Extensions, kitchens, bathrooms · quotes, not estimates · two jobs at a time
Every before-and-after here shows the middle, and the final invoice.
Before-and-after is the most misleading thing in this trade: two photographs six weeks apart with everything in between left out — including what the job cost by the time it finished. So this page puts the middle back in, and prints the original quote next to the invoice that was actually paid.
Two numbers on every one: what we quoted, and what was invoiced at the end. Where they differ, the reason is written down. Put your own in — including the job that went over, because a page where nothing ever moved is a page nobody believes.
Handover
Day one
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Drag the handle. Your own pair goes here — same camera position, same lens, same time of day, or the comparison is doing the work instead of the building.
Rear extension, 1930s semi
Quoted £68,400 · invoiced £71,150. The difference: a drain run found two metres from where the survey put it. Priced and signed off before it was moved.
Quoted £31,900 · invoiced £31,900. Nothing moved. It happens more often than the internet suggests when the drawings are finished before anyone starts.
Quoted £54,000 · invoiced £59,750. The difference was almost all changes of mind — a second rooflight, a different staircase. Each one priced first, in writing.
Here is the same house in week two and week five. Neither photograph sells anything, which is exactly why they're on the page — this is what you are buying six weeks of, and knowing it in advance is most of what makes it bearable.
Week 5
Week 2
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Both of these are the middle. Put your own in and resist tidying up first.
The dust goes everywhere, whatever we do — Sheeting, a zip door and a dust extractor on the tools make it much better and not perfect. Anyone promising no dust has never done the job The house is colder for a fortnight — There's a hole in it. We board and seal at the end of every day, and in winter we'll tell you which fortnight it is so you can plan around it There will be a week where nothing seems to happen — Usually waiting for an inspection, a steel or a window. It looks like abandonment and it isn't — you'll get told which week it is and why First fix is the ugliest it gets — Bare walls, cables everywhere, no floor. This is the point people ring us at eleven at night, and it's also the point where it's furthest from finished and closest to on track We start at eight and stop at five — Not seven. Not Sundays. Your neighbours are having this done to them too and they didn't choose it One person is yours to ring — Named on day one, with a mobile number. Not a site office and not whoever answers
Why a price changes — and the only four reasons it should
An estimate is a guess and it binds nobody. A quote is a price. Everything on this page is a quote, and it holds unless one of these four happens.
Something was found that nobody could see — Rot under a floor, a drain in the wrong place, no foundation where there should be one. Genuinely the commonest, and the one nobody can quote for honestly in advance You changed your mind — Completely allowed and it is your house. It gets priced before it gets built, every time, including the small ones A material price moved — Our quotes hold for 30 days and the order goes in early. Where a price moves after that we show you the supplier's invoice rather than a percentage Access turned out to be different — No parking, no side gate, a skip permit the council won't grant. Boring, real, and it changes labour more than people expect Nothing else is a reason — Not "it took longer than we thought", not "materials always go up", not the weather. Those are ours to carry and we priced them Nothing extra is done on a nod — Every variation is priced, written down and agreed by you before it happens — especially the £80 ones. It is always the £80 ones that add up into the argument
The first question and usually the unasked one. The four reasons above are the whole answer.
Staged payments, against work done — Never more than what's on the ground A materials deposit is normal — Ask what it buys and get it itemised A big payment up front is not — Ask what it's for, in writing, before you send it
"Will you disappear?"
The fear behind every other question, and the honest answer is structural rather than reassuring.
Two jobs at a time, maximum — It's why we're slower to start and quicker to finish Dates in writing, both ends — Start date and a finish date, in the quote If we're late, we say early — A week's warning beats a good excuse afterwards
"How bad is the mess?"
Bad. The section above shows it rather than describing it, which is the only useful way to answer this.
Sheeted, sealed and swept daily — Not spotless. Swept, every day, before we go One toilet stays working — Planned into the programme from the start Skip and permit are ours to sort — In the quote, not a surprise on week three
The programme is part of the quote rather than a conversation you have to keep having. Write your own version in the same shape — a week that is named in advance stops being a worry.
Week one is demolition and it looks alarming — Most of the visible progress in the whole job happens in five days, and then it slows down. That is normal and it catches everybody The trades come in an order and it can't be reshuffled — Groundworks, structure, roof, first fix, plaster, second fix, decoration. A plasterer cannot come early because the electrician is late The weeks nothing happens are the inspections — Building control comes at set stages and we cannot cover work until they've seen it. We book them at the start of the job rather than the day before Long-lead items get ordered in week one — Windows, steels, worktops, anything made to size. It's the single biggest cause of a job stopping dead and it's avoidable The last ten per cent takes a fifth of the time — Snagging, second fix, the door that needs easing. It is the most frustrating part for everybody and rushing it is how a good job ends badly Handover is a walk round with a list — We write it, you add to it, and we agree a date for the last item before the final invoice — not after
A price per square metre is a lie with a decimal point in it — The same extension on two houses is two different jobs. The ground, the access and what's already there decide most of it, and none of those are on a price list What we will give you for free is a range — On the phone, in five minutes, before anybody visits. It's wide on purpose and it is enough to tell you whether to carry on The quote itself is free and it is a real document — Itemised by trade, with the exclusions listed as plainly as the inclusions. Nobody pays us to be told what something costs Compare quotes on what's excluded — That's where the difference between three prices usually lives. A cheap quote with no kitchen fitting, no making good and no skip is not a cheap quote We'll tell you when we're the wrong firm — Too small, too far, or the wrong trade. It happens most weeks and it costs nothing to say Guarantees, honestly — Say what yours is and who backs it. Our own guarantee is only worth anything while we exist — an insurance-backed one survives that, and if you don't have one, your page should say so rather than say nothing
A range on the phone within a day or two, and a written quote after a visit. Both free, and we'll say honestly if we're not the right firm for it.
Ask for a quote
"Just pricing it up for now" is a completely fine answer and it changes nothing about the quote. What it changes is how often we chase you, which is not at all.
