Kitchen quotes seem high

Ruski

Meepster wrote: »

I take it you work the week before for free? Seeing that you haven't ripped out the old kitchen, taken old tiles off, ripped up the old flooring, filled the skip, done a first fix for plumbing and electrics and plastered accordingly? And when do you do the gas certification and the electrical testing?

2nd'd

:beer:

katejo

Meepster wrote: »

I take it you work the week before for free? Seeing that you haven't ripped out the old kitchen, taken old tiles off, ripped up the old flooring, filled the skip, done a first fix for plumbing and electrics and plastered accordingly? And when do you do the gas certification and the electrical testing?

I thought that when I read this one yesterday. I have just had a quote done at B & Q. Approx 6.5K for kitchen units, laminate work surfaces and floor tiles including appliances.

£3K plus for fitting installation (likely to increase if/when they see what is needed re. plastering/smoothing of ceiling).

That is approx what I expected but will get other quotes before proceeding.

john.h

I have never known a kitchen to take 2 weeks to fit, always a week or less.... The plumbing and electrics get done at the same time as the kitchen is getting fitted, by the plumber and electrician..

John...

Meepster

katejo wrote: »

I thought that when I read this one yesterday. I have just had a quote done at B & Q. Approx 6.5K for kitchen units, laminate work surfaces and floor tiles including appliances.

£3K plus for fitting installation (likely to increase if/when they see what is needed re. plastering/smoothing of ceiling).

That is approx what I expected but will get other quotes before proceeding.

Unless it's a REALLY big kitchen, and involves a lot of plumbing and electrical work, 3k for a kitchen install is way too much.

B&Q's fitting charges border on stupid. If you got a local kitchen fitter to do the work for you, I'd expect to be saving around 1k off their price (even our fitting charges are no where near as expensive as B&Q's)

Meepster

john.h wrote: »

I have never known a kitchen to take 2 weeks to fit, always a week or less.... The plumbing and electrics get done at the same time as the kitchen is getting fitted, by the plumber and electrician..

John...

A straight kitchen fit should take 4 or 5 days, depending on the size of the kitchen. However, that wouldn't include any plastering, tiling, flooring or decorating. We usually allocate 7 or 8 days for a fit where extras like that are needed. Our kitchen fitter is a qualified electrician, so does his own electrical work, they only thing he doesn't do is gas, where he uses a Gas Safe registered plumber (typically books him in for 1/2 day per fit when gas is involved).

I have however known kitchen fits to last for 3 days and likewise, a couple of jobs that took around 3 weeks, due to the amount of work needed, so can obviously vary massively...

john.h

I know what you mean if its major work but the original quote was a very basic kitchen ............

We want a fairly basic white gloss kitchen with NO new appliances. There will be six base units (one corner), two wall cabinets, and some shelves. We want about 2m of wall tiling, and about 10m of laminate flooring. We have a new dishwasher which would need to be plumbed in & wired etc, but that's about it.

john...

Meepster

john.h wrote: »

I know what you mean if its major work but the original quote was a very basic kitchen ............

We want a fairly basic white gloss kitchen with NO new appliances. There will be six base units (one corner), two wall cabinets, and some shelves. We want about 2m of wall tiling, and about 10m of laminate flooring. We have a new dishwasher which would need to be plumbed in & wired etc, but that's about it.

john...

I've highlighted the important word here. If new wiring is needed for an appliance, the whole kitchen circuit needs to be checked to see if it is compliant with the current electrical regulations, if it's not (i.e. circuit isn't RCD protected, old style fuse board is currently installed etc) then that work would also need to be completed.

Likewise, if it's a gas hob currently in situ, it will need to be removed to install the new worktops, therefore the gas supply will need to be checked and any changes made, which could cost more and take more time (depending on who is doing the plumbing)

Just because it seems to be a "very basic kitchen" doesn't mean it will in fact be an easy job without any complications arising...

katejo

Meepster wrote: »

Unless it's a REALLY big kitchen, and involves a lot of plumbing and electrical work, 3k for a kitchen install is way too much.

B&Q's fitting charges border on stupid. If you got a local kitchen fitter to do the work for you, I'd expect to be saving around 1k off their price (even our fitting charges are no where near as expensive as B&Q's)

I might use a local fitter but I will get a couple more quotes from other stores first. I am not in a hurry to get it done. This quote is still lower than the very approx quote I got from homebase just over a year ago. If I remember correctly, it did not include appliances. It was just kitchen units and installation and it was likely to be between 11K & 13K. My kitchen isn't particularly big (approx 9ft x 10ft).

You say "our fitting charges" Do you mind me asking which firm you are with?

katejo

Meepster wrote: »

I've highlighted the important word here. If new wiring is needed for an appliance, the whole kitchen circuit needs to be checked to see if it is compliant with the current electrical regulations, if it's not (i.e. circuit isn't RCD protected, old style fuse board is currently installed etc) then that work would also need to be completed.

Likewise, if it's a gas hob currently in situ, it will need to be removed to install the new worktops, therefore the gas supply will need to be checked and any changes made, which could cost more and take more time (depending on who is doing the plumbing)

Just because it seems to be a "very basic kitchen" doesn't mean it will in fact be an easy job without any complications arising...

I have had a new fuse box with trip switches installed in the past 18 months. Can I assume from that that my kitchen circuit complies with these regulations? It replaced a very old, probably original one.

Kitchennightmare_2

Meepster wrote: »

I've highlighted the important word here. If new wiring is needed for an appliance, the whole kitchen circuit needs to be checked to see if it is compliant with the current electrical regulations, if it's not (i.e. circuit isn't RCD protected, old style fuse board is currently installed etc) then that work would also need to be completed.

Likewise, if it's a gas hob currently in situ, it will need to be removed to install the new worktops, therefore the gas supply will need to be checked and any changes made, which could cost more and take more time (depending on who is doing the plumbing)

Just because it seems to be a "very basic kitchen" doesn't mean it will in fact be an easy job without any complications arising...

I'd be reasonably confident that all of the above are at the 'simple' end of the difficulty range.

The entire flat is less than five years old, and is part of a large new build. The kitchen is entirely electric, so no gas. All appliances are remaining where they are (fridge and washing machine aren't even integrated) and not included.

The dishwasher will go right next to the washing machine, which I'd imagine is the most convenient place for it from a plumbing point of view. There's already electrics there, which the washing machine is using, of course.

The two people who came round to quote never pointed out any issues with electrics or plumbing. There were no specific electrics charges on the quote breakdown, and the plumbing charge on the independent (£3.5k) quote was just £250, so that's not bumping up the price significantly.

As well as I can recall without having it in front of me, the independent quote was basically £2,500 for installation of the six units and tiling, with an extra £500 to put up the shelves we want (he said he'd install supporting boards behind the wall). The other £500 included the plumbing and other miscellaneous costs which I can't remember right now.