Is this the going rate or am I being overcharged?

[Elixa]

You could try your local village Facebook group or next door community.

Also it's really worth asking in your local merchants, a trade tile outlet or independent plumbers merchants.

Whatever you do steer clear of checka....rated......trade....people.... we get upset people on here every week having had bad experiences with online Bodgit N Scarper Ltd outfits.

Thanks for the advice! I’m definitely going to have a dig around to try and get more quotes but I am seriously wondering now if a new bathroom is realistic for me. 4K sounded like such a lot of money to me and it took me ages to save it! Nursing obviously isn’t a very lucrative career choice lol. Should have been a plumber.....

 

[Elixa]

.

 

[crystal ball]

what’s the alternative though? Show him what I want and then he goes and buys it from somewhere?

There are some advantages to supplying your own fittings at least you will have the suppliers invoice & warranty, if the plumber turns out to be a bit reluctant to return or goes out of business you may be left high and dry

 

[Elixa]

Bathroom units are normally one of the cheaper home improvement things, new bath only costs a couple of hundred, new loo around 1.50. So it does seem excessive for just fitting charges. If the price he quoted included some of the bathroom stuff, I'd say it was fair. We did our own for under £1,500, including nice taps & floor and some wall tiles.

It's a good point over someone else being responsible for the units - we stupidly bought ours from bath store, the toilet and the bath were both made badly and had to go back & swapped. Was a pita to be honest!!

Yeah I thought 4K for such a tiny room was a pretty healthy budget. Perhaps even have some change from it. Seems not! Lol

 

[Elixa]

There are some advantages to supplying your own fittings at least you will have the suppliers invoice & warranty, if the plumber turns out to be a bit reluctant to return or goes out of business you may be left high and dry

Ah right, so either way can be risky.

 

[crystal ball]

Ah right, so either way can be risky.

Yes, you pays yer money etc ....

 

[Elixa]

Yes, you pays yer money etc ....

yeah just keeping my crappy bathroom seems more appealing by the minute lol

 

[dontbelieveawordofit]

Bathroom units are normally one of the cheaper home improvement things, new bath only costs a couple of hundred, new loo around 1.50. So it does seem excessive for just fitting charges. If the price he quoted included some of the bathroom stuff, I'd say it was fair. We did our own for under £1,500, including nice taps & floor and some wall tiles.

It's a good point over someone else being responsible for the units - we stupidly bought ours from bath store, the toilet and the bath were both made badly and had to go back & swapped. Was a pita to be honest!!

it’s false economy really, although even high end stuff can turn up with manufacturing faults and defects.

 

[dontbelieveawordofit]

That's pretty useful info for the OP




You must get lots of work being properly multi skilled. For small rooms like bathrooms which don't want to be out of action for long don't lend themselves to Single trade contractors that's sub out.

And in a small room it's not much use having more than one guy at a time.

I can just imagine a plumber doing rip out, put in suite, then wait a week for a plasterer, a week for the tiler......be a right mare

The worst thing for me is the customer pays 4-5k and ends up with pvc boxed in pipework or ropey spotlight recesses etc because they couldn’t pull all the trades in together.

 

[gasbanni]

Seems a very high quote to say your only paying for labour......don't use him is my advice.

You want an all in price your, your mai problem is finding a good bathroom fitter / tradesman.

Big big hint .......when you get a chap in to give you a quote go in the bathroom with him and watch if he brings a level with him to check your walls he knows what he's doing if he does !.......you can't do a good job if the walls are out. To do a good job it probably needs lining so it's all plumb and square.
That matters for the tiling ! Especially if your having a walk in shower and no bath.

Use vinyl 100% waterproof solid vinyl laminate flooring looks great doesn't crack and no grout needed.

Two days .......yeah right if it's thrown in !!

 

[JP_]

I started my bathroom in August, 2019. Still not finished. DIY is cheaper, but sometimes it pays to pay!
The price does not seem too bad, but hard to say really. People do quote high for bathrooms. Tiles and tiling can be very expensive - I spent £300 on tiles alone.

Look at a bathroom shop, add up everything you are buying, add about £200 for plasterboards, materials, copper / plastic etc. and see where you get. Then add a day rate of, I dunno, £300 for both of them, and see how far off their quote that is.

If removing an electric shower, will he need an electrician to make it all safe?

 

[sodthisforfun]

A month or so ago I was quoted £1400 to remove a small area of paving around the back wall of our house, stick some membrane down and put shingle on top. It was a day, maybe a day and a half's work at most. After costs (skip, stones etc) I worked out he wanted £900 for the labour. Perhaps am out of date with prices but that seemed nuts to me.
So, going to do it myself, while apologising to my poor old knees..

 

[Elixa]

A month or so ago I was quoted £1400 to remove a small area of paving around the back wall of our house, stick some membrane down and put shingle on top. It was a day, maybe a day and a half's work at most. After costs (skip, stones etc) I worked out he wanted £900 for the labour. Perhaps am out of date with prices but that seemed nuts to me.
So, going to do it myself, while apologising to my poor old knees..

Yeah, that is what I am with struggling here, he’s basically asking for £3000+ in wages, it seems steep! I don’t want to come across as though I want something for nothing but I also don’t want to get ripped off either.

 

[Elixa]

Seems a very high quote to say your only paying for labour......don't use him is my advice.

You want an all in price your, your mai problem is finding a good bathroom fitter / tradesman.

Big big hint .......when you get a chap in to give you a quote go in the bathroom with him and watch if he brings a level with him to check your walls he knows what he's doing if he does !.......you can't do a good job if the walls are out. To do a good job it probably needs lining so it's all plumb and square.
That matters for the tiling ! Especially if your having a walk in shower and no bath.

Use vinyl 100% waterproof solid vinyl laminate flooring looks great doesn't crack and no grout needed.

Two days .......yeah right if it's thrown in !!

Yes I’m not going to use him, I can’t actually afford to! And thanks for the tip on the flooring, he kept saying that tiled floors can be a problem, so I will take a look at the vinyl laminate!

 

[Elixa]

I started my bathroom in August, 2019. Still not finished. DIY is cheaper, but sometimes it pays to pay!
The price does not seem too bad, but hard to say really. People do quote high for bathrooms. Tiles and tiling can be very expensive - I spent £300 on tiles alone.

Look at a bathroom shop, add up everything you are buying, add about £200 for plasterboards, materials, copper / plastic etc. and see where you get. Then add a day rate of, I dunno, £300 for both of them, and see how far off their quote that is.

If removing an electric shower, will he need an electrician to make it all safe?

I only wish I had the skills to do some DIY! Yes he mentioned that for the electrics he knew someone, but all the rest he would do himself. My friends husband offered to do the electrics for free but he didn’t seem too keen on me getting anyone else in for jobs. Didn’t want it to delay him, which is a fair point. I suppose the wages thing depends on how long it is going to take him, if you do it on 2 weeks then it’s reasonable but if you do it over a week it’s about £1500 over the £300 day rate.