Am I being overcharged?

[Tanarif]

Hi all, would much appreciate some help on this. We've been quoted £2000 to get kitchen work done, and £2200 for the bathroom.

For the kitchen, this includes rewiring the wires in the kitchen (they're currently out of the wall and covered), and these will be moved into the wall. As this will damage the walls, tilling will also be done. Most of the costs I assume are labour costs.

For the bathroom it's not electric work, but they will be doing the tiling on the floor and walls, re-plastering the ceiling, and fitting in new sink and bath. For the bathroom we've been quoted about £600 for all the materials - the other £1600 is labour costs.

Both the bathroom and kitchen are really small - we live in a 4 bed flat and you can't really walk more than 3 walking steps in either. I ask as to whether the prices are too much as I had people round to rewire the bathroom light from the ceiling to the wall due to water leak, and in total including labour and materials they charged £350. In comparison, the £2000 looks extortionate. All in all, any advice is appreciated. I do feel like the guy is trying to rip us of - we've been given insurance money and I think he's just trying to get as much as he can. They start work monday so any help appreciated!

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

I think that is a complete rip off
I do kitchens for two local fitters , if it's an addition/alteration I provide points for 2 integrated appliances , 2 extra sockets, extractor , hob ignition then it's 450-500, if it has cabinet lights then upto 575 with downlights maybe up to 700, that's labour and materials , day rate for it's fix and day rate for second fix

If its a full kitchen rewire then 800-900 at a max

Think about it, 3000 to rewire a 3 bed semi, 3000 that's maybe 9 rooms and your being charged 2000 for 1 room,....no chance .

And as far as the bathroom is convened then that's even worse, I mean at max it's maybe 4 downlights? 2 shavers, pull cord and shower and isolator ....don't pay it

 

[DurhamSparky]

aggreed with above ^^^

i rewired a kitchen and installed downlights, all metal as well and only charged 765...!!

 

[malcolmsanford]

Hi all, would much appreciate some help on this. We've been quoted £2000 to get kitchen work done, and £2200 for the bathroom.

For the kitchen, this includes rewiring the wires in the kitchen (they're currently out of the wall and covered), and these will be moved into the wall. As this will damage the walls, tilling will also be done. Most of the costs I assume are labour costs.

For the bathroom it's not electric work, but they will be doing the tiling on the floor and walls, re-plastering the ceiling, and fitting in new sink and bath. For the bathroom we've been quoted about £600 for all the materials - the other £1600 is labour costs.

Both the bathroom and kitchen are really small - we live in a 4 bed flat and you can't really walk more than 3 walking steps in either. I ask as to whether the prices are too much as I had people round to rewire the bathroom light from the ceiling to the wall due to water leak, and in total including labour and materials they charged £350. In comparison, the £2000 looks extortionate. All in all, any advice is appreciated. I do feel like the guy is trying to rip us of - we've been given insurance money and I think he's just trying to get as much as he can. They start work monday so any help appreciated!

We do have a plumbing forum for the bathroom side of things so they may be able to give you a better idea.

You are in London and if your 4 bed flat is in Belgravia I'm sure that is a normal price, if it's in Brick Lane then chances are your being ripped off.

@k for burying a few cables though does seem excessive. How many quotes did you get?

 

[cogsey133]

Hi all, would much appreciate some help on this. We've been quoted £2000 to get kitchen work done, and £2200 for the bathroom.

For the kitchen, this includes rewiring the wires in the kitchen (they're currently out of the wall and covered), and these will be moved into the wall. As this will damage the walls, tilling will also be done. Most of the costs I assume are labour costs.

For the bathroom it's not electric work, but they will be doing the tiling on the floor and walls, re-plastering the ceiling, and fitting in new sink and bath. For the bathroom we've been quoted about £600 for all the materials - the other £1600 is labour costs.

Both the bathroom and kitchen are really small - we live in a 4 bed flat and you can't really walk more than 3 walking steps in either. I ask as to whether the prices are too much as I had people round to rewire the bathroom light from the ceiling to the wall due to water leak, and in total including labour and materials they charged £350. In comparison, the £2000 looks extortionate. All in all, any advice is appreciated. I do feel like the guy is trying to rip us of - we've been given insurance money and I think he's just trying to get as much as he can. They start work monday so any help appreciated!

Why let them start? if you are unhappy with the quote get some more i would have thought.

 

[drew35]

Wow I think that is really cheap!!! Do you have their number I need some work doing? I would tear their arm off at that price...

 

[DurhamSparky]

price would probably double if you tore their arm off!! labour costs would shoot up plus you would need to install a disabled drop kerb and parking areas for his van..!

 

[pennywise]

Where abouts in london are you?, is it a top floor flat? whats parking like? are you in the congestion zone? What standard are the original circuits?, do you already have a new consumer unit?. The list is endless without all the information I can't even begin to start pointing fingers and passing judgement on another companies pricing. Did you find the company or did the insurance company?

 

[Tanarif]

We do have a plumbing forum for the bathroom side of things so they may be able to give you a better idea.

You are in London and if your 4 bed flat is in Belgravia I'm sure that is a normal price, if it's in Brick Lane then chances are your being ripped off.

for burying a few cables though does seem excessive. How many quotes did you get?

It's pretty much close to Brick Lane - same property prices / standard. It's actually my sister's property, and she lives as a single parent with her kids and I think she only got one quote from builders and took it on faith from the builder people that the price was good - she could pay as she got £5kish for various stuff from insurance. My worry is though that had the builder not known it was insurance money - he wouldn't have charged anywhere near that amount.

