Is this the most ludicrous plumber's quote EVER?

[LadyThompson]

Sorry, need to let off steam. We are doing up a house and it is taking ages and going way over budget. Ok, you say, tell me something new.

Well, we have had a job to get plumbers round at all, let alone send us quotes for the work. Finally one did. Roughly as follows:

Bathroom: fit two basins, bath and bidet.
Remove saniflo loo.
Route WC waste inot void under stairs, through 18" wall into ground floor shower room = £3650 inc VAT

Shower room: fit basin and loo
fit shower tray and sliding door enclosure and square up existing wall for shower tray - £2230

Kitchen: connect sink and taps and add isolating valves for washing machine and dishwasher - £485

This lot comes to close to £6.5k. We don't have it. I could weep.

A lot of workmen will just pluck a figure out of the air and see if they can get away with it.
We're doing up a house too and the money has run out so it's slow progress with me doing anything that doesn't require too much skill. I know how demoralising it can be but you'll get there in the end and you'll have a beautiful house and you'll forget all the stress that went into it (much like forgetting the horror of first childbirth when you try for your second ).

Well - there are floors and ceilings and heating, but kitchen, shower room and bathroom have been ripped out because they were unusable (eg bath had a crack in it, taps rusty etc). So, actually, there is less work (ie no need for him to rip put olld stuff) and apart from the saniflo he would effectively be replacing. Have you ever had a saniflo? There is a huge and noisy box which macerates (munches up) the waste (this is an old one), they don't flush all that well and they don't last long (suspect this one is on its last legs).

DP says that he was definitely over quoting which is normally done when someone doesn't want/need the job and if the client is silly enough to accept then there's enough money in it to find extra labour to do the job and still make a profit.

He said the bathroom is roughly four to five days work so labour costs should be around £1200.00.

Shower room should be two days work at the most and cost around £600.00.

Kitchen requires about half a days work so should be no more than around £180.00 and that ought to include minor materials like isolating valves, fittings and tube.

Prices do not include vat.

Obviously this pricing is unseen but if there are no exceptional circumstances or difficuties it shouldn't be far wrong.

Mistymoo - yes, labour only, although according to Morningpaper they aren't extravagant

Morningpaper - no, it is broken down into rooms, roughly as I have done, no hint of how long it would take.

Mistymoo and Amandoh particularly - thank you for those details. It seems to be just as I thought. Thank your DP, Amandoh. Yes, the wall is a bit of a pain. I had budgeted £1.5k for this but could run to £2k if necessary - I guess I just need to find a reasonable and honest plumber who wants the work now. There has to be one in Oxfordshire...

lol well I have paid around £400 a day in Somerset so I was assuming a bit more in Oxford

Amanda is quoting around £300 a day with a total price of 7.5 days = 2700 inc vat

at 400 per day would be 3600

but I would imagine he is adding extra days for faffing and because he doesn't want the job

I wouldn't pay more than £200 a day max. And I'm in London which is surely more expensive than Oxfordshire.

Have you considered approaching local builders? No way on the same scale to your project but having a conservatory replaced this week using a local independent based on personal recommendation and he has his own tame plumber, electrician, plasterer etc who are available what seems like at a moment's notice - had some man pop round at about 7pm to reattach radiators by torchlight.

Also consider looking further afield than Oxfordshire - dh's ex-bil is doing kitchen extensions over 100m away because that's where the work is (unfortunately not your neck of the woods)

100m - that's a long way

shop around

we had some daft quotes for replacing kitchen worktops recently.

shopped about and got it for half the original quote

the man who fit my patio doors knows a man who can

and i rang a local kitchen company and asked them for plumbers etc. they gave me loads of numbers.

dont fgs pay that quote! get some more

Presumed you meant metres, but you prob mean miles

You're right, it is ridiculous.
Sorry, but I think it's back to the pestering pestering pestering to get someone else to come round and actually give you a quote. Try not to get disheartened.

