B and Q kitchen fitting

mahoney

Could anyone tell me how good and quick they are at installing? Are they B and Q employed or contractors? If they say it will take 10 days, will it take that? Do they clock off at the same time each day?

Asking because I need a new kitchen and I just can't bare an fitter who turns up as he likes, over runs by days, does what he likes etc. I want to know where i am with the fitter. I've been burnt by a recent bathroom installation......

THANKS!!

Doozergirl

NO! No No No No No. do not do it to yourself.

How many B&Qs are there? All their fitters can't possibly be great. Like in any job, you find people who are better than others but they can hide behind a brand. Not only are the likes of B&Q hideously, hideously expensive but you still cannot guarantee the quality of workmanship or indeed when and if they turn up.

Unreliability as far as time keeping goes can be par for the course with the industry I'm afraid, but a decent fitter imho won't need the likes of B&Q to provide him with work. The people we know do almost everything via word of mouth.

LlamaKarma

Over the last twelve months I have been told by three seperate people - "Don't ever buy your kitchen from B&Q". I've heard tales of kitchen parts not turning up and taking weeks to come..

purplejac

b and q and also homebase use sub contractors to fit kitchens, also it takes weeks to get your kitchen delivered parts will be missing either small or large and you will have to wait for those to come, if i were you id order from howdens kitchens are in stock and get a joiner to fit, just tell the joiner what hours you want him to work and get a written quote as to how much and how long it will take to complete.

Canucklehead

mahoney wrote: »

Could anyone tell me how good and quick they are at installing? Are they B and Q employed or contractors? If they say it will take 10 days, will it take that? Do they clock off at the same time each day?

Asking because I need a new kitchen and I just can't bare an fitter who turns up as he likes, over runs by days, does what he likes etc. I want to know where i am with the fitter. I've been burnt by a recent bathroom installation......

THANKS!!

Good morning: get quotes from independent kitchen fitters....see other threads about B&Q:eek: Btw...what happened with your recent bathroom install ?(I posted on your other thread several months ago).

HTH

Canucklehead

Vomityspice

I can only comment on the experience we had with B and Q. We bought our kitchen 2 years ago and apart from a missed delivery day they were fine. The kitchen was meant to be delivered on the Friday (as our builders were due to start on monday). After a terse telephone conversation with them about 'breach of contract' and liability for any cost incurred (i.e two builders for x number of days) they arranged for the kitchen to be delivered to us on the Sunday! Speaking with the driver (and helper) it turns out they were sunday staff roped in to appease us.......

Didn't use 'their' fitters as they were overpriced and of unknown quality. For less money than they quoted, we had underfloor heating installed in our kitchen by our builders at the same time.

The kitchen when from this



To this:

mahoney

Thanks all. Vomityspice, you kitchen looks great ! - great sink and work top.
Canuklehead. In the end I got the bath from Bristan online and sink and toilet from Ideal Standard online. I got a recommended bathroom fitter who did a great job ..........So what's my problem you ask? Well, he chose not to turn up on certain days and over ran by about a week so we even had to delay out house move. But in the end was this such a big problem? - I guess not really on the grand scale of things. i just feel that with a bigger company I would have some protection regarding absent builders, delays etc - ? I'd be able to ring up and yell at someone instead of putting up with someone who comes and goes as they please.
It really gets me down cos I so want a new kitchen, I'm ready to go, but getting it all organised and some one to do it just seems like such a massive task in itself. sighs.

laurz121

Obviously as with any large business there will be good examples of work and bad examples of work floating around and you will easily find both. In my experience as a former b&Q employee of nearly 10 years I would say avoid their installation service like the plague.

They are ridiculously expensive and really do not offer anything that a local joiner wouldn't be able to do. The workers aren't actually employed by B&Q I don't think but they do all work for a b&q contracted company (ie theyre all the same and not lots of little local companies). To give you a clue as to the prices I was told by one of them that they charge £75 per unit to fit plus extras for worktops, plinths etc which as you can see is almost as much as the cost to buy them in the first place.

I would also say that with regard b&q kitchens if it is available to buy in store then buy it, if it needs ordering then walk away as we were getting complaints on a weekly basis. If you get your kitchen designed by a B&Q consultant then look through it with a fine tooth-comb as they are notorious for adding on unnecessary extras. When you complain you will be told 'the system adds it on automatically'. Things such as extra mitre glue that isn't needed, cooker hood filters even when the cooker hood doesnt use a filter etc were regular extras that I saw.

Find a local joiner and arrange dates and times with them and go that way. Use B&Q for in store kitchens and you'll be fine.

Vomityspice

Heres what you have to look forward to:



and for balance, heres the other side

Mojisola

Relatives of mine were left without a working kitchen for months thanks to B&Q.

It was bought from them and their fitters were supposed to do the work. The original delivery was incomplete and some of the delivered items were damaged. It took a good few attempts before the whole kitchen was delivered. The fitters' work was dreadful and there were a series of visits from managers and inspectors before they accepted it needed to be redone.

mahoney

Ok ok, I think you've sufficiently put me off the idea Laurz121 that's such an invaluable insight. Vomityspice, gorgeous plinth lighting.
Latest line of thought after this thread is Howdens kitchen, local fitter. Same guy who did the bathroom ...His work was really good, so can I really complain ? Howdens is really near to me so I can pop in have a moan if needs be and I know they deliver striaght away. I already got a design from them but I need it redoing thinking about it.