London 1 bed flat renovation - am I being totally ripped off?

HattieT

Hi all - I'm hoping to get some advice on the below!

We are currently in the process of renovating our 1 bed basement flat in London (zone 2). We have received planning approval to remove the old conservatory at the back of the house and replace it with a flat roof structure which will house the kitchen. This involves altering the internal layout of the flat as shown in the floorplans. The footprint of the house is staying exactly the same, it is 600sqft for reference.

To complicate matters, our flat flooded during the flash flooding in London last summer so it has currently been stripped back to brick as part of the insurance repair works and drying out process. The flat is now completely dried out and we have put the job out to tender.

We have just received quotes from builders to put the flat back together as per the proposed plans. When we received the quotes, I literally fell off my chair. The three quotes were: £270k, £353k and £403k. I am honestly in a state of shock. I'm fully aware that London building costs are unlike anywhere else in the country and that the cost of raw materials has shot up this year, however, these are on another level. I could buy another flat for that last quote!

All 3 builders that quoted were aware of the fact that part of this work will be covered by our insurance claim. However, the majority of it won't be i.e. the removal of the conservatory, the change of layout etc.

Am I being totally ripped off because they are aware it's an insurance job? I can't understand how someone can physically spend that much money on a 600sqft flat when the footprint of the house isn't changing and we aren't building any new walls! Unless I was coating every ceiling in gold leaf!

Any advice would be much appreciated!

FreeBear

£400K would buy me a nice little 3 bed detached new build...

I would suggest getting a couple more quotes without mentioning insurance and see how much of a difference it makes. One thing that may complicate matters - As all the walls have been stripped back to bare brick, Building Regulations will require you to increase the level of insulation where technically feasible and with a payback of 15 years - Building Control should be able to advise as to what they will accepts (they should be involved with the construction of the extension).