#13

:smiley:

I’ll use this one now.

The builder who’s doing our kitchen also does bathrooms, so we might stick with him.

Our bathroom could be massive if we managed to address the water heater issue. My plan, when we’re ready, is to use the internet for some ideas, like:

white-subway-tile-Bathroom-Contemporary-with-belfast-sink-compact-bathroom.jpg844×990 171 KB

Obvs that doesn’t help your partner’s mother, but going to B&Q, Wickes, Bathstore etc will help. They’ll sit down with her and spec it out using software on a computer and tell you how much it’ll cost. You can then use the images you get from shops like this and get builders to come in and use the pictures to show they what you want done. That’s basically what we did with the kitchen. Our builder let us get stuff like flooring and tiles ourselves so we could get exactly what we wanted, and we were able to control the price a bit more. I guess you could do this with everything tbh.

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#14

Some of it will depend upon the plumber: are they expecting you to source all of the materials, or will they be doing that?

The latter can offer savings as they will have trade suppliers and rates.

#15

:joy: it looks like a square bath/shower with a huge bath sized sink along side it…

#16

I know :smiley:

Also, I really just want to rip the bath out and have a massive wonderful shower, but mr pn is well against this.

#17

Not certain on the maths as working out the tariffs is a nightmare but I think gas still works out about 60% of the cost per unit as electricity, hence why people still go with gas central heating.

#18

yeah, id love to just have a huge shower/wet room. use my bath about once a year :confused:

#19

pretty sure we can get the builders to buy trade. What is the general way of doing this - can you specify anything and they get trade rates or will they have suppliers they are used to/are tied to for deals. It’s really useful to know this stuff as it can make a massive difference to cost.

#20

luckily we don’t live in the same country…

#21

Yeah, I know. It’ll cost about £800 for the gas board to re-install the connection, then I reckon ~£3000 for a boiler and to get central heating installed.

Maybe it is worth it.

#22

shit like that will probably add value to the flat too, so not exactly pissing it away… just £4K you might want to spend elsewhere :confused:

#23

You’re going to have to do a bit of estimating in terms of yearly bills for your current system and what it might be under gas, combined with an estimate of how long you might be in the property (and therefore how long you might want the payback period to be).

This offers a few pointers, but with the caveat that it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to add any solar stuff on the outside of your property:

http://www.thegreenage.co.uk/heat-water-electric-home/

If you have a hot water storage tank, then it might be worth seeing if you can get onto a dual-tariff from your electricity supplier, running the immersion overnight.

#24

will you need new radiators and plumbing? If so the only decision really is between electric or gas boiler - so that is a playoff between upfront cost of the gas connection vs. lower annual bills.

I think…but listen to @marckee…

#25

yeah, we’re on a dual-tariff already thank god

thanks for that- super useful

do you know how much of a pain in the arse having radiators installed after decorating rooms would be? i’m guessing floorboards would need to be pulled up?

#26

If you specify what you want, but also include a line such as “or equivalent approved”, then, the contractor can use equivalent alternatives, provided they meet with your approval.

Specifying it like this allows you to illustrate what you want it to look like, but also the quality of materials you expect. The builder will then be able to go to their preferred supplier or manufacturer to see if they do a similar product to propose to you. Make it clear that you are willing to consider their proposals, otherwise they won’t bother going to the effort to find alternatives.

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#27

brilliant, I wouldn’t have know that. Really helpful. Thanks.

#28

Some floorboards would need to be pulled up, yes, but it’s not too disruptive - they can do it without removing skirting boards etc.

That’s assuming that you have floorboards and a suspended timber floor underneath. I think you were unsure about that last time this topic came up.

#29

Yep, we do.

Just thinking about which order to do the entire flat in. After the kitchen we can either do the bathroom, or, I guess, sort the heating and water issue out. The other bits are just decorating which we’ll do ourselves. I’m just thinking that if we were to get the gas installed it would be best to do it before we went mental on the decorating side.

#30

One other point: a builder may have a preferred supplier/product for a number of reasons, and not necessarily purely its purchase price.

Ease of availability, installation, warranty, liability etc, will also affect a builder’s preferred product. Ultimately those things will have an impact on cost, but they may also affect the neatness of finish that you are able to get afterwards. Don’t assume that a builder is just proposing an alternative so that he can fob you off with a cheaper material - it might save you and him time and disruption in the long run.

#31

Yes, it’s usually better to do services, like central heating/water and rewiring, before decorating a flat - if it makes financial sense to do the works in the first place.

As I say, you’ll have to weigh up the numbers, to look at payback periods, potential property value uplift and how long you expect to be in there.

If it’s less than five years, I’d probably look at keeping things as they are, unless the tank is severely restricting your options in your bathroom.

#32

Speaking from personal experience, ruining our bathroom was one of my first priorities when we moved in and I like to think I made a cracking job of it.