bathroom/general plumbing quotes - help!

browny5678

Hi,

I'm currently in West suffolk. We've just bought a house that needs loads of updating. We've had a quote from a local plumber for £800 to remove current bathroom suite, and fit a new one, to fit a towel rail, (suite and towel rail supplied by us), to tidy up some pipework, install a new radiator (supplied by him) and fit that and all other exisiting radiators with trv's (also supplied by him).

We thought this was quite reasonable, and so decided we would go ahead, he also said he could tile the bathroom.

We decided to ask for a quote for extra work, which consisted of replacing bathroom floor, tiling the bathroom (6'3"x6'3") and also replacing the rest of the radiators in the house as they are no longer fit for purpose, the pipes will need moving on these to accomodate the new radiators.

The new quote came back as £880 for bathroom suite, floor and towel rail (suite and towel rail supplied by us), £800 for tiling (tiles supplied by us), and over £1400 to replace the radiators and fitting trv's (supplied by him).

Are we wrong in thinking that the price have suddenly gone from quite reasonable to a bit extortionate?

Can anyone give us a ball park figure as to what price we should be hoping for? our budget really doesn't stretch that far, we were hoping that it wouldn't come too much over 2 grand, but we might be right or we might be dreaming.

We were also hoping to have the boiler serviced, but we will need to get a corgi registered plumber in for that which we isn't, so a vague price for that would also be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

phill99

How many radiators and TRVs? Large rads can be fairly expensive. So if he is replacing a few it will all add up. I think the tiling may be a bit on the steep side. It only a small vathroom and should only take three days to four days. At say £140 per day thats £560. Plus adhesive and grout say £70 tops.

However, try not to focus on cost. Ask him if you can speak to other customers and ask their opinions. If he has a good reputation, the few extra pounds may be worth it.

browny5678

Hi, Thanks for the reply. Sorry forgot to mention, it was to supply and fit 6 rads with trv's, all needing to supply somewhere between 3000 and 5000 BTU, plus fitting of towel rail.
We don't mind paying him a fair price, we know his work is good, but the total of the new quotes is £1000 more then we allowed for and at least £500 more than we could possibly afford (our budget has to include a lot of other work on the whole house, so we need to save wherever possible.)

keystone

browny5678 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm currently in West suffolk. We've just bought a house that needs loads of updating. We've had a quote from a local plumber for £800 to remove current bathroom suite, and fit a new one, to fit a towel rail, (suite and towel rail supplied by us), to tidy up some pipework, install a new radiator (supplied by him) and fit that and all other exisiting radiators with trv's (also supplied by him).

We thought this was quite reasonable, and so decided we would go ahead, he also said he could tile the bathroom.

We decided to ask for a quote for extra work, which consisted of replacing bathroom floor, tiling the bathroom (6'3"x6'3") and also replacing the rest of the radiators in the house as they are no longer fit for purpose, the pipes will need moving on these to accomodate the new radiators.

The new quote came back as £880 for bathroom suite, floor and towel rail (suite and towel rail supplied by us), £800 for tiling (tiles supplied by us), and over £1400 to replace the radiators and fitting trv's (supplied by him).

Are we wrong in thinking that the price have suddenly gone from quite reasonable to a bit extortionate?

I think his first price was rather on the cheap side TBH.

Tiling price seems a bit thin TBH particularly if its floor to ceiling and old tiles to be removed with inevitable making good. It doesn't matter that its a small bathroom still 4 corners, still a bath, loo, basin, door frame and window to negotiate - approx same number of cuts as a big bathroom so a bigger one would seem incrementally cheaper.

How many radiators or did I miss it? Gut feel is that the total isn't far short of the mark - but I haven't seen the job so could be +/-.

Cheers

keystone

browny5678 wrote: »

Sorry forgot to mention, it was to supply and fit 6 rads with trv's, all needing to supply somewhere between 3000 and 5000 BTU, plus fitting of towel rail.

Thanks - that was quick! In that case I guess the rads element is parhaps heavy. Having said that I stand by what I said earlier on. At £ 2.5 - 3k as an overall total its prolly not far off.

So how can you save money? Well you could live with the existing bathroom for a while at least the tiles. Just replace the suite and get all piping changes done and worry about retiling later on. I think you SHOULD have the rads done. Thats disruption all over the house so get it out of the way. Leave the bathroom floor as well. Get a cushionfloor offcut from your local flooring place, loose lay it yourself and live with it for a bit. Thats prolly saved you the best part of £ 900 so far. Negotiate a bit on the radiator price and you're getting down to your £ 2k figure. If you like him and vice versa and want to give him the job tell him that its a bit too much at present so we'll cut the scope for now and call you back for the rest of it later on. That will almost certainly result in some sort of a minor cost uplift for Phase II but he should be happy with that.

Cheers

keystone

phill99 wrote: »

I think the tiling may be a bit on the steep side. It only a small vathroom and should only take three days to four days. At say £140 per day thats £560. Plus adhesive and grout say £70 tops.

Tiling jobs are calculated either on jobcost or meterage - not day rate. Having said that you ain't far out for a 17 - 20m2 bathroom which is what this will be and assuming that its all ready to go. . However, there may be old tiles to come off the wall plus making good before tiling. Does he have to tank round a shower? £ 800 might be thin at the end of the day.

However, try not to focus on cost. Ask him if you can speak to other customers and ask their opinions. If he has a good reputation, the few extra pounds may be worth it.

Absolutely correct.

Cheers