Magnet sales

LaurenHeath123

I live in Carmarthenshire, Wales and I am having a similar problem to you!
I don't like the plastic feel and look of the B&Q, home base and Wickes kitchens so asked for a quote from a West Wales carpenter. Starting prices were in the £20-25,000 region
Safe to say I'll have to make do with the 'plastic look'.

leveller2911

LaurenHeath123 wrote: »

I live in Carmarthenshire, Wales and I am having a similar problem to you!
I don't like the plastic feel and look of the B&Q, home base and Wickes kitchens so asked for a quote from a West Wales carpenter. Starting prices were in the £20-25,000 region
Safe to say I'll have to make do with the 'plastic look'.

Anything bespoke will cost a premium over a standard product.

I had a client last January who had a quote from Wickes for a kitchen and where they rip people off the most is the fitting charge. I made them a bespoke kitchen which consisted of 14 units (4 of which were curved units) American black Walnut worktops, 1 set of solid walnut drawers, spray painted doors,cornices etc and wire pull-outs etc and the total cost fitted was £2k more than Wickes wanted for their kitchen. Their quote was for a standard kitchen with Ash worktops (cheap) and 3 fewer units,no pull-outs and without solid timber drawers.. The kitchen I made was more expensive than Wickes but when you take into account the high fitting charges they charge it made me more competitive . The wanted £3,275 to fit the kitchen they wanted to supply I made the kitchen and fitted it in 3.5 days which they wanted £3,275 for .

Bespoke kitchens can be very good value for money and there are plenty of guys out there who can make a superior product at a similar cost to the sheds, it will more than likely cost a little more but most people would be willing to pay a little more for a superior hand made kitchen . You pay a little more but when people charge £25k+ for a bespoke kitchen its either a large kitchen or the company has large overheads and needs to charge more for the product.

When you see these nice shiny monthly magazines with the professionally taken photo's etc these kitchen companies are charging seriously high prices for a product Joe Public can have made by a small local company/self employed joiner for a snip compared to these companies advertising in "Country life" etc.

moneyistooshorttomention

Shame you arent near me leveller then...

Anyways up....I've now made an arrangement to go out with a friend and check out a bespoke kitchen place over here. We have no idea whether I'm going to faint at the price level they mention and "head for the hills" or beam broadly and grab them quick yet. I haven't even got the vaguest of ideas what I'm expecting them to say re price levels. But my friend and I are going to take a look and see what we think - as we both fancy the thought of it per se.

I guess the nearest to a deal one might get there is a "two for the price of one" - well okays then = they get 2 kitchens to do if they quote less than double the price of one kitchen? We'll see what my friend and I both make of it...

leveller2911

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Shame you arent near me leveller then...

Anyways up....I've now made an arrangement to go out with a friend and check out a bespoke kitchen place over here. We have no idea whether I'm going to faint at the price level they mention and "head for the hills" or beam broadly and grab them quick yet. I haven't even got the vaguest of ideas what I'm expecting them to say re price levels. But my friend and I are going to take a look and see what we think - as we both fancy the thought of it per se.

I guess the nearest to a deal one might get there is a "two for the price of one" - well okays then = they get 2 kitchens to do if they quote less than double the price of one kitchen? We'll see what my friend and I both make of it...

If ,when you get to the "bespoke" kitchen company they have a nice shiny office with plenty of admin staff, and a Merc,Audi or BMW parked in the car park I'd give it a miss........... Seriously though up and down the country there are probably thousands of small Joinery workshops like mine with guys like me who make anything from an Oak staircase, Windows, doors, wardrobes,beds,coffins (believe it or not) and kitchens.

We don't have have expensive colour brochures that are full of sales fluff giving the impression they are somehow different from everyone else and how buying your next kitchen from them "is not just a kitchen its a life changin experience" and all that bull. They do everything they can to stand out from the chap next door purely because their product costs a premium .

I've seen supposedly top quality hand built kitchens costing £80k+ and they are just the same as the kitchen you could have built by a small independent workshop for less than half that price. They have to factor in all their advertising,admin staff wages, designers wages, workshop managers wages etc etc etc.

