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!

 

[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.