advice on flat renovation costs

bwarp

Hi.


I am renovating my flat with a contract with a builder to do the entire project, and i'm starting to become dissatisfied with the size of the labour charge. Can someone with more experience please advise me about the reasonableness of the charges. Thanks. The details are as follows:-


small 1 bedroom flat, every room is small, work being:-
new bathroom
new kitchen
new flooring (carpet)
new window furnishing (curtains)
new doors and locks
redecorating whole flat (paint, wallpaper, panelling, etc)
furnishing
some minor misc stuff


This is total renovation.


The contract is for £25,000, including furnishing, with a duration of 6-7 weeks. I am happy with this price, but what I am not happy with is that when it has come to deciding on selections my builder is saying the materials budget doesn't cover my selections and is asking for a budget increase in order to get them. I feel that the selections are a fair refection of the budget.


The problem is that it wasn't clear from the contract until he has tried to explain to me how he meant it, that he is charging approximately 50%/50% material to labour, so literally about £12,500 for labour for this project.


This works out at close to £400 per day labour, but as stands there has only been usually 1-2 people there, with a need for a special electrician/plumber for 1 or 2 days the entire project.


He is insisting to me I am being ridiculous and if I looked elsewhere the whole project would be at least 2-3 times as expensive.


Any help as urgently as possible is appreciated.


Regards,


J

Doozergirl

Did he put down price allowances for items on his schedule? Or describe what he was providing?

We put down allowances for anything that isn't finalised. Did he expect that he was putting in whatever he liked? Is he giving you any choice?!

bwarp

There aren't set allowances, we have gone through this separately, and that's the point at which I was a bit dissatisfied with the breakdown.


I make all choices, and I pick expensive stuff, and that side of it is fine, it is just whether the labour portion is reasonable or not.


He justifies it with stuff like that marble tiling is much more difficult to install than ceramic tiling so the labour charge is much more, etc.


I'm starting to get worried he think's i'm dumb and is trying to con me out of a quick bonus few £k for himself.

Doozergirl

I'm confused. Could you tell me exactly what is being disputed?

Marble definitley costs more to install than ceramic, btw.

bwarp

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Whether 12.5k is a reasonable labour cost for my flat renovation project.

phill99

bwarp wrote: »

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Whether 12.5k is a reasonable labour cost for my flat renovation project.

It depends entirely on the scope of works, to which we aren't privvy!

'New kitchen' could mean many things. It could ge 6 units or it could be 15 units. What worktops are you having? Soild oak takes a lot longer to install than laminate as ut has to be biscuit jointed as well as worktop bolts. It also has to be treated three times before installation

So until you tell us exactly what they are doing, we wont be able to tell you. Whether it's giid value ir not.

bwarp

Installing marble bathroom and all fixtures. Installing marble kitchen and all fittings and appliances and about 5 cupboards. Installing new wardrobe in bedroom. Installing 2 new radiators. Installing carpet in bedroom, living room and hallway. Installing curtains in bedroom and living room. Redecorating bedroom, living room and hallway with paint wallpaper and panels etc. Installing furniture throughout. Some miscellaneous stuff like installing heating panels, sorting out storage cupboard and installing aircon unit.

Isn't £400 a day for 6 weeks loads no matter what they are doing?

phill99

bwarp wrote: »

Isn't £400 a day for 6 weeks loads no matter what they are doing?

Evidently you have come to your own conclusion about it so thete is no point anybody commenting on it.

bwarp

Huh?

Advice any1?

Ruski

bwarp wrote: »

Installing marble bathroom and all fixtures. Installing marble kitchen and all fittings and appliances and about 5 cupboards. Installing new wardrobe in bedroom. Installing 2 new radiators. Installing carpet in bedroom, living room and hallway. Installing curtains in bedroom and living room. Redecorating bedroom, living room and hallway with paint wallpaper and panels etc. Installing furniture throughout. Some miscellaneous stuff like installing heating panels, sorting out storage cupboard and installing aircon unit.

Isn't £400 a day for 6 weeks loads no matter what they are doing?

TBH there are some pretty specialised skills/trades involved in this list, which you don't seem to have weighted accordingly.

I would say that as an average figure it's not far off.

I, of course, would do it for a monkey less :D:D:D

HTH

Russ

phill99

You need to remember that you are not paying for time. You are paying for skill.

If you just paid for time, brain surgeons would be paid the same as cleaners.