Kitchen quote - labour costs

[MG1412]

I've had a quote - valid for one week only - it's not itemised and I will ask for one, but was wondering about labour costs. I've worked out roughly that £1000 of the quote must be labour but that seems a bit high to me. The work is replacing one of the kitchen units, sink, tap, worktop, and installing an outside garden tap. Is that reasonable for two days' work? I live in the Midlands btw.

How is that going to take 2 whole days?

I had a whole kitchen fitted in three days. granted the fitter did my last one so the electrics and pipe work were mostly in the right place but £500 a day x 2 when it could be done by my fitter realistically in half a day is taking the piss.

I was wondering the same thing. I had an entire kitchen fitted in 4 days, including moving the location of the sink. Maybe I was just lucky.

I’d be highly suspicious of a “one week only” quote as this seems designed to pressure you into accepting — as well as not giving you much time to compare against others — and for that reason I would probably not proceed.

Yes you were. Most companies allow a week. My DD had a small kitchen installed by John Lewis and they allowed a week. Maybe it’s to cover any unforeseen issues. Which there were.

£1000 sounds ok to me. That’s quite a lot of work and could easily go wrong. Are you replacing worktop over existing units? If so, that’s not always easy. It’s also a piecemeal job. It’s presumably fitting new units into an existing kitchen and knocking a hole in the wall for the outside tap. So more work than you think.

Nobody can say without looking at kitchen. If it’s a straight swop for assembled unit then 2/3 hour, more if they have to put it together, sink and tap 3 hours, worktop can be anything, depending on mitring or cuts needed, outside tap probably 2 hours. It’s probably a 2 person job. My DH is a couple of years retired plumber, his daily rate was £400 and co worker £250.

I suggest you get a couple more quotes, and ask for them to be itemised. That may or may not be reasonable. Some people do seem to take the piss. We were quoted over £300 for a like-for-like tap replacement, not including the tap, which we’d already bought.

Get 3 quotes and you'll see where the average is, plus you'll feel more confident to ask about details with each one when they've all been over their schpeel. I'd say for labour that sounds about right for SE but no idea for midlands, sorry.

Sounds ok to me. Consider this. It’s not just a case of running a pipe for instance. You no doubt don’t want to see it so does the floor need to come up? How will they get it outside neatly? Kitchen cabinets can be fiddly and then if you have to mitre in the worktops etc. I’ve just done a partial refit of our kitchen without the outside pipe, but did replumb a radiator. Took three days and although I’m not a pro, it’s not my first time doing this stuff.

Working a few hours for you is a day even if they work for say five hours. They can't do part day then run to another job fur just an hour.
If it's just one unit they are changing? And replacing the worktop - is that a two man job? Will be if stone/composite. Running a tap outside - it will require breaking through and making good (does it? Check)!
Ask for a breakdown if you want, but I don't see that as hugely unreasonable. Depends on their reputation too - I'd rather pay the guys I know top dollar as they care about their work, are very skilled, always turn up on time and leave the site spotless.

You can't really back calculate a daily rate in that way as it covers loads more than just presence on site.
You can probably ask for a daily rate which will be cheaper but it's not in your interests as you would have to pay for any callbacks, time wasted to due to faulty materials or insufficient, etc etc. The original quote would include sufficient markup to handle any kind of extended issues on their side and return visit to get the kitchen finished properly.