Where to start.

Florenceem

I want a new kitchen and bathroom. Hubby not DIY or knowledgable about such things - how do I choose who to ask for a quote?

Valli

Ask around friends/colleagues and see if they've had any installations and how they went.

Go round a few of the big chains and see if there's anything you like; get them to quote.

Try a specialist and get a quote from them.

Have a look round for an independant and get a quote.

See if your local County Council has a trusted trader scheme and ask them for a quote.

Once you have a few quotes you'll start to get more idea of what your options are. Time spent looking at kitchens and bathrooms and talking to possible installers isn't wasted; rushing into it would be a big mistake IMO

SailorSam

Make a drawing of your kitchen, where the doors and windows are then go to see what you like in Wickes; B&q; and the likes of Ikea and get them all to design something on their computers and print it out, ask for both the takaway and the fitting price.
I'd recommend Ikea but i'm sure others would say different.

SuzieSue

Valli wrote: »

Ask around friends/colleagues and see if they've had any installations and how they went.


IMO

I agree with this. If you don't know anyone who has had their kitchens and bathrooms done then go and knock on a few doors around where you live and see if anyone else knows someone. Make sure you get the name of the actual fitter who did the work, not the name of the company who did it as it is the fitter that is important. Any idiot can sell you a new kitchen or bathroom, it's the fitting that takes makes the difference.

Jaynne

Along with measurements of your existing rooms, a couple of pictures wouldn't go amiss to give any planners a good idea of what you have already.

Think about what you like and don't like about the existing rooms, what are your essentials and make a list.

Typically if you go to a big name store like B&Q if you use their fitting service you pay a lot more. Independents may or may not be better.

If you want to save money then try to organise as much of the trades yourself. A kitchen fitter might be better at sticking in all the units and worktops but he's probably not a plumber or tiller and they will subcontract. Arrange for the tradesmen yourself and you might get a better deal although it will be more work for you to organise it.

SuzieSue

[QUOTE=Jaynne;56331289
If you want to save money then try to organise as much of the trades yourself. A kitchen fitter might be better at sticking in all the units and worktops but he's probably not a plumber or tiller and they will subcontract. Arrange for the tradesmen yourself and you might get a better deal although it will be more work for you to organise it.[/QUOTE]

Yes, this is the best way to save money. However, personally, I always prefer to have one company do everything although the cost is much higher.

In the last 2 years I have had my whole house refurbished. I started with the kitchen and got a recommendation from a neighbour who had just had their kitchen done. As I was new to this, I just asked for the name of the company and not the name of the fitter. Fortunately, I got an excellent fitter, but that was more luck than anything and I have since learnt that the same company has some fitters which are not as good as the one I got.

I then got my bathrooms totally replaced and I used a family firm which had been around for over 20 years and asked them to supply and fit all the sanitary ware and tiles. Again, they did an excellent job.

I know that I could have got everything a lot cheaper if I had bought it myself over the internet and arranged the different trades myself, however, there have been lots of horror stories on this forum about different trades blaming each other when things go wrong and people having to pay for fitters' time if the goods they have ordered themselves turn out to be faulty. By using one company to do everything, they had to take responsibility for everything and when something went wrong they had to resolve it.

Several years ago, my kitchen tap stopped working so I called in a plumber who fixed it. We got talking and I just happened to mention how much I disliked my plastic sink and how I would much prefer a stainless steel one. He said that he would change it for me and quoted me a fixed price. He told me to get a sink and he would fix it. Anway, I didn't know much about diy at the time and just assumed that all sinks were a standard size and it took me ages to find one. Then when I managed to find one, the first one that was delivered was faulty so when the plumber came round to fix it he was unable to. He could easily have charged me for his wasted time, but luckily he didn't. There were also other problems with the replacement although I can't remember the details and the poor guy ended up coming back around 3 or 4 times and he would have been well within his rights to charge me for all those visits but he was good enough not to. Anyway, after that experience I decided that I would rather pay a bit more and get one company to do everything.

Also, when I had my kitchen fitted, the dishwasher wouldn't work. If I had bought the dishwasher myself and employed my own electrician then the electrician might have blamed the appliance and the retailer might have blamed the electrician. As I had bought everything from the same company, they had to resolve it and they did.

CKdesigner

Hi

With regard to the kitchen to save a lot of time and messing about, before you get 'a quote' get the kitchen properly and fully designed.

If you are thinking about getting quotations from different companies for the supply and installation of your new kitchen then the most sensible thing is to get the space designed by a professional kitchen designer first, you will need to pay for this service (not a huge amount) but the benefits of this are considerable; you will have your kitchen designed by someone who's priority is to design your space properly, not someone who's sole objective is to 'sell' you a bunch of boxes. Also you will own the full set of plans which you can then issue to all the companies you want for prices to supply and install.

I hope this helps.

CK