Plumber/electrician quotes - first time buyer needing advice

tink17

Hi, just joined the forum and hoping to get some advice having just bought my first house. It is a 3 bed semi built in 1955 and I am in the North East of England. There are pipes exposed next to the living room window, next to french doors in the dining room, and where an old back boiler would have been next to the chimney breast. In one of the bedrooms, there are pipes running along the edge of the room which are boxed in. I am wanting all of these pipes removed/chased into walls or hidden in any way possible. I also wanted 3 radiators removed and replaced with convector radiators. The toilet has been persistently running too, but I didn't ask for anything to be done to this as my stepdad thinks he can sort it.

I know it's best to get a few quotes to gauge how reasonable they are, but I have had three plumbers out and here is how it went:
Plumber 1: Advised that all heating pipes should be removed and renewed with new 10mm flexi pipes with 2 manifolds, 3x new radiators and valves = £2,200
Plumber 2: "For all work, I would charge £1097 including the parts (parts come to £510) - this also includes adding a 4th radiator at the bottom of the stairs as advised. I would sort out the running toilet for you in with the cost."
Plumber 3: Came out last Wednesday and said I'd have the quote by end of Thursday, but I haven't heard anything back and am reluctant to call him chasing it - should I, or is this a bad sign?

Given that the first two quotes were so different, do you think I should just go with Plumber 2, or get a third quote? If you think Plumber 2's quote is reasonable, maybe it's worth just going for it, but I have no experience in getting work done on a house, so thought I would put it to the good people of this forum.

I went through a similar experience with electrician quotes (1st quote: £3200 and insisted it needed rewiring (except the kitchen which will be done when it's renovated), having done the EICR; 2nd quote: £960 - showed him the EICR, he said the wiring was 'dated but safe' and it didn't need to be rewired, I asked him to quote me for a rewire as well so I could decide but he said it didn't need rewiring and only quoted for the work I wanted doing without rewiring even though the house is unoccupied and it probably would have been a good earner for him; 3rd quote: £650 - knows a family member, not sure if that's why it was so much cheaper or whether there's anything to worry about there - but he is NICEIC registered), so it's hard to know where to draw the line and just go for it, without the life experience of what these things generally cost!
Thanks for any help!

ratrace

sorry i know you took time writing the above post but where is the breakdown of all the work that needs doing , thats what a quote is it has to be detailed etc.... not just a fixed price this is when problems happen between trades and customers, its very hard to tell if any quotes are cheap or a ripoff, for example your heaters and they going to be the bog standered white one's or the new desingers ones etc... hard to say untill a breakdown is not quoted

Robin9

You can't rewire a house for £650  - all the sockets, switches, light fittings  will cost most of that ?  
You need details of what is proposed - it could all be surface in white conduit which looks  a mess.

FreeBear

If you are thinking of having copper pipes chased in to the walls, be warned, it can cause issues. Copper, cement, and plaster do not mix - The copper will corrode over time and lead to hidden leaks. There is also a risk that someone will bang a nail in or drill a hole through the pipes.

If you are burying copper pipes in a wall, they need to be sleeved in plastic conduit without any joints. Capping the chase with a strip of stainless steel will give some protection from nails & drills. If small bore plastic pipe is being used, it is still worth sleeving in conduit as it makes replacing the pipes much easier (not that replacement is likely within your lifetime).

In a well insulated house with decent double glazed windows, there is little real need to site radiators under windows. With that in mind, look at where you could position radiators to minimise the amount of pipework and route as much of it under floorboards where possible.

ProGasMCR

This is how I see it.

Plumber 1 has given you a detailed answer of what is going to happen to achieve what you want, with a specific cost.
Plumber 2 seems like "my mates dad will do it" price on a cig packet type of answer and does not specifically say how he is goign to achieve it other than, "I will sort it".

The price difference may indicate a big difference in workmanship and materials used etc.
Cheaper is not necessarily better and sometimes you do honestly "get what you pay for".

Myself, I would be proposing to remove the copper, replace with buteline piping chased into the walls.
Radiators would have to be chosen by yourself from our brochure (This could affect the cost massively dependant on choice).
But, as you have not given pipe run lengths and radiator sizes etc, I cannot give a guide price.