What to ask/look out for when getting extension quotes?

Reprac

Hi,

Always get your quotation as itemised as possible. this way you can keep track of any 'extra items'.

having a quote saying "supply materials and build an extension for £30K" is just too vague.

A good builder will itemise their quote - Always

Also ask if it would be possible to take a look at one or two of his previous jobs.

I i have good links with a lot of builders in essex, and not one of them would take unkindly to being asked this and yet it it surprising how many people employ a builder having never seen his quality of work.

boots_babe

Hmm, this doesn't seem good. Just had our first official quote back today. I must say, I was expecting some more detail in it than this:

" [FONT=&quot]Extension over garage including internal works £46,200 plus VAT[/FONT]"

This is also WAY over anything we'd expected. We had no idea on price having had no work done before, but reading up as much as poss, we'd budgeted for AROUND £1000 per sq m - it's 35sq m so figured around £35k give or take say as much as 20%. We don't have any special requirements, just a straightforward extension over our garage. But this quotes amounts to almost £55k so is way over.

So really shocked We have another quote due back any day now so will give us something to compare against, but reading Reprac's advice above re a good builder giving a proper detailed quote, we're starting to wonder. I hope this next builder does give us a proper, broken down quote so that we can see where the costs are mounting up.

latecomer

Our quotes varied by approx 2.5x for the same work to the same spec. Some people need work and will price lower to try and get it. others really dont need the work but if you are willing to pay a silly price then they'll do it. Our most expensive quote included £40,000 of joinery to a basic finish of mdf skirtings and £20 doors which I couldn't figure out until OH pointed out his actual trade was joinery........

boots_babe

Blimey, I can't believe quotes could vary SO much, that is ridiculous. Well, give us a bit of hope then, we've got 2 other quotes due in so we'll see how they go.

JW_here

boots_babe wrote: »

So I take it that any builder we take on, we need to check they are registered with the FMB then? Or are there similar bodies?

Im not registered with the FMB , Why should i pay them £800 + a year,
if i was i would need to add this overhead to my bills.
and no Im not short of work.

roses

niall24 wrote: »

What ever happens GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING and dont be afraid of asking questions all the time and if you go in FMB's web site there is tons of info and you can download a contract too.
Dont do what we did and ignore it all.

http://www.fmb.org.uk/

Niall

Thank you so much! I want a kitchen extension & hadn't a clue where to start with finding a builder. That website helps so much!

boots_babe

Just thought I'd post a quick update. We've now had the 2nd quote back - still waiting for one more. Much more reasonble at around £24k inc VAT. Even if that increased by 50% we'd be happy with doing the work. The guy came recommended to us as well, so that is a bonus.

Feeling a lot better now, having recovered from the shock of the first quote we had :eek:

iamcornholio

This is really very simple.

What you should do is make sure that whoever prepares your plans for the building regs, puts all the details on the plans (in the form of a specification), so that all you need to do is give the plans to the builders, and you literally say "Give me a quote for building this"

So then the builders are quoting on exactly the same thing, so the only difference will be the price quoted

Then you just have a basic contract with start and finish dates, and stage payment terms.