Job quote - unreal or not ?

karltimber

Hi,

My parents have got a lad to quote a job - quoted at €4500.

It's an 8 foot square room with an old gravity feed shower and a 3 foot non-supporting wall (to enclose the shower)
Job is to remove the wall, new power shower, new shower base and tile.
I just found out that the "builder" is only going to tile over the existing tiles (just around the shower not the whole room )to the new shower base and leave the old ones.

Also, the cable for the new electrical pump shower is going to be ran on the outside of the building to eventually connect to the consumer unit at the front of the house - is this allowed. the cable will enter the house half way.

Is this a mad quote - for removal of a small wall, 10 sq m of tiling, a new shower base ?

any opinions would be great

thanks
K

irishspark

Depends on what tiles they are looking to install but why they dont break the tiles off is a tad bit weird. tiling over tiles is an absolute disaster.
As for the electrical, you can do the cabling outdoors but it could be a case of just lifting a couple of floor boards for the cabling. or if its a power shower its only going to use a couple of amps so can be spurred off a socket circuit as long as not more than 10 points or on the circuit. (ECTI Regs)

If you want a more competitive quote give me a PM and I will send one of my guys around and we will have a look for you.:)

Vtiling

Hi, it sounds up to 2k. But it would have to be seen first.If you are looking for another quote let me know.

slavetothegrind

lose that guy anyway! Never tile over old.
Plent of good tradesmen out there will quote you, perhaps our friend above, but that craic of tiling over! steer clear!

DMCD25

Tiling over tiles is a great job. Ive done it on loads of occasions. I only recommend it if all the walls are concrete and the old tiles are well stuck on. You can also tile on tile over slabbed walls but you have to be sure what weight can be put on a slabbed wall. Ive never had any complaints about tiling over tile and the customers were happy every time.

karltimber

thanks lads for all the help.

tile over tile is probably fine in some cases but this whole job just smells of "oap know nothing rip-off".

anyhoo's
IF - and as backup- who can I report this guy to ? He is C2 reg but not sure what else.

If you actually saw the quote and work done so far - shameful - but he is gone now anyways.

again, thanks for the help,

k

Joey the lips

It sounds reasonable but I would expect him to remove the tiles for that. I figure the quote is based on 5 days and removal of the waste.

I am not being critical here but I was a long time in the plumbing game and used many in subcontracting. If you can get this for 2k I will have him busy forever. You catch my drift!

Sorry ment to say the cable is taking the p1ss and I doubt its legal. I have never attemped something so daft to test the laws.

Vtiling

Would you charge €900 per day???? Good job. We have done a lot of similar or same bathrooms and honestly never chareged €4500 for one bathroom just for labour...and belive me are busy

Joey the lips wrote: »

It sounds reasonable but I would expect him to remove the tiles for that. I figure the quote is based on 5 days and removal of the waste.

I am not being critical here but I was a long time in the plumbing game and used many in subcontracting. If you can get this for 2k I will have him busy forever. You catch my drift!

Sorry ment to say the cable is taking the p1ss and I doubt its legal. I have never attemped something so daft to test the laws.

Joey the lips

Vtiling wrote: »

Would you charge €900 per day???? Good job. We have done a lot of similar or same bathrooms and honestly never chareged €4500 for one bathroom just for labour...and belive me are busy

Your points are fine and sound I am not going to argue with you cause no doubt your promoting a business but a job like this would cost around that price 4.5k and if i got offered it for less I would worry.

If you done my work for me for me I expect figures on a 5day job like this 2k plumbing, 800 tiling labour and 1000-1500 for materials and removal that comes to 4k so now I dont know how you do it for 2k thats all.

karltimber

Hi lads,

just to remind ye - that quote was for to tile where the new shower base was going - about 6 to 8 sq m - not the full room. a new shower but no basin or toilet. a new shower door and thats it - it wasn't for a full room make-over

and hence why he is not there anymore.

Joey the lips

karltimber wrote: »

Hi lads,

just to remind ye - that quote was for to tile where the new shower base was going - about 6 to 8 sq m - not the full room. a new shower but no basin or toilet. a new shower door and thats it - it wasn't for a full room make-over

and hence why he is not there anymore.

8 Sqr mtrs tiles 120
adhesives grouts trims and seals 80
Gravity fed shower valve 80
Shower door type assume a quad 299
Plumbing on shower valve and fitting door 700
Tiling 150

About 1420


That just as the job stands , add 300 euro roughly for fitting pumped electric


Add one days 2 days labour for removing wall tiles and patching up, and based on not see it add 300

Electrician for shower add 200

so yes this is around the 2k- 2.5k vtiling spoke about but with the greatest respect this is based on the customer pointing out the job and the customer is usually generous in playing down the job but strick in wanting it better so I usually allow another days work in my mind but decuct it if not necessary so I would say 3k would be a safe bet

But all this is based on speculation as you have asked without us seeing the job.

