£96k quote from builder

[hollowmind]

I recently got a quote from a highly recommended builder and I plan to get a few more quotes but just wanted to see whether people think the price it reasonable as I won't waste my time or other builder time if the quotes come in about the same.

I had budgeted £50k but thought it would be around £35k and we were going to move all the furniture into storage, rip out all the carpets and move out the house to allow the work to be done slightly quickly.

We had a previous quote of £15k for just the electric work.

The quote came in at £96k and was to cover the following:

Install 18 double socket plugs
Reinstate 2 double plugs which currently have blanking plates
Install spot lighting in 9 rooms. Roughly 50 in total.
Remove 11 pendant lights
Replace 1 ceiling fan with new one.
Install 3 outside plugs
Update junction box
Install 2 outside lights
Reskim 4 bedrooms, 1 living room, 2 office spaces and hallway including ceilings
Redecorate reskimmed rooms. White paint and white gloss for woodwork excluding doors.
Replace 13 radiators
Replace hot water heater
Replace skirting board and coving as recommend by builder for reskimmed rooms.
Install 3 air con units.

Are they supplying ALL of the materials and what sizes are the rooms

Bloody hell, that seems a lot!! But I've not had any work done for 5 years so maybe prices have shot up. I thi k I'd need a lie down after hearing that price!!

Yes I would expect about 35-40k for london for this work. So yes definitely the quote came in high in my opinion

Cowboy builder moment. Get a few quotes.

We have asked for a breakdown of what is being supplied but I am assume all materials included as that is what they have done for those who they have done work for.

We have 5 rooms that are 3x4m , 1 3x3, 1 7x3, 2 hallway are roughly 3x1.5 and 1 toilet and 1 utility room that would be ceiling only after lighting installed both about 2x1.5

We are in the east and we thought we might get London type quotes as we are getting higher quote after moving from a 2 bed terrace to a 4 bed detached even if the work doesn't involve any more work e.g replace a blown window pane or toilet repair.

That's a total rip off, I thought you might be having an extension with expensive glass and bi folds no way. Tell them to jog on

If a builder is booked solid/don't want the job for wherever reason, they often submit a sky-high quote.

Get more quotes.

When you say air con, what kind? I know a neighbour recently had 3 added to bedrooms and it was a huge cost as ductwork through Attic and a heat pump etc

Our water heater was around £7k, three years ago ( that’s like a 500l tank)

Definitely taking the piss

Also 13 new radiators is a huge cost? Depending on size but our last couple were nearly £1000 each for relatively normal sizes. We have left our large old ones from the 60s as they would cost too much

That sounds like a very large plumbing job. Are they replacing all the pipe work?

It’s very high.
You would cut that down to 1/3 by getting in the individual trades and not paying for a contractor.
The work isn’t that complicated or separate, start with an electrician to do all the electrics, have the heating engineer run along side, then have it plastered and a few weeks later the skirting can go on and it can all be painted

As someone has said, he doesn’t want the job. It’s the only reason a builder would quote so ridiculously high. What you have listed is about £40k.

Bad idea to assume anything. Very bad.

Thats is a bonkers quote.

It's often said that if they don't want the job they come in with a mad price like that.

Split level air con and 250-300 litre unvented cylinder.

So about £3k on the air con and maybe £500-700 for the water heater.

Wow, you could buy an entire house on my street for that! Definitely over quoted even for a more expensive area.

Definitely shop around. Had a relative that was a builder, and he’d quote insane money if:

• he thought the client might be a nightmare
• the job was not convenient to travel to
• the location meant parking was ages away
• he generally didn’t want the job

He’d price it so high that most people wouldn’t pay it (of course). But occasionally some mug would say - yep, sounds great & he’d do it cos he’d priced in the grief.

Ridiculous.

No since they are taking the radiators off the walls to decorate we are changing our type 11 to type 21 so no new piping and same with the water heater we been told no new piping needed.

We did similar work for 4 bed detached london, it would be 35k, so I'd add 30%, 45k as I hired each trade individually and project managed. All materials inclusive.

I've heard this often but can never understand it! Why not just say, sorry I'm fully booked, rather than make yourself look like a pisstaker and risk people bad mouthing you for quoting ridiculously high 🤷‍♀️

One for the first things I did was go one right move and show my partner the different places we could buy for around that price. I could have a nice little 1 bed flat for a extra 8k which considering one of the reasons for the work is to turn one of the bedrooms into my own space I could just go to my own place. Not sure what you would call it, married not a bachelorette pad.