£1650 mates rates?

F_Bear

we've a tiny working class 3 bed semi that needs a new bathroom. its a massive 2x2 metre square with a wall coverage of 14sq metres.

weve bought a £600 'all in' bathroom, including tiles, grout and addishive, from Brookes tiles in Hull. an treat ourselves to a towel radiator :-)

the fitting is a straight swap and re-tile. granted the old ones need taking out and the rad plumbing in

had a mate of a mate round today and just rung with a quote of £1650!! i was thinking more like £650.........or am i dreaming?!

BlueC

Seems a bit steep but £650 would be very low. I reckon somewhere around a grand.

Fish_n_Chips

F_Bear wrote: »

we've a tiny working class 3 bed semi that needs a new bathroom. its a massive 2x2 metre square with a wall coverage of 14sq metres.

weve bought a £600 'all in' bathroom, including tiles, grout and addishive, from Brookes tiles in Hull. an treat ourselves to a towel radiator :-)

the fitting is a straight swap and re-tile. granted the old ones need taking out and the rad plumbing in

had a mate of a mate round today and just rung with a quote of £1650!! i was thinking more like £650.........or am i dreaming?!

I take that is just labour only ?

Bit on the steep side if you ask me..

MonsieurFrugal

Think you can forget the idea of mates rates. I will only ever do free/discounted work for my family. If i did that for friends as well I wouldn't make a living!

A1P

To get an approximate idea ,work on £150-200 per day.My usual warning make sure the tiling is going to be done well or the job is a waste of time.Note you have bought adhesive and grout.Needs to be suitable for the job e.g. tubbed adhesive is not suitable.On the mates rates situation,any tradesman with a reasonable amount of work on at his 'business'rate is not going to cut that much if at all.It can also be a recipe for a poor job 'chucked' in for cash,cheerio.It might be possible to get it done in the £800-1000 range depending on the work situation in the Hull area.

Brian_the_gas_man

There's a saying I learn't when I first started, gasmen have no friends, meaning people who have nothing to trade in return just want you to work for nothing.

If you have a skill set and derive your income from it, then that is your business, fair enough you are able to rewire your mate's house or do the cam belt on his van, then you can prorata each other's money.

Personally, if you are mates, get someone else to do the work as if the job has problems or leaks, it will ruin your friendship, if you're not that close, you are trying to take advantage, given he's quoted you £1650, you can't be that close?

somethingcorporate

£800-1000 sounds about right depending where you are in the country.

Steve_the_fitter

seems like a fair price if you ask me . he has to rip out the old and get it downstairs. he may have to make good the walls before tiling 14 mts sq. he may have to put somesort of waterproofing round the bath if u have a shower as well. tanking kits cost 80 quid on their own. I assume there is floor tiles to do as well. It all adds up.
I fitted a kitchen the other day which I charged £2300 for. The customer wasnt sure weather to go with me to start with as he had been quote £900 by some other ' kitchen fitters' . After a few days of me being there hed tell me every morning how happy he was that he decided to go with me and not the guys who gave the cheaper quote. At the end of that 2 week fit I added up my outgoings and it was a few quid short £650. If he went with the cheaper guys there is no way he would have got the same quality job.

somethingcorporate

Steve_the_fitter wrote: »

seems like a fair price if you ask me . he has to rip out the old and get it downstairs. he may have to make good the walls before tiling 14 mts sq. he may have to put somesort of waterproofing round the bath if u have a shower as well. tanking kits cost 80 quid on their own. I assume there is floor tiles to do as well. It all adds up.
I fitted a kitchen the other day which I charged £2300 for. The customer wasnt sure weather to go with me to start with as he had been quote £900 by some other ' kitchen fitters' . After a few days of me being there hed tell me every morning how happy he was that he decided to go with me and not the guys who gave the cheaper quote. At the end of that 2 week fit I added up my outgoings and it was a few quid short £650. If he went with the cheaper guys there is no way he would have got the same quality job.

Refitting a small bathroom is hardly the same as refitting a kitchen.

Just because some people charge a lot for their time does not necessarily make them worth it - you may think so but this is a MSE community so most people here won't agree with you.

I had a quote from a "mate" to replace the roof on mates rates for £10k. Cost me £500 to have it patched up and will be good for the next five years.

You may be expensive and value for money but it doesn't make everyone and I still think this is expensive for the job considering it is "mates rates". I had a similar job done in a bigger bathroom for less than a grand.

southcoastrgi

I agree with steve

Steve_the_fitter

I totally understand this is a money saving forum and if you read and of my previous posts you will see I always try to provide a money saving option.
Is just in this case I really thought £1650 to refit a bathroom with full tiling was a really good price but I guess if others are quoting less than a grand maybe its not but compare quotes before making any choices.
as for mates rates for a mate of a mate.... maybe there are people out there who do it but personally I wouldn't give mates rates to someone I dont know.

Im glad you got your roof fixed for another 5 years, I would prob have done the same thing, but your mate quoted you for a very different job and the way you put mate as "mate" makes me think that ur not actually that matie anyway.

also small rooms are a real pain in the !!! to work in and could quite easily add a day or 2 to any fit

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Refitting a small bathroom is hardly the same as refitting a kitchen.

Just because some people charge a lot for their time does not necessarily make them worth it - you may think so but this is a MSE community so most people here won't agree with you.

I had a quote from a "mate" to replace the roof on mates rates for £10k. Cost me £500 to have it patched up and will be good for the next five years.

You may be expensive and value for money but it doesn't make everyone and I still think this is expensive for the job considering it is "mates rates". I had a similar job done in a bigger bathroom for less than a grand.