obtain quotes from them? That would give you a rough idea. It maybe cheaper to ask them to do it and pay for accommodation for them! Ie take a holiday let for two weeks or something. Certainly the prices quotes are a joke and I would be pulling out, and telling the vendors why!

I live in rural D&G in an old house that needs frequent visits from tradesmen for repairs. We have always found labour prices to be very reasonable and I sometimes even offer more for a job than is asked. These tradesmen you've contacted are taking the piss, but there nearly are always others around within travelling distance (people here are used to travelling long distances to work). I second the idea of asking for recommendations on the local FB page. You should always get at least two quotes for any large project - that's standard practice.

Ensure your solicitor doesn't/hasn't complete missives too, as otherwise its yours already...

Parts of Fife have areas where it's possible the ceiling price for the area is lower than house + repairs.

I paid £12k 5 years ago for a rewire 5 bed 3 reception rooms, 4200sqfeet, that price seems crazy!

Ps, pretty sure my dad would be out of retirement if he thought prices in Scotland are that high. (His certificates have lapsed and mum wouldn't allow him!)

I’m certainly no expert but that sounds crazy money to me. I would be thinking they’re all trying to squeeze as much money out of you as possible,as they all know each other and the comment about deep pockets.
I’d look further afield for quotes, you could even offer travel money as extra if it comes in considerably cheaper.

My OH is electrician and son is a plumber.

They are overpricing as they don’t want the job.

Big old houses like this are more hassle than what they are worth for the tradesmen, having to raggle lath and plaster is time consuming and nightmare. It will just be one issue after another for them!

You need to have a contingency fund for the extras that crop up. So for example if your having a damp course put in, an unexpected cost might be rotten joists that will only be discovered once the damp proofing guys start.

The profit margin you were quoted is probably correct if it was someone who had a trade behind them buying the property, doing the work
Not for someone like yourself paying trades people to do the work.

If it’s going to be your forever home, go for it, but it this sounds like a never ending money pit and you won’t make a fast buck!

Can you ask the owners to get some quotes? They would know if the quotes were out of line or might know good tradesmen friends have used.

I had a total replumb, and rewire, all new pipes, cables, floorboards up, new boiler, new gas meter, all new lights &fittings.

It was done at cost by a friend of the family who owns a company specialising in this.

As I'm aware I paid basic wages but it was most definitely at cost as I saw all the trade invoices myself.

This was for four bedroom and two bathrooms with all the extra put in place at the time for a large extension in the future. So the boiler was spec for 6 bedroom, four bathroom, the extra radiators were purchased, the extra wiring coiled into the floorboards and fuse space left in the fuse board.

It came in at just under £20K four years ago. So this plus a bit should be their costs. As a rule of thumb you double it and add VAT.

I'm in highland Perthshire and local trades can take the piss somewhat. We have good guys that we work with now. Speak to the owners see who they can recommend. For bigger jobs I've had a team of joiner, electricians followed by plasterer come up from the central belt and work through for a couple of days.

Yep, you definitely need to get some other quotes!....that’s bonkers!

Take a holiday let nearby for 1 month and bring in outside labour to do it all in that time.

There's a little community magazine where we are and all the sole traders who've been doing it locally for donkeys years advertise. Might be something like that for you too.