Loft Ladder & Boarding quote

Bluebell_Mel

Hi

I want to put a proper drop down loft ladder in my house and have been quoted around £1400 plus VAT to install a wooden loft ladder and wider hatch and board 16m2 of loft.

I thought this sounded rather high. I'm in Berkshire area.

Am I being unreasonable? If so, how much should I be looking at paying?

Have only managed to find 2 loft ladder/boarding companies who do
my area.

Should I look for someone like chippy to do this?

Thanks

Geordie_Ahmed

I'm in Newcastle so prices will no doubt differ but I will be paying £650, that is for a 3 metre ladder (apparently this is not typical as it is normally 2.8m), hatch, strip light and boarding (in total 2.4m by 6.6m) so £1400 plust VAT seems quite high

Ebe_Scrooge

It sounds quite a lot. This is the sort of job I'd be doing myself to be honest ( and have done in several houses over the years ). A basic aluminium ladder will cost something in the region of £80 or so, basic chipboard flooring will be in the region of £100 or so ( that's just going by B&Q prices, but shop around, there's any number of places you can buy the gear from ). Does the hatch need to be enlarged ? If so then fair enough, that's a bit more work, though simple enough for a chippie. Installing the flooring and ladder - no more than a day's work. Enlarging the hatch - I'm taking a wild guess here, but I can't see it being more than 2 or 3 hours for an experienced chippie.


These figures are obviously just estimates, based on what it's cost me in the past. And of course you'll have labour charges to add on to the cost of materials if you get someone in to do it. But it'll give you a starting point to work from.

Furts

A product is worth whatever somebody wants to pay for it. But I could phone a company now and have a Youngman timber loft ladder delivered to my door for £100. Obviously this is without shopping around for a best price, but bear in mind this is by far the most expensive component in the job. There are also cheaper, and inferior ladders!

The question is what are you getting for the additional circa £1600, and the answer is not much.

The savvy thing would be to get a carpenter to do the work. Even two days labour at a profitable rate might be no more than £500.

bretts

I am laughing reading at this, in london i got a guy to quote me for this and trust me it was 4k but he said he will get all the materials and I would need to order a skip, but that was plasterboarding the roof and boarding the floor and had no ladder in the quote, neither making the hatch any bigger.

Furts

bretts wrote: »

I am laughing reading at this, in london i got a guy to quote me for this and trust me it was 4k but he said he will get all the materials and I would need to order a skip, but that was plasterboarding the roof and boarding the floor and had no ladder in the quote, neither making the hatch any bigger.

It does sound at a lot, and it probably is conman or chancer who has quoted you.

However technicalities do come into play and whilst I am sure you have these weighed up OP did not put these in her post. The roof timbers need to be considered - trimming, or significant work can be required. A simple loft ladder will fit between trussed rafters at 600 centres, but what if you want it at 90 degrees to the rafters or the centres are less than 600? As the ladder comes down it requires space, which on many homes is sadly lacking. It also needs circulation space if it is to be left down. If any of these items apply to OP then her quote may be a bargain!

Of course, if roof timbers are being altered one needs to consider the Buildings Regulations, so more expense...

bretts

The guy who saw mine was a conman indeed as I asked him to do a few things and he messed them all up. This quote he gave looking at the loft from 1st floor, did not even bother going up to see what it is like up there, but hey, you learn and move on. I was very new at that time and knew nothing about how to do small bits on my own as it was my first house, but this forum has taught me so much, glad I found it.