£5,100 kitchen install

AlJ · 17 July 2017 at 1:21PM

Hi,

We foolishly only got a verbal quote for a kitchen install. The quote was £2,200 with no mention of whether or not this included VAT.

During the job, we received no updates on increasing costs.

After the job, we received an invoice for £5,100.

I asked the builder to itemise and he gave these details:

Remove old kitchen box in cupboard.
Fit new kitchen, plumbing, sink, dishwasher and washing machine, tile walls
£2174

Plasterboard and skim ceiling
£460

Drain down heating system and move magnetic filter, refill heating system with inhibitor
£230

Remove gas pipe and install gas hob by a gas engineer
£170

1st and 2nd fix rewire to kitchen
4 double sockets
3 fused spurs
1 cooker supply
1 cooker outlet
4 downlighters
1 two way consumer unit with RCD protection
Install bonding to water
Issue of NICEIC Electrical installation certificate
£1220

Plus Vat on all the above

Total = £5,104.80

Please could I get your thoughts on this cost? It seems very high to me - £2,900 more than the original quote! - but I'm keen to know what other people think...

EDIT: For extra info, the kitchen is from Howden's and, to give an idea of scale, was installed in a 5.5m x 2m space. Built in fridge freezer and larder next to it, built in microwave, oven and extractor fan, sink, dishwasher, boxed in boiler, 5 double cupboards (2 in an island with a work surface on top), 3 drawers, 2 small shelves.

comeandgo · 17 July 2017 at 1:52PM

To fit your new kitchen he charged you £2174. He has done a lot extra, which I assume you agreed needed doing?

AlJ · 17 July 2017 at 2:01PM

comeandgo wrote: »

To fit your new kitchen he charged you £2174. He has done a lot extra, which I assume you agreed needed doing?

Yes - I agree that a lot extra has been done and would also agree that it needed doing. I definitely think we owe more than £2,200, I just want to make sure that we agree a fair amount as we didn't agree a price for the extras in advance.

I don't question items 3 and 4 on the list at all - perfectly happy to pay those in full. And I only think that item 2 (£460 + VAT for the plaster board and skim) seems maybe a little on the high side.

But would you not expect some of the electrical work - e.g. supply to oven - to be included in the original quote as a standard part of installing the kitchen? Should the entirety of the electrical work be charged as an extra?

As I say, happy to pay a fair price. I just want to see if other people consider £5,100 to be fair.

Doozergirl · 17 July 2017 at 2:26PM

It doesn't look unfair, put it that way.

It should have been organised beforehand.

£2174 for what is in the price looks pretty fair, especially including tiling. And £1220 for a partial rewire looks pretty fair as well. It would equate to my last partial kitchen rewire.

comeandgo · 17 July 2017 at 3:11PM

You asked him to fit a kitchen, he has had to get the electrics ready for this fit. You should have had that done for him, ready for him to do his part, the fitting. I think price is very reasonable.

Witless · 17 July 2017 at 5:35PM

TBH, judging by what I paid recently, that looks about right: depending on how long / how many workers - thought it also depends whereabouts you are - 'extras' are always painful.

At first glance the ceiling seemed pricey, but in light of these sites -
http://www.whatprice.co.uk/prices/building/plastering-ceiling-drylined-plus-skimmed.html#axzz4n6XFpECG (plaster boarding) & http://www.whatprice.co.uk/prices/building/plastering-ceiling-skimmed.html#axzz4n6XFpECG (plastering) - possibly not far away.

As for the electrical - did he fit or supply & fit? Bit pricey for 'fit' but not OTT for 'supply & fit' - again depending where you are. A straight forward consumer unit replacement can be between £350 - £550, one guy on the link quotes £1100 for fairly similar excluding the consumer unit, another quotes £475 for just new cooker circuit - http://www.whatprice.co.uk/prices/electrician/kitchen-connect-oven.html#axzz4n6XFpECG

I paid £370 for fitting a new consumer unit (they supplied) and extra sockets (I supplied the items & did first fit: tracking, plaster boxes & conduit, wires 'pulled through' he did the connections & I plastered afterwards):
plumber was £220 to drain system & add inhibitor and fit valves to the tap feeds,
after the kitchen was fitted he charged £80 to fit the taps & waste supply:
electrician was then £40 to disconnect cooker (we'd bought a new one the month before we decided on a new kitchen) for the floors to go down & reconnect it the following day.
The fitting was included in the price of the kitchen (2 fitters x 2 days) - £600 to £750, hard to work out exactly what it cost as the units were more expensive 'supply only'.
I fitted the lights (4 x £49) & downlighters (3 x £14) etc.

Not madly dissimilar, I'm in a 'cheaper labour' area and to be honest the extra £1k would have been worth it for the convenience of having it all done for me.

somethingcorporate · 17 July 2017 at 8:06PM

VAT has made it quite pricey. Excluding VAT the prices are about what we paid at the start of the year for some very similar work.

The only thing that looks pricey is the over-boarding and skim but it's not excessive.

£5,100 kitchen install

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