Flat renovations

TranceNRG

Hi guys,
I've just bought a ground floor garden flat in west London. I also have share of the freehold of the building.

I would like to hear your opinion on my renovation plan and the costs. Previously I was thinking of going for an open plan living but I've changed my mind on this and have gone for a slightly different plan (new layout 3).

Here's the current layout


New layout 2 (open plan living)


New layout 3 (similar to layout 2 but no knocking down structural wall)


I would like to carry out the following work:

1. Add a partition wall between the 2 bed rooms and remove the current door
   
2. Knock down the little partition wall in the hallway (next to the steps) so it’s open
   
3. Decorate throughout (re-plaster and paint where needed, replace skirting boards where needed)
   
4. Install carpets in bedrooms and engineered wood in the hallway, living and kitchen (I might go for tiles or laminate flooring in the kitchen because I’m worried about water spills)
   
5. Knock down the partition wall between current kitchen and bathroom and knock down the kitchen and bathroom. New Kitchen and bathroom will be created where the current living room is
   
6. French doors in the new living room, opening in to the garden
   
7. Block the door in current kitchen and also block the window in the bathroom. Create a new hole for a window in the middle (new living room)
   
8. New kitchen and bathroom where the current living room is
   
9. Create a new hole for a window in the new kitchen
   
10. Block part of the big window in the current living room to create a small window for the new bathroom
    
11. Remove water tank and current heater and install combi boiler (Worcester or Valliant) to make storage space under the stair case. Combi boiler to be installed in the new kitchen
    
12. Replace gas pipes and radiators (5)
    
13. Rewire switchboard
    
14. New front door
    
15. New uPVC door in the 2nd bed room (opening to the garden)
    
16. New internal door between the new kitchen and new living room
    
17. Replacing the vinyl on the floor in shared entrance

I had short listed 2 builders and I got a revised quote from one of the builders.
These are his quotes (labour only) for renovation under the 3 layouts (bear in mind he did the quotes for current layout and layout 2, 4 months ago):

Current layout

Labour for flat 3820
Combi boiler labour 1200
New piping + radiators 750
Re wire new fuse board 600
All Labour 6670


Layout 2

Labour for flat 3820
Additional labour for layout 2 (Open plan living including knocking down structural wall) 2420
Remove water tank/boiler and install Combi boiler labour 1200
New piping + radiators 750
Re wire new fuse board 600
All Labour 8790

Layout 3

All Labour 9520

As you can see his latest quote for the new plan (layout 3) is about one grand more than previous layout 2 quote. I would have thought the quote for layout 3 would be cheaper than layout 2 quote as layout 3 doesn't need knocking down of a structural wall and inserting a meal beam.

I asked the builder about this and he said he'd made mistake with the quote for layout 2 and that it was too cheap. His quotes for renovations under current layout and layout 2 were cheaper than the quotes other builders gave me at the time (4 months ago) but I'm not entirely happy with the latest quote.

Anyway I've asked the other builder for a quote as well. What do you guys think about these prices? Do they seem reasonable?

Would love to hear your thoughts.

thanks.

brightontraveller

None of the redesigns scream out as doing a great deal to me ? I’d go extension or conservatory the latter being likely cheaper and adding the essential perceived extra floor space….