Are we being ripped off?

[Christening]

We currently have a builder and his team working on our new 4 bed, 2 floor house while we are in rental. The house has been gutted, then rewired by a separate electrician firm.

The builder is doing the following:

1. Flashings and mortar on the extension roof
2. Making good after electrical re-wiring (all rooms)
3. Plastering, painting and laying flooring on ground and first floor
4. Place simple panel to extension attic hatch
5. Removing old kitchen + removing ground-floor kitchen wall, installing a steel beam
6. Garage - repair lintel
7. Re-fitting ground-floor shower (install shower cubicle, re-tile rest of bathroom)
8. Alter garden wall for driveway, allowing access from existing dropped curb.
9. Re doing skirting-boards and architraves.

10. Re plumbing and fitting new radiators.

None of these jobs include second materials, e.g. radiators, flooring, showers, tiles

He wants £52k for this work. My uncle thinks this work amounts to 10k. He has started already and we have paid him £20k. Are we being ripped off or is this a fair price? Please help. I tried to get other quotes for months and only 2 of 5 builders came and this builder was the only one to bother to quote.

@Therealrealitystar

12k paint job above - now that’s excessive. Materials for that cost 1k max.

It's the one part of the quotation that makes me uneasy, which is probably why it's stuck in my head. The way things are going with the rise of costs of timber and steels though it's likely we'll end up doing the painting ourselves.

I've just worked out that it averages £27 a square metre, but (now that I've sat and added up all the wall surface areas...) I realise that's not probably not the best way to look at it, as the 12k includes all of the skirting, architrave and paint as well as the labour. All surfaces need paint and painting, but not every square metre will need timber... Have to admit though I'm not up for working out how many metres of timber we need right now!

When looking at decorating don't forget to factor in whether they are decorating a prepped surface - or whether their quote will include prep. Good decorating will include demarcation lines - so cleaning, sanding of wood for the paint to key, masking (which when properly done is quite tricky and time consuming) - as well as caulking and filling gaps and lines, sanding uneven surfaces. If they are painting onto bare plaster then I would expect it to include mist coats before the paint 'proper' goes on.

Yes that does sound very expensive for those jobs if it doesn't include much materials

It does sound a little high but not hugely. Getting a builder is half the battle these days. Does it include building control and beam calculations etc.

That sounds like a bloody good deal!! We've literally just had some roof work finished. 3 days total. Needed approx 1 metre all around the edges of the house (4 bed) of membrane replaced and cemented back into place where the old stuff had all fallen inwards so you could see the roof tiles in the loft. There was a bit more to it than that obviously ie. wooden battens and other parts needed to be replaced too. It will cost in the region of £5k, which includes the scaffolding, materials, man time, disposal of the old stuff etc. Getting proper workman in who are qualified, experienced and insured properly ain't cheap! £10k? He's having a laugh!! 🤣🤣

dont see a price for the skips you are going to need ?
why not take out the old kitchen yourself and sell/ dispose of it,
did you only get the one quote ???

@Sunshineandchocolate

Seems good to me! We're having work done at the moment... I can't remember much of the individual figures but labour is expensive and materials have rocketed over the past year or so. For five rooms, the builder we choice has quoted decorating at £12k (painting and skirting boards, not plastering, that's a separate line item but I can't remember how much it is off the top of my head). Labour for laying wood floor and tiles is £66 per sq.m.

I've just had a quote to decorate my house (south east, not London) - it's for three rooms each roughly 5m x 3m, plus stairs and landings over four floors (lots of balustrading!). Quote has come in at £5K and is for all prep, walls, skirting, doors and ceilings and includes materials. It's been broken down into materials and labour hours, and although I thought it sounded a lot at first, I think, having looked at it properly, it's pretty reasonable. I don't know how this compares with your quote...?