Builders quotes

[babyno2isdue]

In the process of planning removal of load bearing wall between current kitchen and dining room to make one room, and a partial conversion of garage to house new downstairs shower room and office. Have had two builders round so far and one quote is coming back at 53k and one as 28k we’re waiting on another quote but I’m now completely stuck as to the difference in price, second quote doesn’t not include plans and structural engineer however surely that’s not going to make it up to the more expensive quote. Both have come recommended. Other than the obvious with a breakdown of quote from both parties is there anything else I should be asking with Eagan’s to the vast difference in price

On a much smaller scale, we got quotes for some work. One was almost twice the price of the other.

Is one including plumping, electrics and so on? is the fit eg shower/toilet etc included? tiles, floors, plaster, paint...? what are they buying, what are you buying? I trust they are both insured. You need a break down as you have already said.

The higher price included fitting of the shower room but not the actual suite, doesn’t include kitchen or fitting basically electrics plumbing and plastering ready for paint which is what we wanted we are happy to get stuck in so to speak but only from a finishing point of view. I guess when I have the break down of the cheaper option it may become more clear.

what is throwing me is if we had the 28k one first I would have automatically said the other was expensive but we had the more expensive one come through first which in turn made the cheaper one seems unrealistically cheap

Yes both insured and vat registered one is sort of a hire him and he does it all in house including plans (which he has already sent) building control structural engineer ect the other is selling it on everything other than we need to proved plans to him and he will submit so not dissimilar but can see where there would be a cost difference there just not to the tune of almost 20k

We had two quotes to re-roof and one was more than double the other.

What did you end up doing I’m usually in the frame of mind pay cheep pay twice but that seems trivial with sums of money like this. It would be the difference between us completing the whole house or completing the work above and re-saving for the rest

We went with the cheaper quote because we’d used them before and they were great (we thought we get alternative quotes to check their price for this job). More expensive doesn’t always mean better when appointing a tradesperson. Some of them just take the piss.

make sure the steels have been factored in for the load bearing wall. The higher quote more then likely does factor this in. Also as an ex trader wife he would tell me to quote higher if he didn’t want to do the job 🤣🤣

I'm in Scotland (Edinburgh). Got a quote to knock down a wall, new radiators, some spotlights, make good and 2 new external doors and lay flooring (we will supply that) £24k plus vat. Got similar quote from another builder.

I think sometimes it depends on the builders business model. We use a lovely firm but they run as a big business (e.g. hire their own staff, rent an office, have someone hired to do admin, own all their own equipment and work vans for the staff etc). They always come up more expensive than the smaller builders who just do it themselves and might subcontract the electrics to an electrician they know but otherwise they've no overheads to cover. So might be worth seeing how they work and what overheads you're paying for that you might not need...

Yes I think that may be the case here, I am still waiting on the breakdown of the cheaper one so may pop back then

One of them doesn't want the job, but would quite like the money. I don't see the point of going to the effort to quote for a job you don't want, surely you come take a quick look and 30s later say sorry not one for me, likewise come out to measure up, then radio silence.

Why not just say they don’t want the job? If someone accepted the inflated quote, would your husband do the work and rip them off?

no he prob just wouldn’t have turned up

to be fair to the more expensive one he is a reputable builder direct recommendation from two separate people I know that don’t know him personally for very similar work and like I said I wasn’t overly shocked at the price until we received the second much lower quote. Maybe it is over quoting but he has put in plenty of effort to get to this point, plans detailed quote and chased up a couple of weeks later to ask if we had any questions so it doesn’t seem to be overpriced for not wanting work, he’s booked up until the end of the year too which is what started us on this process in the first place.

No real advice but quotes at the moment seem very variable. For a full re-wire I was quoted £15k, £12k and £8k. The first two assumed all sorts of problems and just were not listening to me when I tried to explain how we could avoid them. The lowest price guy listened and made other good suggestions. I went with him - in the end he discounted a bit more off as it had been even easier than he originally thought. He has done a fab job - so cheapest doesn't always mean bad. Ask lots of questions!

Tradies can be the pits