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London flat renovation - am I being totally ripped off?

Hattie Thatcher

last year

Hi all - I'm hoping to get some advice on the below!

We are currently in the process of renovating our 1 bed basement flat in London (zone 2). We have received planning approval to remove the old conservatory at the back of the house and replace it with a flat roof structure which will house the kitchen. This involves altering the internal layout of the flat as shown in the floorplans. The footprint of the house is staying exactly the same, it is 600sqft for reference.

To complicate matters, our flat flooded during the flash flooding in London last summer so it has currently been stripped back to brick as part of the insurance repair works and drying out process. The flat is now completely dried out and we have put the job out to tender.

We have just received quotes from builders to put the flat back together as per the proposed plans. When we received the quotes, I literally fell off my chair. The three quotes were: £270k, £353k and £403k. I am honestly in a state of shock. I'm fully aware that London building costs are unlike anywhere else in the country and that the cost of raw materials has shot up this year, however, these are on another level. I could buy another flat for that last quote!

All 3 builders that quoted were aware of the fact that part of this work will be covered by our insurance claim. However, the majority of it won't be i.e. the removal of the conservatory, the change of layout etc.

Am I being totally ripped off because they are aware it's an insurance job? I can't understand how someone can physically spend that much money on a 600sqft flat when the footprint of the house isn't changing and we aren't building any new walls! Unless I was coating every ceiling in gold leaf!

Any advice would be much appreciated!

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Comments (4)

Lewis Carr
last year
Wow! They are certainly big numbers. I can't help you but will be interested to hear what people who have experience with such large work in London have to say.

Just to clarify in the scope of the work (as you say back to bare brick);

Scope of floor work?

Plaster walls obv, ceilings?

Fully decorated?

New kitchen?

Bathroom?

Boiler/central heating?

Electrics?

Did they provide approx labour vs material costs?
User
last year
OMG you can buy a house for even the cheapest quote where I live (Wiltshire)
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Good news that a builder is coming over. I suspect all the green walls I have drawn are originals and can’t be changed without permission- you can probably tell by their thickness relative to thinner partition walls but it would be good to check. As Bobby said you need to know where the buildings soil pipes are because this will dictate where you can put a wc. There may however be more than one- I suspect your wc pipes go under the kitchen and exit near the kitchen window. 1- get the builder to tell you if there is any extra bit to the left of your kitchen window that has been hidden behind boxing- extra square footage is nearly always useful. Are there original doorways (2 & 3) that could be reinstated- look for telltale signs in the skirting board, flooring, hollow walls where an opening has just been boarded over, door shaped cracks in the decorating etc.
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PRO
AL PAINTING
last year
maybe it's woorth to try to get builders seperatly for each task instead of getting contractor for whole project, and see if there is any diference in estimates or quotes?
PRO
OnePlan
last year
You could maybe lower the cost by opening to the garden at the end ( where Sofa was in left plan ) and putting windows and a galley kitchen with the sink on left side -so plumbing easy to tap into via bathroom. With tall units and cooking on the right side. This means at a later stage you could put a small outside kitchen in the courtyard behind maybe ?

But yes, it looks to me like a combination of “over inflated prices as it’s an instance job” and “it’s London so we can ask what we want” prices - which is such a shame.

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