New House Extras

fossman

We are first time buyers and are buying a 3 bedroom I Life house from David Wilson.

We have asked David Wilson for a quote for the following:

A shower to be installed over the bath with a shower screen and tiling on the wet walls.

Built in wardrobes - a full size 2 door wardrobe with a half size 2 door wardrobe next to it.

They have come back to us with £1,100 for the shower fully fitted (Mira Sport 7.5Kw) and £850 for the wardrobes.

The split of the shower cost was as follows:
1) Plumbing for shower complete with Mira Sport 7.5Kw £350.
2) Electrics for shower £150
3) Tiling to wall at side of the bath £200 (wall comes half tiled already so only paying for half a wall)
4) Tiling to tap end wall £150 (wall comes half tiled already so only paying for half a wall)
5) Shower screen £220

These prices seem very high, can anyone else give me some advise?

Gambler

welcome to house owning - there's always something that needs doing and there's usually a cost associated with it !

cattie

Trades don't come cheap I'm afraid.:( If I had my time all over again I'd make sure that amongst my best friends would be a plumber, an electrician, a carpenter & a general builder/decorator.:rotfl:

If you are not happy with the price then why not phone round & try to get a couple of quotes from outside tradesmen? This will give you a better idea as to how competitive the price is or isn't.

The wardrobes certainly sound very reasonable from my experience of carpenters, and I know that tiling certainly doesn't come cheap either.

lilyann1

Power showers don't come cheap.We have a double power shower by Aqualisa and it's brill.The thing is parts for it are extortionate!!! The shower head costs £70 alone!!!
Be careful about fully tiled walls.You might just like to live with it and have part tiles walls to start with.We got fully tiled walls in our new build and I have begun to hate them and want to rip half of them off to only have partly tiled now.
I agree ring around for a few quotes and then see if it is worth them doing it for the convenience too.

lightspeed

I too am a first time buyer and have already experienced the astounding costs of modernising our property.

At present we are fitting a new bathroom and have taken on the help of a friend who has fitted a bathroom suite before (he basically gets things going and i finish it off). I have been quite suprised how easy some of the jobs have been and how much money i would have wasted by paying a plumber and decorator to do this work.

Tiling is a doddle, providing that your walls are relatively flat, there are some very good websites out there that give you clear easy to follow instructions. Find out the exact changes needed for the shower plumbing. There are lots of DIY connectors available to make small changes to pipe work very straightforward.

As for the shower, if you are going for an electric one, then get a higher kw. The higher the kw, the better performance. The electrics will need to be altered and this is definitely a job for the pro's (part P an all that - and not to mention safety). Check the cost of the shower yourself looking at websites and ebay.

Shower screens can be very expensive, however, i have found that you can pick up a decent one at homebase/b+q for about £50. Personally i dont think that the quality is too bad but make sure that it is fitted and sealed adequately.

I am no expert but i am learning fast. Our complete revamp of the bathroom is not going to cost anymore than 1.4K (includes everything). If i had paid someone to do the work some of the work we would be looking at about 2.5- 3K.

BobProperty

The prices don't seem too out of the way. The plumbing looks slightly high and the electric slightly low but without knowing where everything is, it's hard to say. The screen at £220, it depends on the make and quality.

Doozergirl

Did you knock them down on their asking price? I'd be trying to get those included as part of the deal! Bit of sweet talking needed, I think!

terrierlady

may need further tiling on surrounding walls, water splashes don't go well with plaster board drylinning.
Good idea to get it done before you move in and CHECK IT is being done on your weekly visits often extras get forgotten as trades are in and out of each house type and know each spec and forget what is required and ordered,unless the site manager and sales staff keep on top of extras.

fossman

We paid the full asking price but we did get carpets/vinyl/flooing for the whole house included.