Next time a tradesman looks at your drains, gutters or re-decorating job and delivers an eye-watering estimate, reach for an empowering new book, says Peter Rhodes.
Here’s a tip: the next time a tradesman looks at your drains, gutters or re-decorating job, sucks hard between his teeth and delivers an eye-watering estimate, reach for an empowering new book.
Open your copy of the Property Makeover Price Guide, see what the job should really cost, do the teeth-sucking thing yourself and start to haggle.
Here, for the first time, is a compilation of reasonable estimates for 1,300 different projects from chimney pots to drains and from tiling the bathroom to reinforcing a sagging roof.
The book also allows readers to adjust the figures to account for their location. Suggested estimates are even adjusted for the area you live in.
For example, a job with a national average price of £1,000 would cost £1,120 in pricey central London but only £910 in cheap ‘n’ cheerful Wales and £960 in the West Midlands.
Alterations
Launched at the Autumn Ideal Home Show, the Property Makeover Price Guide is the work of the Building Cost Information Service of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
It contains once-confidential advice about how to budget for repairs, improvements, alterations and extension work, covering everything from inspecting blocked drains to fixing window panes, replacing chimney pots and doing a loft conversion.
It aims to give a good idea of what work should cost in a bid to protect consumers against “too good to be true” quotes and excessive charges.
The estimates include:
- Replace heating system including pipework with digital programmer £5,850 to £9,210
- Re-paper a five-metre wall with woodchip £230
- Install a single four-metre purling to strengthen roof £155
- Replace all gutters and downpipe in plastic (whole house) £685 to £2,050
- Repaint five windows £255 - £465
- Re-tile bathroom full height with 25 square metres of tiles £1,920 to £2.120
The book is published in the same week as a survey showing that prices charged by electricians vary for the same small job from £80 to £140 - even in the same area.
Researchers consumer watchdog Which? posed as ordinary customers. They called 268 electricians around the UK and asked them to quote for installing two double sockets in a lounge - a few feet from existing single sockets.
Electricians in Wales were the dearest - charging between £110 and £186. Next was eastern England at £101 to £150, then London and the South East at £85 to £140. Scottish sparks were the cheapest at £70 to £100.
Which? said: “Choosing the wrong electrician can add 70 per cent to a bill. But it’s hard to know what a reasonable price is.”
Joe Martin, Building Cost Information Service spokesman, says: “If you are seriously interested in knowing how to employ skilled labourers to undertake work on your property safely and legally for a fair price, you will not be disappointed.
“Knowledge is power and we expect this guide to demystify construction and help drive the cowboy builders out of town.”
Mr Martin says it’s the first time such information had been made available to the general public.
The Property Makeover Price Guide is priced at £17.99.
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One Comment
There is only one way to drive cowboys out of town and that is to not use their services.
Ask for three seperate quotes from three seperate builders, compare and haggle, play one off against the other and you have your self a half decent quotation.