Flooring for New Home Prices

jackcwilson

Hi,

My partner and I are buying a new home and have been told it does not come with flooring (which I personally do not think should be allowed). We have been quoted the following for the cheapest the builder can do for the cheapest flooring options:

Carpets:
Lounge - £876 (4.12m, 4.59m)
Bedroom 1 - £566 (3.98m, 4.59m)
Bedroom 2 - £456 (3.15m, 4.59m)
Bedroom 3 - £469 (2.69m, 3.76m)
Stairs & Landing - £676
Hallway - £324

Vinyl:
Downstairs w.c - £92
Main Bathroom - £184
En-suite - £118
Kitchen/Diner - £830 (3.07m, 4.59m)

Totaling £4,591!

This seems like extremely a lot to me - does anyone know if I will be better off getting this done externally after the keys are handed over and if so, where and how much?

Thanks

Jack

P.s not sure of measurements of bathrooms, stairs and hallways at the moment.

Doozergirl

Yes, outside parties will be cheaper and you will have more choice.

You have measurements, so take a floor plan and go shopping.

Carpet can cost anything per square metre, it impossible to say what your house will cost. Do you have details of the brand/type carpet? Going simply on the lounge, the builder is charging £50 per metre, including underlay and fitting I presume.

Not suggesting you shop from the likes of Carpetright, but if they still do the 'free fitting and underlay' thing then you'll know very quickly by looking at the tag on the carpets what can be saved.

In reality, the carpet cost is loaded with underlay & fitting, but it makes a quick comparison easy.

jackcwilson

Thanks for your reply @Doozergirl. Will it matter if I get my flooring fitted after I move in. For example, will it be messy having the kitchen floor fitted around the new kitchen or is it best to have them fitted at the same time?

I have been told that if I do not chose to have flooring fitted through the builders, it will just be concrete when I move in.

Thanks

Jack

ST1991

What kind of vinyl is going down in the kitchen diner....?!? Gold plated?

You can get a good finish on Vinyl around kitchen cabinets with a matched filler, or if your cabinets have a wooden plank around the bottom these can perhaps be removed, vinyl fitted, then put back.

FYI we just bought and fitted out own laminate flooring in 2 rooms, pretty much the exact same size as your bedroom 1. one room cost around £140 (this is INCLUDING 6mm underlay, threshold, scotia etc) and the second room cost £250 as the laminate is much nicer.

Not saying that you do it yourself if not capable... but it certainly shouldn't cost someone £300 to fit a floor? Especially considering they can probably buy the materials cheaper than i can...
I have never actually got a quote from someone so i may be wrong!

Get someone in after. Do you have an overlap in moving? E.G once it's yours can you say not move in for a week whilst your own contractors come in to fit?

Doozergirl

It's very easy to fit a kitchen floor with the kitchen already in place.

The only additional issue would be carpeting around your moved in furniture. The developers know the hassle factor and know that some people will pay any price to have a finished house immediately.

It would be easier to fit just before you move in, but most of us don't have that luxury and most of us have to fit our carpets when we live in a house.

You could move stuff into a couple of rooms, (one upstairs, one downstairs) get carpeted very quickly, unpack and then call the fitters back to do the two rooms when they're less full of boxes.

It will be up to you if the saving (or a better quality product) is worth it.

jackcwilson

Thank you ST1991!

I 100% won't be going with the builders quote now - I will get some quotes from external people.

Unfortunately we do not have an overlap, they are very passionate about not letting external builders in until the keys are handed over so we will have to move into a concrete floored house and then arrange for flooring to be done. We may have to live with the in-laws until this is done.

Thanks,

Jack

glasgowdan

I wouldn't use the builders choice of flooring and fitters either. You can purchase flooring to be delivered on the move day and arrange fitters to come in the next day to minimise disturbance. Get things shoved in the garage or one room (even keep things in the van if you've got it on hire for another day). I imagine you could save £2k by doing things this way. That's a month's wage and will pay for a lot of fancy new kitchenware!

Go to a local independant carpet place and ask to see the sizes and style of their end of rolls. You save a fortune by buying these. Get underlay, gripper rods and lining paper online. Again, fortunes to be saved.

jackcwilson

Doozergirl, Amazing to here about fitting the kitchen floor around the kitchen already in place! I think the builders told us this may be difficult just to try and persuade us to use them!

I think that sounds like the best idea about the moving stuff in! Luckily my partners parents live 5/10 mins away so may be able to dump some stuff there while the floor are being put in.

Thanks

Jack

jackcwilson

I have also been told the carpet in bedroom one will need to go into the wardrobe as there will be a fitted wardrobe - will this be a problem for external contractors?

Thanks,

Jack

Doozergirl

jackcwilson wrote: »

I have also been told the carpet in bedroom one will need to go into the wardrobe as there will be a fitted wardrobe - will this be a problem for external contractors?

Thanks,

Jack

No. No problem!

Bubblecat

We had the option of either going for the developers 'soft furnishings' package (worth £6k for a large 4-bed house - carpets, vinyl and curtains - tiled kitchen came as standard) or the £6k knocked off the price. We took the latter option 1) as it was cheaper and 2) a lot of the curtains we had from the old house we could use in the new house. We managed to carpet the place for £4k for a medium range carpet (but more expensive striped carpet on the stairs and landing which meant quite a bit of wastage due to a winding staircase), tiles in the hallway and vinyl in the bathroom and en-suite. The builder wouldn't allow us to have these fitted until the purchase had completed so we had the pain of moving in and having carpets fitted the same day and next day and had no other options available to us (i.e. staying elsewhere whilst it was done). It required quite a bit of planning but for a £2k saving the hassle was worth it.
On the day we completed we had carpets fitted in the living room and master bedroom first whilst the removal firm had their lunch, followed by the dining room and one other bedroom while the removal company off loaded furniture into the rooms that had just been carpeted, then the next day the carpets fitters returned to fit the remaining bedroom carpets and stairs and landing. It went a lot more smoothly than we thought it would!