Issues with kitchen fitting

elburnzo

So we had a builder coming in to strip out the old kitchen and fit a new kitchen. He was supposed to turn up yesterday to remove the old kitchen which he did. He then called me to say he had got the quote wrong and instead of the £3k+ quote it was actually £7k+. We told him we simply didnt have that money (which he already knew as we asked him for a few different quotes so we could work out what we could afford). We tried to come and go with him and even said we could pay £5k but couldnt go above it. He refused, said he would put the kitchen back "as best he could" and left. Leaving all the rubbish at my front door, hole in the plasterboard from taking tiles off and half a kitchen.



Now we have to try and figure something out with the kitchen. I have found somewhere that can supply the kitchen for a reasonable price (around £2k- it wasnt a fancy kitchen to begin with) but dont do fitting. All the kitchen fitters we have tried are booked almost to christmas. We are happy enough to fit the kitchen ourselves as its mainly base units (we did one before but it was a straight replacement so easy enough) but the electrics and plumbing need changed and now we will need a plasterer too.



Any ideas on what order we would do it in and likely costs?

societys_child

Hole in the plaster board -
simple fix if you're tiling over it again, not that difficult even if you're not.


Plumbing - again, not difficult especially with speedy-fit type plastic.

Electrics - If you're changing it much, yup, you need an electrician.


Think how much you could save . . .


Don't forget, there's plenty of how-to videos online/ youtube. Go for it

tacpot12

In term of order, I would suggest:
Electrics (1st fix)
Plastering
Plumbing (1st fix)
Kitchen units and work tops
Plumbing (2nd fix)
Tiling
Electrics (2nd fix)

Whereabouts are you? (In case anyone has any local knowledge. )

elburnzo

thanks for that. I'm based in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.



I'm pretty confident we could do everything except the plastering and electricals but still need to convince the other half! We have a kitchen fitter coming this evening to give us a quote so shall see what he says. It would certainly save me a lot of time to get someone else to do it whilst im working but after this experience i'm at the stage of not wanting to let anyone in the house!

beaker141

Was 3k/7k to include the kitchen AND the fitting or just fitting ?

You might need a tradesperson to get a decent joint on your worktops - depends on where/how many or whether you'd be happy with a metal jointing strip.

elburnzo

the £3k-3.5k (it was something like that) was originally on the quote as the kitchen fitting and supply. Which we did think was quite cheap but he wasnt doing any plastering, decoration work or flooring etc, and it was supposed to be "mates rates" as he is the friend of a colleague (who is now raging with him), the same kitchen from Wren Kitchens was around £4k fitted so we figured it wasnt too far out (this is our first home so we may have been wrong in our assumption but i think we had some logic to it).


The £7k quote was down as being the removal of a couple of stud walls, plastering two rooms, moving some electrical bits for lights etc to do with the walls being removed, moving a radiator, adding an additional radiator and a few other bits. We thought that was quite expensive but he was the only quote we had got so far for that as we were planning on getting it done early next year to give us time to save (which he knew).


It turns out he got the figures round the wrong way and the removal of walls was £3.5k and kitchen/fitting £7k. He reckoned we shouldve known that and wouldnt budge. Now we possibly shouldve have realised the wall removal was a bit expensive and the kitchen a bit cheap but we went with the written quote provided.


It subsequently turned out he had measured the kitchen wrong too and had a full metre of extra wall down one side and hadnt figured a window in for the wall units so i suppose its turned out for the best as i dread to think what wouldve happened when he came to fitting.

elburnzo

Just been quoted £800 for fitting the kitchen, electrics and plumbing. Seems too cheap! He doesn’t do plastering and is let’s say not from the UK.

suki1964

fitting a kitchen is really easy to DIY

We did ours a few years ago, only paying for an electrician for a couple of hours work and a plasterer to make good two walls

We got the plans done in Ikea, we spent hours in there juggling things about till we got everything we wanted fitted in

I built the cabinets, DH fitted them and done the tracking for the electrics and also done the plumbing and tiling

The only other "expense" was the granite worktop, getting that templated and fitted

Took a long weekend once the kitchen was ripped out and floor levelled