Are there any people who can give me the ballpark cost of getting the likes of MFI, BnQ, or Homebase to put in a new bathroom? (New bath with shower-doors, toilet, bidet, basin, tiling and flooring.) Nothing fancy.
I just need a very rough idea very quickly of how many £1000s it costs at the moment. Their lines are all engaged and the online forms don't result in any figures.
Eddy.
3k is my guestimate. Let me know what they actually quote!
Well that should be a warning. If they won't talk to you before they get your money you shouldn't have high expectations after they have your money.
Why not research the product costs at for example
Jim A
ho can give me the ballpark cost of getting the
I agree that's the sensible way to do it - however - some people also like to purchase the non-tangible product that a big name provides - peace of mind. You know that if they don't do the job correctly then you can stamp your feet and bang your fists until they do it correctly.
It seems to me that the way they work out the price is :- (cost of materials + labour costs + profit) x 3. The multiplication factor is the non-tangible added value that peace of mind provides you. The higher the multiplier, then more peace of mind you get.
Just my opinions!
Mark.
I fitted one the week before Christmas - ripped out everything to the bare walls, even old skirting off. Prices: Bath/sink/toilet - £300 (reduced from £500 in the sale) Shower - £150 Wall and floor tiles - £400 (good quality, large tiles for the walls) Tile adhesive - £60 Various plumbing fittings and wastes etc - £50 Sundries, - another £50 My charge - £450 (included some fittings, and wood etc.)
So the total for this small ( approx. 6' x 8' ) bathroom would be around £1500. The large chains will charge siginificantly more than this, and not do the 'total refurb' which I did - for example I did away with the poorly designed waster pipes, and put a new single pipe in place, made wood boxing for the pipe etc. Alan.
Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts. It's a big help.
Well, five hours ago, the MFI telephone system promised to call back within three hours . . . and they haven't.
BnQ are sending a guy out tomorrow for a no-charges full quote.
Before he comes I'll do the pricing you suggest, online.
Thanks a lot everyone.
Eddy.
I guess that's what Dolphin would want customers to think. My mum made the mistake of letting one of their reps in some years back: eventually a price was forced out of him (IIRC £5K for a corner shower in a bedroom) and after that he was reluctant to leave.
You can DIY it for under a grand for sure.
Not sure I would trust a chain to find a decent bathroom specialist.
Better to find a local man, and get him to quote..even if he gets his stuff from B & Q.
Should be under 2 grand if units are nothing special, tiles are basic, and not too extensnive etc etc.
I think this fully justifies my earlier post. Find the man. The units are easy to find, the right man is not.
The other advice from a man I did find once was 'expensive tiles: cheap china'
Even a crap plastic bath looks great when surrounded by good quality tiles. I did out the latest bathroom in quartzite mosaic. OK, I spent nearl 400 quid on them, as against, maybe 100 quid for cheap crap, so waht is 300 quid in a 3 grand plus bathroom? Not a lot.
About 500% more expensive than getting someone proper to do it.
Except the price, and the multitude of small print you will agree to prior to them fiting it, which of course removes all libility from them and their contractors.
The big chains pay peanuts and use people who are unable to get work of their own, IE, if you were a high quality bathroom fitter, would you advertise in the local press and get local work and make good money, or would you work for peanuts for one of the chains and travel all over the country?
In article , The Natural Philosopher writes
I agree. Worked for me on a bathroom refurb (except I got a genuine Jacuzzi shower/bath at a quarter of the price from a sale.)
Precisely.
This is not my experience (of both bathrooms and kitchens).
The MFI/B&Q quotes were less than a 'professional' wanted.
The Sharps/Dolphins/etc do charge 5 times as much.
tim
That's because they use monkeys.
And of course, what you find out is that most of what constitutes what you would think of as an installation, is in fact not included..
Sure. The overhead of running those showrooms, the onsite visits, the planning and drawing up..costs money.
Having heard that MFI were "quite good" now went for an MFI fit kitchen (currently on 5th day of 3-day fix).
The NP might say the above, I couldn't possibly comment :o(
I have probably done about 8 bathrooms. more or less, in my time.
Most of them were in older properties,but even in the new property with green field, there is still an awkward amount of plumbing to be fettled in, wastes to be string and supported correctly, and then even when the china is in things have to be boxed in, made good, decorated and tiled, and then SWMBO will want this or that toilet roll holder, mirror with lights,bathroom cabinet..all of which may or may not find convenient studs to fix to.
If its a refurb,. there is stripping out.
None of this is easily quantifiable. Not without a site inspection and report, which ion itself is damn near a days work.
Even then things can go pear shaped. I've got a cupboard with a hole in the floor over the rodding eye on a right angle bit of basin waste..that was unexpected and time costly.
Friend's have a saniflo that was simply plastered into a wall..when it went wrong (naturally it DID. disposable razor blade dropped down the loo accidentally one hears), had to remove a load of tiles and hack a hole in the wall, make a proper removable panel etc..
I doubt that a bathroom in a week is possible for one man doing all the bits that really OUGHT to be done. Work with unimaginative and uncreative gibbons ==(yer average contract plumber) and corners will be cut.
It takes me the best part of a day to prep up a room for painting..filling sanding skimmimng, making good, caulking..
Tiling is a days work at least.
Boxing in pipes and making nice bath panels..as long as it takes.Days usually You *can* use those orrible plastic panels..but who wants em?
I think that £750 labour is the minimum. And it might be 4 times that for a biggish fancy job. Last one I did involved a LOT of WP ply to put the shower tray on, and to stiffen up the floor and bath so the tiles wouldn't crack off on the bath edge, or on the floor.
Well they didn't use the best guy in the book, but he was good enough. And if you don't like it you don't give them the final cheque.
The did everythng in the price that I expected
and so do MFI. The difference with Sharps is that 50% of what you are paying go into the pocket of the sales staff.
tim
You paid by cheque?
Oh dear.......
I piad the deposit in the shop by card.
I can't remember how I paid the balance, but were I unhappy, I wouldn't have.
tim
Thanks, everyone, for your "estimates". You may be as shocked, and depressed, as I was yesterday afternoon after the BnQ bathrooms chap left here . . . having quoted just under £5K for a complete new bathroom.
Maybe I should state exactly what we would/will get for the £5K.
First, off it's a 300cm x 197cm bathroom.
- four walls & ceiling replaced & replastered.
- basic bath with shower cubicle mounted over it at one end
- basic basin, basic toilet, & basic bidet
- tiles on all four walls to a height of 1 metre approx, minus door area, & higher in corner whether shower will be mounted
- tiles on floor
On Monday I'm going to call a local bathroom fitter and get him in to see how he quotes for the same work. I wonder if it'll be any less.
Eddy.
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