Where abouts in london are you?, is it a top floor flat? whats parking like? are you in the congestion zone? What standard are the original circuits?, do you already have a new consumer unit?. The list is endless without all the information I can't even begin to start pointing fingers and passing judgement on another companies pricing. Did you find the company or did the insurance company?

It's in the Whitechapel area (east london), first floor flat, and free parking on weekends / close by free parking weekdays. Not in congestion zone. No idea about the other two questions - the wiring is fairly old though I know, but the electrician that came by the other day to the bathroom said the kitchen wiring is old but not old enough to desperately need to switch the circuit board.

Thank you for all the responses by the way, a little mixed but much appreciated. If you guys honestly do think it's overpriced I'll suggest stopping the job / getting other qoutes before then.

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

At least get 3 quotes

 

[pennywise]

Didn't you get three quotes from other companies (Sorry just saw your last line of your post). I would suspend works until you've got some other prices, also make a common spec for them all to price from, then there should be a little consistency.

- - - Updated - - -

At least get 3 quotes

Got there first lol

 

[Brightspark2]

At least get 3 quotes

Exactly what I was going to say....

 

[Tanarif]

I think my sister's a little keen to just get it done as it's been dragging on for a long while now (the insurance claim mostly), and not sure the builders would be the open to rescheduling now considering they were due to start monday.

 

[Rampage]

You are calling them builders? Are they builders or electricians? Will they give you safety certificates (Electrical Installation Certificate) for the completed work? Are they Part P registered?

I imagine if you cancel they will say they have already bought the materials and that you'll have to pay for them.

 

[flyingsparc]

Sorry to say it but your sister has not helped her situation, keen or otherwise, even if the claim has taken a long time, she should have used that time to get more quotes. If work has started, and assuming that her specification has not changed and is relervent to their initial pricing then she will just have to accecpt the costs. Like someone else has said, you dont know the extent of the electrical work. I have been to look at jobs where they are having a new kitchen fitted, and they just want to add a couple of sockets, and move a few points around, the board needs updating, all the other circuits require remedial work etc etc. Total cost seems high for what you can see. Just my view, and obviously not fully in the picture.

 

[Octopus]

Not enough information for me.

Having said that £2200 for a replacement bathroom, in London, strikes me as VERY cheap. The size of the room is not that relevent. I'm guessing that you have a toilet, hand basin and bath in there.

If you're not happy with the prices get some more quotes and as you are involving electrics be prepared for a replacement fuse board and bonding if they aren't up to date.

 

[Swicade]

The way i read it is that £2000 is for the electrics,patching up and tileing....not just sinking in electrics. It might be abit expensive but i've no real idea of prices in London.

1 big mistake was only getting the one quote....mistake no2 was if the tradesman were told it's an insurance job then it's very likely the price was stacked it.

 

[i=p/u]

A friend asked me to go to London to fix electrics in her house and do a little maintenance as trades men were expensive

 

[SYKRAPS]

I would make money at those prices commuting from Yorkshire, if it is straight forward its at least double what it should be. Look on the net and get a 2nd and 3rd quote imo.

 

[i=p/u]

Aye maybe, but if he is a proper company with vans , staff etc his costs are a lot more. Few gu

 

[i=p/u]

Few guys said their business would fail if they charge less than £25 ph, but should get few quotes if ain't sure

 

[vjsmarwick]

If the prices given in your post had been for the wiring only then yes it's a rip off but you mention tiling and other work so to be quite honest with you I don't think the price is so bad I charge £20 an hour so £160 a day just for labour even though you say the rooms are not that big I am guessing the sparky would take a day alone to get every thing in but I am not sure if you meant when you said the wiring was outside the wall now but to go in the wall is it a stone/block wall because that can be a lot of work on its own. But as the others stated always better too many quotes than just 1

 

[Knobhead]

Yes you're being over charged.....
Now you've got 24hrs. to cancel the work, find a new tradesman and stop your sister from murdering you for interfering :95:

 

[vaughant]

I`m not sure were seeing the full picture here, I`m guessing its insurance work that requires a payment directly from the insurer rather than the op`s sister has the cash sitting in an account waiting to pay the trades directly.
If this is the case why do you care what it costs, that's for the insurer and the trades to discuss, as long as the job is completed correctly to a good standard then that should be ok.
If she`s paying out of her own bin then delay the start and get more quotes first,although it does seem a bit late now, I`d not be happy if I were the builder with such a late call off.
I was in the car body repair game before I realised what a cr4p trade it is and we regularly dealt with insurance companies who were awful, they take forever to pay, question every penny on your invoice and generally make it really awful to try and get whats rightfully yours. We always doubled the quote when insurance were involved purely for the hassle, the only thing we sometimes did for the customer was try and incorporate their excess in it, but even then people get mardy about it.
If your hoping to get a few £££ out of it by questioning if its a direct insurance job or cash then I`ve no sympathy as I know how they operate, if your just trying to save your sis a few bob ignore that comment.

 

[Progressing]

You can't judge the prices by just looking at the electrical side, plumbing and making good is all expensive stuff especially trying to match tiles.

 

[nikmet]

are these prices for the wiring only, or including new bathroom and kitchen fixtures and fittings, (bath sink, kitchen worktops cupboards etc)?

 

[Darkwood]

Il do it for all for £3900 and im travelling from yorkshire ... but no gold plated fittings

 

[valleybilly]

If you havn't seen any previous work they have done or at least contacted 3+clients to check there any good then the money side is irrelevant.