Thanks

dubtom

irishspark wrote: »

Depends on what tiles they are looking to install but why they dont break the tiles off is a tad bit weird. tiling over tiles is an absolute disaster.
As for the electrical, you can do the cabling outdoors but it could be a case of just lifting a couple of floor boards for the cabling. or if its a power shower its only going to use a couple of amps so can be spurred off a socket circuit as long as not more than 10 points or on the circuit. (ECTI Regs)

If you want a more competitive quote give me a PM and I will send one of my guys around and we will have a look for you.:)

I'm not a sparks,but I understood that an electric shower had to be run off 10 square directly to the board.I heard that from people who sell showers.TBH I wouldn't trust a sparks who rigged one up to a socket. It does have to heat gallons of water instantly afterall.

harly1516

your right ESB would diconect it your life your messing with if something goes wrong

karltimber

correct - it used to be 6-square but the esb reqs made it 10-square.

There is a second electric pumped shower so a priority switch will have to be put in too.

Thx folks,

k

irishspark

dubtom wrote: »

I'm not a sparks,but I understood that an electric shower had to be run off 10 square directly to the board.I heard that from people who sell showers.TBH I wouldn't trust a sparks who rigged one up to a socket. It does have to heat gallons of water instantly afterall.

As all assumptions are the mother of.....

I assumed he was looking for a pump shower (power shower) in the house which would be common if an electric shower (instantaneous shower) is installed upstairs. For the average pump shower a 1.5 bar is used, the max current is 2A considering the wattage is 480.
As for Instantaneous shower cabling ECTI Rules state that showers are cabled in copper at 6sq. Considering most of the latest showers are at max 8.5kw (which is approx 36a at max) However, if you install aluminium cabling this has to be resized to 10sq - but aluminium is absolute nightmare to terminate off due the stiffness.
ESB do not make rules when it comes to electrical installations, this is done by the independant body electrical technical council of Ireland (ETCI), but they do give recommendations to the council. The main issue that arose with showers was that UK suppliers were bringing in 9 -10kw showers and these require larger size cabling but this could cause huge disruption to the ESB network as they hit near saturation levels on the network grid.
Finally, if you wish to run 2 no. electrical instantaneous showers on your premises you have to use an electrical interlock. (contactors)

im sure someone would like to slash this to pieces but all details are taken off the third ed of ETCI . I know the 4th one is out but I was on the website and have checked all updates and according to the website this has not changed.

karltimber

Folks,
thanks for all the updates and info - appreciated.

IF (& as a backup) I wanted to report this guy - who can I report him to ??
Not sure if he has done anything illegal except trying to scam money from my parents for a completely over-inflated price for a small job.

any ideas ?

thanks
k

PeteHeat

Hi Karltimber,

There is very little chance of recourse as there is no consumer organisation with any power here similar to the UK Trading Standards Authority.

If there was a Grant involved you ask the local authority to send a Clerk of Works around to advise, if there was any wrong doing the contractor would go on the unofficial list of no more grants if he is the contractor.

I am very impressed at the detailed quotes you have received in this thread because when I was general contracting I would not even offer a guide price after a long telephone call, in fact even today I am very cautious about pricing blind.

.

Vtiling

Hi there,

why do you want to report him? In my opinion there is no chance because of the price. Just compare: in shop X you can buy a baguette for €1,20 and in the shop Y you can get the same one for €0,60. Where would you go to buy it? You know thats only your decision. In the construction it is same situation. You can more then one quote and compare them..... But anyway it sad.

karltimber wrote: »

Folks,
thanks for all the updates and info - appreciated.

IF (& as a backup) I wanted to report this guy - who can I report him to ??
Not sure if he has done anything illegal except trying to scam money from my parents for a completely over-inflated price for a small job.

any ideas ?

thanks
k

karltimber

Thanks Vtiling,

True.

k

dubtom

irishspark wrote: »

As all assumptions are the mother of.....

I assumed he was looking for a pump shower (power shower) in the house which would be common if an electric shower (instantaneous shower) is installed upstairs. For the average pump shower a 1.5 bar is used, the max current is 2A considering the wattage is 480.
As for Instantaneous shower cabling ECTI Rules state that showers are cabled in copper at 6sq. Considering most of the latest showers are at max 8.5kw (which is approx 36a at max) However, if you install aluminium cabling this has to be resized to 10sq - but aluminium is absolute nightmare to terminate off due the stiffness.
ESB do not make rules when it comes to electrical installations, this is done by the independant body electrical technical council of Ireland (ETCI), but they do give recommendations to the council. The main issue that arose with showers was that UK suppliers were bringing in 9 -10kw showers and these require larger size cabling but this could cause huge disruption to the ESB network as they hit near saturation levels on the network grid.
Finally, if you wish to run 2 no. electrical instantaneous showers on your premises you have to use an electrical interlock. (contactors)

im sure someone would like to slash this to pieces but all details are taken off the third ed of ETCI . I know the 4th one is out but I was on the website and have checked all updates and according to the website this has not changed.

Hey no offense intended irishsparks,I bow to our superior Knowledge;)