Kitchen Renovation

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

Hello,

I am planning a full kitchen refit to include some structural work. The house is a 3 bed semi in Bucks, the kitchen is 3m by 2.5m. I’ve been talking to a local furniture maker, who can make solid wood units to our exact specs and does fitting.

The furniture maker is bidding to project manage the whole renovation using his own contacts for each trade to keep things running smoothly. I am concerned about the level of workmanship I will be getting for my money, so will be asking for references before agreeing to anything.

Just wanted some views on this quote, any parts which look out of line in your opinion?

BUILDING WORK

Kitchen/Dining Wall – Remove wall between kitchen and dining room. Install RSJ below ceiling and case in to provide fire resistance. Make good to plaster and floor screed, not including decoration, nor making good coving. Labour and materials £1800

Radiator – Remove lounge radiator, chase pipes into floor and relocate existing radiator. Labour and materials £490

Back Door – Remove back door. Brick and block up opening and make good to plaster internally. Labour and materials £980

Garage – Cut opening in garage side wall, install lintel over, fit original kitchen back door. Labour and materials £650


(The prices above [total £3920] exclude VAT. I had a detailed quote from a builder with an excellent reputation locally, but they are booked up until next year. I gave furniture man a copy of this quote which they have repeated verbatim and knocked 4% of the prices quoted. At present I don’t even know the name of the builder he is proposing to use for this work, but I wish I hadn’t shown them the previous quote now, bit irritated that they are offering to hang their prices just below those of someone with a glowing reputation when I know nothing about the new builder)

KITCHEN UNITS & WORKTOP

Base Units
Housing for fridge freezer/wine rack housed above (awkward space, slanted ceiling)
Pull out cupboard
Oven Housing
Corner Unit
Sink Unit
Existing Washing Machine
Corner Unit
Unit Under Gas Hob
Unit Right of Hob
Under Counter Shelves

Wall Units
Housing for microwave
Housing for boiler (I am getting old boiler replaced, new one fitted in different space – separate job)
Fitting of extractor fan (island hood) to include venting to outside wall, approx 1.5m away

Cupboard doors - plain design, solid wood, painted. Standard handles
Appliances and accessories not included

Labour and materials £7550

Worktop
30mm Black granite (exact type not specified in quote but Nero Assoluto has been discussed, need to confirm)
Including – Cut for undermounted sink, four grooves for drainage, front edges polished, 80mm upstands
Labour and materials £1550

(There will be three slabs, two joins. Total length of worktop approx 4.5m. I have been told that this is solid granite and they come and make up a template before cutting the granite)

PLUMBING

Plumbing for sink taps/washing machine/gas hob.
Labour and materials £795

ELECTRICS

6 plugs. White plastic.
6 Spots Kitchen S/S
10 Spots Lounge S/S
Labour and materials £1610



I will speak to the furniture man tomorrow. My main concern is that he seems slightly out of his depth when I have asked things like whether the electrician is Part P registered. The plumbing and electric quotes seem to lack a lot of detail, I think this is because he doesn't really know precisely what is involved.

I have to pay for flooring and a new boiler on top of the above. I can just about afford it, but I’m concerned that I’m spending my money unwisely and some of the numbers above could be well out of line. This is my first house. Feels like I'm looking at spending a fortune on the kitchen and not being 100% happy with it.

I work from home and could spare the time to project manage but suspect I might be hopeless at it.

Thanks for reading all the above.

Alias_Omega

Crazy prices.

Take a look around other kitchen places, homebase, B&Q etc. These offer kitchen fitting as part of the deal.

You will be suprised that £2k can get you one fitted, and not just a cheap one too.

We had a quote from moben, £8,000. Madness... £1200 more like..

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

Alias_Omega, thanks for your thoughts.

I have looked at the lower priced kitchens from B&Q, Howdens, Ikea, Homebase - seems like everyone's prices have massive flexibility if you know how to chip them down, and I can definitely get the whole kitchen done for a lot less going down that route. I'm torn between paying top whack for solid wood units or just getting good quality doors and worktops which I think is what makes a great finish.

I really want to get a handle on how much is reasonable to pay for bespoke cabinets to be made and fitted. The price per unit fitted has not been broken down in detail but on average comes out around £500 each including materials, labour - when I look at it like this, it sounds poor value. Some of these units are housing only.

My quick thoughts on the overall quote are:

Building £3920+vat Bit toppy, prepared to pay this much only for someone who has really excellent attention to detail
Kitchen Units £7550 Feels pricey when you break it down per unit. Maybe a furniture maker on here can tell me if this is going rate and I just have no feel for price.
Granite Worktop £1550 Best part of the quote, this is a less than what I expected for the total area plus upstands.
Plumbing £795 Sounds high for the work detailed in the quote, they will have to make more than one visit but as a daily rate this looks like a nice deal for the plumber
Electrics £1610 Pretty high again. Not met the tradesman involved, and I have told furniture man I need to discuss further requirements. The electrics haven't been updated for quite some time so I think I really need more than a quick fix of some new sockets and spots.

I guess the above sounds like I am answering my own question. I put the quote up here to see if others could pick out bits of it they liked or didn't like, would really welcome any feedback on the different parts.

Thanks for any help

Scoobs72

I'll comment on a few of these parts of the quote:
- Kitchen/Dining wall removal - £1800 is fine for this, however as this is a load-bearing wall you'll need to get a structural engineer to produce calculations for the builders, and of course apply for building control. Budget £275 for the structural engineer and £160 for the building control application. I presume the builder advised you of this and asked you about calculations??? If not, that's a bit of a warning sign.

- Plumbing £490 - seems a bit excessive. Does this include supply of radiators?

- Plumbing for kitchen - £795 - seems very expensive. I assume there is a very significant amount of work to be done to justify this price?

Electrics - seems very expensive

In short, if you're not entirely comfortable with the quote don't go with it. Walk away and get some more quotes in.
HTH

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

Thanks for your reply scoobs. I had a good think about all the numbers today, and told him I was unhappy with the price. He got very stroppy, but I calmed him down and we negotiated to a slightly lower price but we agreed I would get my own electrician and deduct that from his quote.

All the parts you have highlighted as being too high are the numbers he had to come up with himself, the rest he was copying from my other quotes. I've had the structural calcs done and got my building control application in, just need to arrange for them to be onsite when the time comes

Had a think and decided I still wasn't happy with him, his attitude when he could smell the job getting away from him was really out of order. Told him I wasn't giving him the work and he completely flipped out, multiple threats, calling me all sorts, saying he was going to charge me £600 for wasting his time.

If he turns up on my doorstep I will be calling the police. I'm considering going to the local press if he continues with his threats, he is a small local businessman and I'm utterly disgusted at the things he said and his attempts to intimidate me.

Think he is raging because he feels he nearly nailed me for a huge payday which was well above fair price and has possibly turned some business away thinking I was a mug who would say yes to whatever he came up with. If his numbers made more sense then I was very happy to use him, but once I saw him turn nasty he could have offered to do the job for nothing and I wouldn't want him anywhere near my house.