bathroom quote.... Does this seem reasonable?

[sleep envy]

get an SDS drill and set it to hammer, sure original tiles are hard to get off but how many houses still have them?

Si - you can't think of it in terms of just a rate/day

speak to the guy, find out how much he'll discount it and make the decision but if you've got time on your hands you might as well get your hands broken dirty

make sure you get it to a point he's happy to tile over though

[Plotloss]

sleep envy said:

get an SDS drill and set it to hammer

On rotostop with a chisel, one assumes?

I'm not sure how drilling holes everywhere is going to help

[sleep envy]

it helps when you need to chase too

[mk1fan]

Price seems reasonable to me. They're doing a lot there and it sounds as though they're doing it right too. Although I wouldn't use LV lights I use mains GU10 LED's. They use less power and comply with current regs. LV items don't. Secondly I would get them to remove the floor boards and board out with three quarter inch or inch thick marine ply. Over boarding existing floor boards with thin ply does not give a suitable base for tiling. You may as well do the job properly. You didn't mention and extractor fan. Is one being fitted?

Finally, building work is very straight forward and simple to do - that doesn't mean it doesn't command a value when it's done right. If you can't afford to pay for the whole job then do the strip out works yourself. All you need to do is isolate the services and go nuts. I have stipped out an entire bathroom inc ceiling and flooring over one, very long weekend. Then all the fit-out work and workmanship should be warrantied. There's nowt worse than seeing really nice materials and fittings piss poorly fitted.

ETA: there are plenty of homes where the tiles are 'properly' fixed. There are also plenty where the old tiles were tiled over.

Edited by mk1fan on Tuesday 14th April 16:50

[Deva Link]

Dupont666 said:

Damn... just got a friend to redo the quote so it can be read properly as the mac has issues with xls.

Its £2800 for labour and £1800 for materials making the quote closer to £4600.

Just how long does it take to refurb a bathroom and how hard is it?

I thought it would be less than 5 days and that makes it £560 a day to do stuff.

Im now wondering how much I can do myself as I can live at the OHs flat whilst I do everything.

Have asked the builder to quantify the estimate as I have no actual estimate total over all that why I assumed the £2800 included the materials as well.

There isn't much scope in the material costs to save money, and if he's prepared to siurce everything then it's probably best to leave him to it - otherwise you'll have to sort out problems with shortages, damaged goods etc.

As far as doing some/all of the work is concerned, it's not hard but if you're doing it yourself at weekends it'll seem to go on forever. If you have to get people in, like sparks, platerers etc, do you know people you can call on, can you be there during the day to let them in, supervise them etc?

[sleep envy]

mk1fan said:

There are also plenty where the old tiles were tiled over.

that's a fair point!

[Dupont666]

Im currently waiting for other people to get back to me regarding quotes so will see.... Im not complaining about paying the money I just want to make sure im not paying london prices like I seem to be when getting quoted for kitchens.

The guy who gave me the quote is recommended and will probably go with that quote for a professional finish... but dont mind having some fun and taking some of the stuff out myself.

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

sleep envy said:

mk1fan said:

There are also plenty where the old tiles were tiled over.

that's a fair point!

Which was the situation we were in.

'Oh, these tiles will ping off in no time! Hang on, what's this underneath? Oh cock....'

[mk1fan]

I'd always remove all the tiles and factor in a cost for complete replastering. Then you know you've got a good base from which getting a good finish is so much easier.

[Dupont666]

mk1fan said:

I'd always remove all the tiles and factor in a cost for complete replastering. Then you know you've got a good base from which getting a good finish is so much easier.

Well to be hones there is only about 3-4 square meters of tiling as its only in the shower and near the sink.... everything else is just painted walls... so that should be easy and they can tile over it

[mk1fan]

Splashbacks should be easy enough to make good.

[spikeyhead]

mk1fan said:

I'd always remove all the tiles and factor in a cost for complete replastering. Then you know you've got a good base from which getting a good finish is so much easier.

I know someone who moved into a house that had been owned by a dry liner for a long time. The kitchen had been redecorated three times and each time it had been drylined again without removing the old stuff.

[B17NNS]

As has been said, a good 10 days work there.

Adjust the day rate according to where you are.

[mk1fan]

spikeyhead said:

I know someone who moved into a house that had been owned by a dry liner for a long time. The kitchen had been redecorated three times and each time it had been drylined again without removing the old stuff.

Why are these partition walls sooo thick

[Nolar Dog]

I don't think sub 5k is bad at all for a fully supplied and professionally (assuming it will be!) installed bathroom.

I'd be happy to pay that at any of my places.

[tybalt]

Do it yourself - it's really not that hard.

I did my bathroom and it was not that hard. If you are a bit handy then you ought to be able to have a crack at it. Stripping out really is very easy indeed, but you need to be confident in isolating services and capping off pipes etc.

My bathroom was an empty shell. I installed flooring, downlighters, bath, concealed thermostatic mixer shower, sink, toilet (including new hole in wall and joining to existing cast iron waste stack), and tiled. Left the plastering to the professionals but all the above are pretty easy (except for the cutting into the cast iron waste stack while up a ladder - not great fun).

I've got another one to do shortly. It will be a concealed thermostatic mixer shower, big shower tray and sliding glass door, sink and toilet, limestone tiling throughout. I'm planning on a week off work, then doing the rest of the work at weekends and evenings. I've got two small kids (1 and 4) and the other half works too, so time is not something I've got much of, but it saves so much cash I can't afford not to do the work myself. Plus I derive a great deal of satisfaction knowing that "I did that". I've never done a shower tray and enclosure before, but these things are not hard. I'd never done a bathroom before the last one and that turned out very well.

Edited to say that the price for the work is about right in my experience of paying people to do things. Other people's time is not cheap unfortunately. Mine's pretty expensive too on a professional basis.

Edited by tybalt on Tuesday 14th April 23:09

Edited by tybalt on Tuesday 14th April 23:10

[Dupont666]

I have a sash window in the bathroom that will need to be sealed as the shower will be next to it.... If I get marine primer and Part Polyurethane paint to seal the wood, will that work?

I will be double glazing everything later but at the moment i just need to clean it up.

Should I get an extractor fan in the wall too or will that not really matter?

[Simpo Two]

My bathroom cost £3K and that was fitting it myself - although I did spend out on travertine tiles and a nice shower.

[Dupont666]

bump for the last question i asked for the morning crew

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

Dupont666 said:

Should I get an extractor fan in the wall too or will that not really matter?

Are there any opening windows in the room? If not I'd get one. You'll be fighting a losing battle with mold if not.