quoted for kitchen

summery

Can anyone advise whether this quote is fair please? I don’t want to doubt the joiner’s integrity but I’ll find this bill hard to meet and if it is a reasonable price, I’ll have to re-think what I can afford to have.

£2,489.00 (2164 + vat) for estimated 5 days work to fit new kitchen units and pine clad a ceiling? Details as follows: includes £600.00 materials for 12mm pine cladding for a 3x3m ceiling. Re-fit ceiling light. Fit 3 base units, 3 wall units, new sink and tap into new worksurface plus 2 freestanding worksurfaces which are L-shaped so need mitres. Apart from the ceiling, all is to replace existing. He is an experienced joiner and uses qualified plumbers and electricians.

Any opinions on the value for money of the units I am considering would also be great: D/line base units 2x 400 and 1x500mm. Wall units 1 each of 1000, 500 & 400mm. 3 w/surfaces, sink, tap and plinth. Wickes Tiverton (oak & oak veneer) £1,100.00 or Wickes Calgary (all oak) £1689.00 – both on ‘sale’ and discounts applied.
Wickes have also quoted £1,105.00 for fitting (obviously doesn’t include ceiling cladding).Should i consider using them?

I’d really appreciate some help/opinions.

Meepster

Sounds like a rip off to me. For a starter, that work should NEVER take five days.

Materials: £600 - you can buy ALL the items you need from Wickes (Shiplap cladding, battens, fixing clips and nails) for under £200.

For the actual fitting of the kitchen, depending on how much electrics there is to do, you should be paying between £900 and £1200 (most expensive is if you need a new fuse/consumer board)

If we take the most expensive of these prices, so £1200 and add the cost of the materials £200, that gives you £1400. Take that off his price, which leaves you with £1089, which seems pretty expensive for changing a light!!! (This is the only thing I haven't factored in) Seeing that you will have a spark coming out to do electrical work in the kitchen, I'm sure for a few quid they will change the light...

You definately need to shop around.

As for the Wickes price, well, I'll always hold their units in high regard (I'm ex-Wickes) and they are a better quality than what you get at the other sheds. I would go for the Tiverton over the Calgary any day (unless you NEED the curved units of course) as I think it is a nicer shade of oak.

Oh, and make sure you ask for extra discount, each store is allowed to knock an extra 5%-10% off the price, if you ask them nicely enough (or threaten to go to B&Q lol)

I know the fitting service offered by the sheds has always had a poor reputation, but I know just as I was leaving, the Wickes installation service was changing and was hopefully going to be more affordable with a better level of customer service (but saying that, ANYTHING would be an improvement on the service they offered with MultiAssistance).

Have a shop around for the joinery work and maybe enquire more about the Wickes service...

moonbabe58

Sounds expensive to me.

A ceiling of that size should take 2 men not more than a day to do, with materials not costing much more than £200-£350.

As for taking 5 days to fit what is essentially 6 units!! Thats almost laughable. At the most I would say 2 men for 2 days. The minimal works that require a plumber and electrician will take a matter of hours, though most will bill for half a day.

On average you will pay around £100-£150 a day for a joiner.

As an employee of a bespoke kitchen I cant say I know much about Wickes Kitchens, but that seems a slightly high price. Not trying to give the sales person speak but I would always recommend going to a bespoke joinery company and asking for a quote, most will not charge for this and is always good to get a comparison between off the shelf and handmade.

pandora205

I had my kitchen refitted including tiles removed and laid (walls and floor) in that time, so that is much too slow.

Meepster

moonbabe58 wrote: »

As an employee of a bespoke kitchen I cant say I know much about Wickes Kitchens, but that seems a slightly high price. Not trying to give the sales person speak but I would always recommend going to a bespoke joinery company and asking for a quote, most will not charge for this and is always good to get a comparison between off the shelf and handmade.

If you are getting a "bespoke" kitchen, then the likelihood is that the prices will be significantly higher than Wickes. I should know, I sell them now...

However, it all depends on what you call bespoke...

booty40uk

Hi.
That price is way too high. Get some more quotes and you should save at least £1000.00 on the price you've been given.

To put it into prospective, i have just finished a large kitchen in South Wales. It was bought by the customer from Wickes...........excellent units etc and a superb after sales ( a couple of items were damaged slightly and were re-supplied within 48 hours).

There were a total of 10 wall units, 12 base units, 1 larder unit, 2 mitred joints in laminate worktop, sink, hob, oven and extractor. Plumbing for a free standing American fridge freezer. Wall to wall floor tiles and tiled backsplash. All necessary plumbing and electrics (no gas work......not required). Minor plastering. Put old worktop and sink into garage for them and plumbed in and installed washing machine. 12 days work in total and i charged £3150.00. All i had to supply was fixings, plumbing fittings and minor building materials which cost no more than £200.00. I had a labourer in for 5 days to help strip out and build the new units while i tiled the floor.........cost £300.00. Take out petrol etc at £150 and i made £2500...........just over £200 a day............but i do work quick!

Happy customer, happy installer and more references already......happy days.

GET MORE QUOTES! Also make sure you get references and CALL THEM UP.

HTH

Andy

summery

thanks everyone, especially for such quick responses. Now i know better what to expect and will get more quotes. :beer:

summery

thanks for advice - I actually prefer the Tiverton for the reason you gave, it is hubby who likes the Calgary!

lisal0u

Hi,

I was quoted £2200 for Ikea to fit my kitchen ha ha ridiculous! Got a local joiner to fit for £576. 8 base units, 2 floor to ceiling units, 2 wall units. ooo he also fitted oak worktops too! Was supposed to take 4 days but he ran a little over.

Good luck with getting a decent price!
Lisa

mrsheenpearl60

alot of this depends on where you live. speaking from the other side a fitter will need at least £150 a day to live in london and pay for tools van insurances etc. regardless of the size of the kitchen they all seem to take as long as each other *about a week) whether u have 1 unit or 10. most of the work doesnt come from lining up a unit or even building a flat pack and then lining it up. theres plumbing electrics tiling etc. if u have a decent fitter he will take his time and get it right. he will use a router instead of a saw to cut end panels etc. which takes longer but it will be a better fit. if u dont care about the finish all of this can be thrown into place quickly - if you want a good job it will take time. the guy that spent a week fitting for £576 may have done that job but he underpriced it!! he wont make a living doing that every time. However all that said it ultimately boils down to who u want to use. if the fitter wants tocharge whatever he wants u dont have to use him it doesnt mean hes ripping u off it means that thats what he wants to do the job. it also doesnt follow that cos he charges alot means hes any good. Get References!!!!!!!!get references!!!get references!!! if he hasnt got any dont use him. a bad fitter can kill a good kitchen and vice versa. I oversaw over 20 kitchen fits last year and i can tell you that it will take a week at least. if someone thinks they can bang it out in a day or so he either hasnt done many kitchens or hes slapdash. hes got to allow a week of labour rubbish disposal certification of his work cost of his van and tools his insurance etc etc. GET REFERENCES - did i mention that already? good luck with it anyway carol

mrsheenpearl60

oo nearly forgot - he might need to pay a labourer too to help him - its never going to be less than a grand to fit a kitchen. going back to the original post:The fact you havent got much going on in your kitchen will impact the cost of the cabinetry more you can get better products than wickes ones for that money. The fitting of all of this will be about a 5-7days 2 and a half does seem a bit high but we havent seen the job there maybe something he has seen that we havent as that equals more than a grand a piece for a fitter and his labourer.