I need my kitchen and bathroom replaced, I've lived in this house for 14 years now (new when I bought it) and everything needs doing at the same time.

I'm completely gobsmacked at the quotes I've had so far. £6640 for the bathroom, and £6400 for the kitchen without tiling.

Am I being unrealistic, or is it possible to get these rooms done for less than that. I was hoping for both to be done for £10,000. Am I a cheapskate?

Dawn R.:(

I'm in a similar boat. Our bathroom needs redoing after 15 years, and I'm wondering how much I can do myself to cut the costs. I think it's only the plumbing I baulk at.

Don't know about bathrooms but when we had a new kitchen it was the fitting that was the expensive part. In the end we used an independant kitchen shop and found our own fitter. It still worked out at £800 for three days work and that was cheap compared to lots of quotes from the 'big' suppliers (didn't include tiling) and that was nearly four years ago. Lots of famous kitchen suppliers charge a minimum fee for fitting, so even that smallest of kitchens can be expensive. I don't think it's always a good idea to use the suppliers own fitters.

A tip is get the builder to quote for the labour and buy all the materials :) It does save money :) We have got the B&Q solid Oak range and it is very very nice :D We got everything either by delivery for worktops or we did several visits with the boot full and roof rack laden :D

Also get the builder to break down his costs by doing a Project Plan :) It than make them be more realistic on their costings as you can have more visability, ie they cannot take you for a ride ;) Avg labour costs per day is approx £250 a day if that helps :)

Lucy
xx

Yes, but you've released your builder from the downstairs loo, haven't you Lucy? What are we to do?
;) :p :D

Don't worry I cloned him  by taking lots of DNA samples from the many cups of tea he used :rolleyes: :p :p

We had friends round at the weekend for dinner and they were all totally gobsmaked at what we have done, how well it has been done and what a difference it has made :D

Lucy
xx

My husband will very often work on a daily/hourly rate, the houseowners buy all materials (saves him going to wholesalers wasting more time they would have been billed for) and the amount in days is agreed before hand.

I personally would use this option every time as quite often like my husband he is limited to where his account is held and VERY often B&Q is cheaper than the wholesalers, but he hasnt got the time to shop around.
And to be honest its safer! cash up front still goes on but at least this way you wont need to provide that as you have all the materials!!

I paid £16,000 for a total kitchen redesign and fit, and £6,000 for the bathroom and toilet to get the same treatment.  It was an awful lot of money to part with, but it has paid us back as my small terraced 2 bed house is now worth over a quarter of a mill - unbelievable!!! :)

NO Dawn £10K would do a quality Kitchen and bathroom.  You just have to buy wisely and employ wisely.

You can buy a decent quality kitchen then get someone skilled to fit it. DOn't use the company who supply it.

Likewise for the bathroom.

Ideal Standard are still one of the Top bathroom makers in the UK and homebase sell their bathrooms.

I have a couple houses I rent out and even with our trade accounts we couldn't beat Homebase for a really nicce bathroom suite ( and not a cheapy thing) for one of the houses when they had their 50% off.

MFI if you buy from their Schreiber range is also a company very hard to beat and their styles are very nice now.  Most UK house builders kitchens are not even the quality of the Schreiber kitchens.  Their fitters will do it on the side if you can get a hold of their number. Tip about the kitchen units is to buy the biggest sized ones and if you like the look of loads of doors just get the smaller doors because you wil pay just about the same money for a 600 wall unit as you will a 300 wall unit. If you like the look of the 300 unit buy a 600 unit with 300 doors. The cost difference is incredible.  Try to get as many 1000 units in first , then go to 800 units etc.  Sink and taps can be bought on line from decent companies.

Thanks everyone for your words of wisdom, it's given me food for thought, and more than a little encouragement. It's amazing how far a little know how goes. Thanks. :)

Dawn R.

PS also your appliances if you buy them together from a decent online company such as trade appliances you can get a good discount with them if you ask ;-)

If you look at MFI BTW they have a rotation of their offers ( I have freind who works there) they change every 6 weeks. Always a sale as you know but some deals are better than others. THe best one they do is when it is 50% sale price  which it always is ;-) but then when they have the 20% off that. EVen if they are doing appliance deals forget it and buy only when the 20% off is on are haggle for it. Their appliances are too expensive.

I remember watching one of those house renovation programmes and the couple took a van over to France and bought a lot of the accessories over there (taps, sink, tiles etc.) as they were half the price.  We get totally ripped off in this country.

needs replacing or WANT it replacing? :)  I think thats the critical thing.....lets face it its not likely to actually be worn out !!!  I cannot imagine any of these newfangled fitted things come cheaply unless you buy rubbish. maybe best to get one done & then save for the next? Better to have quality stuff that lasts & have it done in stages than rush in & buy cheap rubbish which is falling down in a couple of years :)

Hi Nursey,

It seems a little expensive, Is it all 9 ct gold? I would go and price up the bathroom of chose,
tiles ect; then ring a trades man and ask him how much to fit it. The kitchen as well.
I had a friend who had a quote on a loft ext; £12.000.00 the company payed £3.000.00
for materials and the trades men £3.000.00 to fit it. They told him if he had brought the Materials.
They would have fitted it for him. So I would check first. Can't loose!!

Regards
Denese

Do you actually need to replace all of the kitchen? Often the carcases are fine and better quality than new ones, so much cheeper to just replace doors and work surfaces ;) Also you can probably do the doors by yourself since it only takes a screwdriver.

I agree Bluebell.  We bought a kitchen from Wickes, and after many many problems with B&Q (don't ever use them for kitchens, or at least not to fit them - their service is non-existant), we eventually decided to fit the kitchen ourselves.  It took a while, but we were in no rush.  The only thing that we had to pay someone for was the worktops to be fitted, which cost us £120.  All in all we saved ourselves £1,400, and my hubby is no DIY'er, but with patience it's quite simple really, and there's no way anyone could tell our kitchen wasn't fitted professionally.

As for the bathroom, we had a new suite when we first moved in, and we got plumbers to plumb it in for £350.  We tiled ourselves.  It's a pain, and it's messy, and it takes longer, - but it's bloody worth it when you work out how much money you could save.

Keeley I hear what you are saying but you often dont even need to replace the structure. We are looking at replacing the doors and worksurfaces, in a large kitchen, solid wood doors and stone work surfaces for under £4k. fitting doors and draw fronts ourselves and someone else to fit the work surfaces. Now if I could just find some good cheep stone flooring.....