Have you got a local community website where you can ask? Or ask the caretaker at your dc's school, if appropriate, who they use? That might help you find more reliable people.

You do say that the house is 200 years old - in my experience, you need to be quite careful about picking people who have experience with old buildings. Our plumber, for example, has the experience and common sense to be able to work around the problems of a timber framed building - our electrician (who came recommended by a good local workman) was a well-meaning bloke and experienced in working on modern houses, but cost us an extra £500 of remedial work by screwing things up. I would very strongly advise you to go with the person you feel is most reliable and experienced with your particular type of house, not with the person who puts in the lowest initial quote. It may seem obvious, but when you're on a budget, you can forget this.

Old houses can also mean that it takes longer to do a job - making a hole in the wall may involve getting through stone / brick / timber etc etc.

Again, with an old house, you do need a large contingency fund, as there will be unexpected difficulties. Such as me being phoned up during a conference to be told that my dining room ceiling had collapsed. And this is in a house that is in perfectly liveable condition!

Yes, the hole (in a very thick wall) is a pain. I don't even mind paying more than average for the reasons you say. It just makes me feel very unhappy when tradesmen try it on like this.

DP has gone over to the house to meet another plumber. Fingers crossed, though I have to get on the blower and find some more. I have looked at the local village newsletter which has ads for plumbers etc, but no go.

Ok, new plumber seems good. Has worked out a way of routing the soil pipe which doesn't involve drilling through the wall. Said he would quote for that bit separately and that the rest is totally straightforward - so we shall see if he quotes and what it comes out at... In the meantime, thanks for your advice and support.

Message withdrawn

Glad to hear you've got another quote.I'd second the suggestion of asking other tradesmen if they know a good plumber.They often work on jobs together and have a network.We found our kitchen fitter via our electrician.

We were quoted £3300 more to fit a kitchen via a DIY store than finding our own tradesmen.It is an astonishing amount of money!

blimey that is steep - for 8 new rads and pipes to it, a new boiler fitted, bathroom fitted and a downstairs loo and all old gubins from old site removed were only paying 3.5k!

When we had our downstairs shower room and guest room built, we got quotes varying so widely it was mad. From £4500 for the labour to £18600 for the labour [sourced all materials myself]. One of the builders actually said that "in this area, you could charge whatever and people will pay it"
We live in South Oxfordshire.
Have you tried the RatedPeople?

It's funny, Rollmops, I lived in London for nearly 12 years and haven't been back in Oxfordshire for that long, and really didn't expect this with the prices of labour, tradesmen taking the *iss. You expect it in London, and I would expect it in Surrey or Bucks, but Oxfordshire as well? I haven't tried the RatedPeople, and will check them out, thanks. That's awful about the builder - I think we were drybummed by ours, that's for sure.

That is way over the top.

Surely with such a lot of work there should be some kind of discount?

Do you need a bidet? Might save a bit.

DH isn't a plumber and has fitted 2 bathrooms for us including moving a sink. Charged me a kiss .

LadyT, do you know anyone who's used this plumber? I would never hire anyone who didn't come with a recommendation from someone I know - whether a labourer, solicitor, cleaner, anyone. Experience has taught me that.

I hope you can find someone you know (a neighbour, perhaps?) who can recommend someone reliable who's not going to rip you off.

Heee, about bidet, ours has only ever been used by the DTs to throw their rubber duckies in. It's actually virginal. In the next house won't have it, will use the space to install a champagne fridge.. right next to great big rolltop bath...... haarrrr.....

Dp wants the bidet. Maybe he has got a dirty bum

Actually I don't think it adds much to the bill.

Speedy, I know what you mean. The plumber we saw today was recommended by the electrician we hope to use, that's the best we've got. Though the electrician hasn't sent us a quote yet (but he has just been rushed into hospital for an emergency hernia op, apparently, so I don't think he will be working for a while....)