Advice on fitting a new kitchen

Posted by: manicatel on 22 September 2006

I have just been quoted for fitting a new kitchen. The room is about 4x3m, in a 12yr old house, so walls & floor are pretty flat & square. Approx 9 base units, 5 wall mounted units, + fitting & connecting the 2 sinks, the usual gamut of kitchen appliances. No flooring,tiling,plastering,decorating included. Carcasses are ready-built, not flat-packed,& doors are pre-drilled for the hinges. Cost for fitting alone (ie not supplying the kitchen) £3300!
So I'm thinking of doing it myself.
I know I'll need corgi & partP guys for the connections, so its basically ripping out the old units & putting in the new ones. The granite tops are being supplied & fitted by granite specialists.
Anyone any experience of this? I'm fairly DIY able, but not a pro.
Or does anyone think £3300 is a fair price for this?
matt.
Posted on: 22 September 2006 by Mick P
Manicatel

I had a much bigger kitchen fitted about 5 yrs ago. The labour for fitting the units was £750 and £200 for doing the tiles.

I would say a fair rate is £200 per day per man and fitting a kitchen is 3 days max for 2 men.

Therefore no more than £1200 for the fitting plus £200 for the tiles.

Regards

Mick
Posted on: 22 September 2006 by Phil Cork
Matt,

I know a number of reasonably competent people who have attempted this, and found it not at all straightforward, despite the apparent ease of the job. The walls/floor/ceiling are rarely square, plumbing/wiring etc usually requires a certain amount of fiddling, and a reasonable of tweaking/modification of the units themselves is often necessary to achieve a professional result.

If, as Mick says, you can get the job done considerably cheaper, go for it, however I would caution against attempting it yourself. It would likely take considerably longer, and cost you a great deal in time, energy, and frustration!

Good luck,

Phil
Posted on: 22 September 2006 by Willy
I did ours myself. Back hall has 2 larders and a double unit and took a day. The wall in there is very old and 4 inches off plumb top to bottom over a width of 2 ft. Kitchen took 2 days, including building the unit to hold the Belfast sink, plumbing in the dishwasher and washing machine and hooking up the oven. Cooker hood took another couple of hours. All worktops were beech block. Got a man in (or was it a dog?) to do hook up the hob, another to tile the splashback at the cooker, and a third (an unemployed German) to tile the floor.
Certain satisfaction in doing it myself, especially proud of the cutout for the sink. If you're getting someone in then I think Mick's numbers are in the right ballpark.

Regards,

Willy.
Posted on: 22 September 2006 by manicatel
From the responses here & "the other place", general agreement is that he's attempting to stiff me, &/or he doesn't want the job that much.
I was expecting to pay £1500 ish.
So the next question is;- can anyone recommend a kitchen fitter based in the N. Essex area?
Oh, & thanks for the speedy response guys.
matt.
Posted on: 23 September 2006 by MichaelC
We recently had a new kitchen fitted. Eighteen units, two hobs, sink, six appliances but no work top. £2,500 for fitting, plumbing in and wiring up.
Posted on: 25 September 2006 by Rockingdoc
I think it is very difficult to compare costs for fitting a kitchen other than to get separate quotes for the actual job.
I had a new kitchen this year and it cost a LOT more in labour than your quote, yet I don't feel cheated. It did involve a complete back to bricks reworking of the entire room, with new wiring, plumbing, heating, ceilings, lighting etc. It took a very hard-working skilled man a month.
I keep finding little touches of expert finishing and detail that I would never have thought of. The work of a craftsman is an investment.
Posted on: 25 September 2006 by Willy
quote:
Originally posted by Rockingdoc:
I think it is very difficult to compare costs for fitting a kitchen other than to get separate quotes for the actual job.
I had a new kitchen this year and it cost a LOT more in labour than your quote, yet I don't feel cheated. It did involve a complete back to bricks reworking of the entire room, with new wiring, plumbing, heating, ceilings, lighting etc. It took a very hard-working skilled man a month.
I keep finding little touches of expert finishing and detail that I would never have thought of. The work of a craftsman is an investment.


Rockingdoc,

Matt was reasonably clear in his statement of work and I guess we have all based our estimates on that.

"No flooring,tiling,plastering,decorating included. Carcasses are ready-built, not flat-packed,& doors are pre-drilled for the hinges."

I'm jealous that you can get someone to come do stuff on your house, let alone someone who could be called a craftsman. Around here it's usually quicker to train yourself up to do the job than chase around after "tradesmen". Note that "cowboy" is technically speaking a trade.

Regards,

Willy.
Posted on: 25 September 2006 by PJT
Jeez, you are being shafted big time.

You said you weren't too bad at DIY, so why not??? The only tricky part I had to contend with was the drilling of the tap hole thru the sink unit and getting the plumbing sorted out. No big deal, just a bit of too-ing and fro-ing and cursing the fact the tools I had weren't quite trade quality.

However, if you want to save time, get a quote to INSTALL ONLY. In other words, remove the old stuff yourself, so you have a completely empty space when the tradesman arrives.

If there is no need to relocate electrical points or plumbing I would be very surprised if it took more than 1 day to completely install.