13,466 kitchen floor quote - is this reasonable.

[flooringpuzzle]

Hi everyone,


I'm looking for some independent advice from experienced builders regarding the cost of repairing our kitchen floor.


We're renovating an older property and, after removing the kitchen units and flooring, our builder advised that the entire concrete kitchen floor needed replacing due to its condition and lack of damp-proofing.


We were quoted £13,466.79 for the kitchen floor work alone. This included removing the entire existing concrete slab, excavating approximately 100mm, installing a damp-proof membrane, laying new concrete, screeding and tanking the floor, along with associated damp-proofing work.


However, once work started, the builder told us the floor wasn't as bad as originally thought.


Approximately three-quarters of the original concrete floor is now being left in place, with only around a quarter being excavated and rebuilt.


We've been told this will save us £1,900, but that would still leave a cost of approximately £11,566.79 for the kitchen floor alone.


I'm struggling to understand how the cost can remain so high when most of the original concrete is no longer being removed or replaced.


I'd really appreciate some advice on the following:

• Does the revised cost seem reasonable for the work being carried out?
• Would retaining approximately 75% of the original floor normally result in a greater saving?
• What would you expect the labour and materials to cost for this type of work?
• If the original assessment said the entire floor needed replacing, should most of it now be left in place?

I'm not questioning the workmen's efforts, and I'm happy to pay for work that genuinely needs doing. I simply want to understand whether the revised price reflects the reduced amount of work.


I'll attach photographs showing the kitchen floor and the work carried out so far.


Any advice would be very much appreciated.


Thank you.

 

[Deluks]

Way too high. It about £500 in materials, tops.

 

[Charlie George]

As above, you are being ripped off big time, what are the pipes in floor? and are they just going to concrete over them, 3 £15 tins of bitumen looks like their total damp proofing work.

 

[flooringpuzzle]

Thank you for replying.


There was an old gas pipe running through the kitchen floor, which the builder has said needs rerouting. We've been quoted separately for the gas work, originally around £1,220, with another £425 subsequently added.


As far as I'm aware, the gas pipe isn't going to be concreted over, but I'll confirm that with the builder.


The black coating has been applied to the excavated section, but I don't know whether that's the complete damp-proofing treatment or whether further work is planned.


The original flooring quote was £13,466.79 for replacing the entire floor, but now most of the existing concrete is staying and we've only been offered a £1,900 reduction.


Could you tell me what you would expect a reasonable price to be for the revised work?


Thanks again for your advice.

 

[Charlie George]

Around £1500 would easily cover the work their going to do, £13,500 is way overpriced for the full floor, looks like they added around £10,000 extra, think you need to get rid of these conmen.

 

[Collectors]

It can be a builder, but quite often a plasterer will do floors. After the concrete has been removed & a DPM laid it should take a maximum of 3 people to lay the floor in 2 day to remove all the old floor & lay new.
£700pd 3 guys that also lay the floor £1400
1 skip hire £200
1. mixer hire £80
2 yard sharp sand £180
20 bags of cement £80
DPM £80
Sundries £100
Price = £2120.
Personally, i would have dug down a bit more & looked at laying a 4" insulation & then concrete at an extra £4to500-00. So around £2.5k total
Get rid of that builder.

 

[^woody^]

If you accepted the initial quote, then you need to pay for the things that would have been done anyway to access the floor, but then work out the area of floor, divide that into the remaining quoted price to get a m2 rate and then just pay for the area of floor done.

The alternative is to get an independent professional in to value the work and the original quote and you both accept their opinion.

 

[23vc]

“Not as bad as originally thought” = “oh sh*t we’ve bitten off more than we can chew, let’s make it easier but still charge a fortune” ?

Deffo sounds wrong, doesn’t look like large area in the pics.

 

[kingandy2nd]

How many other quotes did you get for the same work?

 

[tony1851]

As Collectors points out, what about insulation. Usually 100 PIR is required for floors, involving some further excavation.
Are Building Control on board? I might be wrong but it could be that an application is required?

(We were quoted £13,466.79 for the kitchen floor work alone. Could they not even let you off the 79 pence?!!)

 

[Charlie George]

As Collectors points out, what about insulation. Usually 100 PIR is required for floors, involving some further excavation.
Are Building Control on board? I might be wrong but it could be that an application is required?

(We were quoted £13,466.79 for the kitchen floor work alone. Could they not even let you off the 79 pence?!!)

Maybe thats why they've only replaced a section 'i think if whole floor was replaced building control are involved, and then as you say insulation would be required.

 

[flooringpuzzle]

How many other quotes did you get for the same work?

Thanks for your reply.

 

[flooringpuzzle]

Just to clarify a little more about how we've ended up in this situation.

We originally agreed a price of approximately £13,000 with the builder to fit our new kitchen, renovate the upstairs bathroom and downstairs toilet. We had already purchased the kitchen units and bathroom fittings ourselves.

The builders started work, and once the kitchen was removed, problems were discovered with the floor. We knew there was a small area that felt bouncy, but we had no idea that we would end up facing such substantial additional costs.

We were then presented with quotations for the floor repairs, which have taken the overall cost of the project from approximately £13,000 to nearly £30,000.

A few people have asked why we didn't obtain a second quotation. The difficulty was that the builders were already on site, the kitchen had been stripped out, and we were being told that decisions needed to be made quickly so the work could continue.

Since then, we've been told that the floor isn't as bad as originally thought and that a considerable amount of it can remain in place, resulting in a reduction of £1,900.

We've also been told that rerouting the gas supply will cost an additional £425, despite the existing gas pipe and the possibility of rerouting it having already been discussed.

We're not accusing the builder of overcharging us. We simply want to understand how a renovation originally costing £13,000 has increased to nearly £30,000, particularly when less floor work is now required than originally anticipated.

We've asked for a full written breakdown of all the quotations, revisions, payments and outstanding balances.

We appreciate that unexpected problems can arise when renovating an older property, and we want everything done properly. However, the amount of additional money involved has been quite overwhelming, especially as these decisions have all been happening within a matter of days.

We're just looking for independent opinions on whether the additional costs seem reasonable for the work actually required.

 

[Deluks]

We're not accusing the builder of overcharging us. We simply want to understand how a renovation originally costing £13,000 has increased to nearly £30,000

You've answered your own question.

 

[endecotp]

we were being told that decisions needed to be made quickly

An absolutely classic scam technique.