Do a bit of research and find some small local Joinery workshops and ask them to quote for what you want, they would have photo's etc of previous ones they have made and should be happy to put you into contact with clients who would be happy to give them a reference. If your not sure what you want then get Wickes,Magnet,Howdens etc to design it and give the elevation drawings that they will allow you to have before you pay the deposit and give them to the small Joinery workshops and they can work out the quote for you. Its really only the general layout you need and the rest of the details the Joinery should be able to go through with you. I do this quite often because I don't design kitchens but can make anything a client wants. They get to see samples, choose any colours they want ,the quality hinges ,runners etc.

I stand by what I've always said which is kitchens are just boxes on legs with doors on and a worktop sitting on top of it. They really aren't difficult to make and the materials are in general the materials are cheap......except some worktop materials .

DIY Kitchens online are my top choice for a standard kitchen .They give good service , decent product and a good price. The only issue they have is they won't plan the kitchen for you and you would need to order each unit,plinth,end standards etc yourself which can be daunting to a complete novice diy'er...

Good luck ....................:)

glasgowdan

I don't think the OP is willing to listen to any advice re diykitchens online! I had a joiner do ours from them, he did the order for us as he knows what parts are needed. Quality is superb. And we got laminate worktops for durability and low maintenance.

leveller2911

glasgowdan wrote: »

I don't think the OP is willing to listen to any advice re diykitchens online! I had a joiner do ours from them, he did the order for us as he knows what parts are needed. Quality is superb. And we got laminate worktops for durability and low maintenance.

Over the years when I haven't made the kitchen I have fitted Howdens,Magnet,Wickes,B&Q etc and DIY are as you say better quality ,very professional service and a good price. The fact that their units are fully assembled,wire work,baskets,pan drawers,doors etc all pre fitted makes the job easier and their carcases are better.

I just think their business model is a really good one and any carpenter/Joiner or carpenter should be able to order online.Then the person who deals with your order direct phones up to go through the order item by item to make sure its all correct.

Just to add I have no links to DIY Kitchens, don't get any kickbacks ,discounts etc.............

Doozergirl

Leveller, where actually are you?

leveller2911

Doozergirl wrote: »

Leveller, where actually are you?

Hi DG, I'm down here in East Sussex walk 4 miles South and I'd be in the Channel...........

System

Op, the more I read from you the more bizarre it gets!!
Everyone told you what to expect from magnet and you went ahead anyway?!
Then these comments about "city firms"? Seriously?
You come across as someone where a tiny bit of knowledge is very dangerous - if you are on a forum asking for advice maybe you should heed the advice you get?!
Having worked in rural locations and city centres in the UK and abroad, I can tell you there is nothing relevant about what size of town a tradesman operates from - there are good and bad everywhere, you need better ways of selecting them if this is your basis...

Davesnave

To be fair, it was me who mentioned city prices.

In the countryside, it can be much cheaper to use local tradespersons, but because of multi-tasking, there has to be an element of compromise over timng, as I've already illustrated.

It's got nothing specifically to do with competence, or even entusiasm.

As another example, we had quotes from several electricians, but the town-based guys from Tiverton and Barnstaple wanted continuous working and estimated high, because we couldn't provide that - things like our walls were moving so it had to be staged.

In the end, we used a local firm, who do mostly commercial jobs and have people like us a time fillers. The limitations of that are obvious, but we almost understood them, and the pricing made the relationship acceptable, if a little fraught at times.

There are many very able folk who never advertise, and the others as well. We've had builders come here from the smoke and go away again, because work dried-up when their efforts were assessed locally.

The chap who does our tree work is a prime example of someone who can multi-task. He can drop and log a difficult tree, put up a stock-proof fence, dig drains, and weld vehicles. When a tree falls across the road in the night, the council ring him, but there's no number in the phone book for that, or anything else. That's because it's all word of mouth, and besides, he has a farm with sheep, cattle and pigs and he grows his own fodder crops, so apart from emergencies, he needs plenty of warning!