advice from property developers / builders

[BERGS2]

Hi All,

Mrs Berg and I are looking at getting our kitchen knocked into our dining room and some other work done.

Basically the kitchen is a tiny 8' by 5', so we are looking into knocking the wall into the diner down to give a breakfast bar, bricking up the back door and replacing with a window and knocking the small stud wall out that currently divides kitchen from hallway.

I know that it is difficult to visualize, but can anyone with experience of the trades let me know roughly how much this is likely to be.

I've had a quote for £2.5k for labour alone which looks pretty toppy to me...

What's a reasonable day rate for a builder and his mate? I was thinking £200 for the man, plus £100 for his mate. on that basis these guys are looking at eight days work -

Is it normal to recieve not particularly transparent quotes from builders?

otherwise does anyone know of a good builder in the Kingston/New Malden area?

Cheers all and thanks in advance,

BERGS

[B17NNS]

BERGS2 said:

Is it normal to recieve not particularly transparent quotes from builders?

Yes

Is the wall between the kitchen/dining room structural or just stud partition?

Brick up opening and install window (1 day?)
Remove partition (assuming stud) and make good (1 day?)

Can't see how this can be strung out to 8 days for two blokes personally.

[Shed_jensen]

Hello,

Wow - all for tea and biscuits!! Don't know where you are but that’s a bargain in anyones book!

But seriously; you must have superhuman workman at your disposal? And thus I'm unsure how helpful your comparison is to the original poster? - I would price that work up based on upto at week to remove and dispose of the Conservatory, footings 50ft x 2ft - at least 3 days to a week depending on what the ground was like, a day to lay concrete, another week for the brickwork. Few days for the slab and setting the drains (depending on size?)

At least three weeks work for two blokes at the minimum?

As for the original poster - difficult to give an idea when it not clear what you asked for.

Cheers,

SHED.

[Shed_jensen]

Hello Tonker,

Fair enough points - but your talking family / friends and of course yourself cracking the whip and mucking in - the original poster was after advice about what to pay for a usual wage slave 10am-4pm builder out of the phone book?

I've had some horrendous quotes myself living in West London - and the majority of the work I've done myself, in my eyes to a far better standard than what I would have received and at a fraction of the cost.

Happy Shroves Tuesday!

Cheers,

Steve.

[BERGS2]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

my thoughts entirely - everyone has a right to a living, but I work bloody hard for my cash and fully expect those that I employ to do the same -

I'll ask him if he can break the quote down further

thanks for the input.

BERGS

[touchingcloth]

From the description given I would say that £2.5k for the labour alone was on the steep side. If you want the name of a good guy then pop me a mail through my profile and I will mail back his details. He is Camberley based but will travel into South West London I would have thought. He is another one who likes his tea and biscuits kept on tap.

S.