Hi Douglas, Hi Aidan,
I have started preparing the estimate for the renovation of your part of the house — the so-called Georgian flat — and I wanted to give you the current update on the progress.
Firstly, we can start the works between the 1st and 5th of July 2025, depending on when I complete my current project.
I have met with three plasterers. Each of them emphasized that an accurate estimate will only be possible after the internal walls are moved, as not all details are visible at the moment. Similarly, in order to apply multifinish plaster, the wallpaper must be removed first, or they may add this to the quote. Nevertheless, I asked them for initial estimates based on the current state — you will find these at the end of this message.
I have also spoken with an electrician, who unfortunately also was not able to provide a specific cost at this stage. His hourly rate is £40. Most specialists prefer to work in a space already prepared for their scope of work, or they charge daily without giving a fixed final cost.
Therefore, due to the early stage of the project, I suggest we work on the basis of daily rates:
• My rate: £250 / day
• Worker’s rate: £200 / day (x2 people)
There will be a three-person team involved in the work: myself and two workers — Serhii, whom you have already met, and another worker you haven’t met yet.
I am planning for three working weeks, Monday to Friday, with working hours:
• Standard: 8:00–16:00 (with a 30-minute lunch break and a 10-minute coffee break at 10:00),
• Sometimes we can start earlier – from 7:00 to 15:00, if that’s more convenient for you,
• On Fridays, we finish 30 minutes earlier.
The weekly labour cost of the whole team is £3,250, which totals £9,750 for three weeks (excluding materials).
Scope of Planned Works:
Demolition of unnecessary partition walls, construction of new ones
Removal of unnecessary elements: covings, skirtings, door frames, and doors
Organizing the electrical installation, after which a test can be carried out by a certified electrician (paid separately) — there are a few types of tests; I also needed a certificate for rental, and a friend electrician did it for me
Stripping wallpaper
Preparing surfaces for plastering
Inspection and assessment of:
• The condition and layout of waste pipes
• The feasibility of making connections in new locations
• The wall where the door is to be widened
• The possibility of demolishing the staircase in the hallway
• The condition of plaster in the hallway
• Adding a wall near the cupboard
At the same time, we will be uncovering all hidden installation elements (electricity, plumbing, wall structure), which will allow us to better plan the next stages and avoid surprises.
I know that many companies add VAT, which from your point of view provides no benefit. At this stage, I’m trying to find subcontractors who are not VAT-registered, although this is not always possible — but I’m doing everything I can to limit additional costs.
My daily presence on-site makes it much easier to arrange meetings with subcontractors, supervise their work, and make ongoing decisions. Thanks to this, we can react flexibly to the situation and introduce changes to the project on an ongoing basis.
Additional Points to Verify:
• We will check the place where new doors are to be installed (in the current bathroom)
• We will assess the condition of the plaster in the hallway
• We will test removing wallpaper from ceilings — I know the decorator said they are hard to remove, but in my opinion, with the use of a steamer, they can be effectively taken off, even if they were well glued. I also don’t think they were put on fresh plaster — wallpaper is usually applied to a dry surface.
I think it would be worthwhile to meet before the start of works to discuss all the details on-site. This will definitely help us plan the next steps more efficiently.
Preliminary plan for the first days:
• Electrical work
• Demolition and construction of walls
• Plumbing preparation
• Checking areas for new doors
• Assessment of the condition of the floor and waste pipes
I’m convinced that we will make significant progress within these three weeks. After each week, I will prepare a report with progress, any issues, and plans for the following days. Of course, you can visit the site anytime to check everything in person.
We will work step-by-step until each room is ready for the next teams. This sequence will help us avoid chaos and precisely plan further actions.
If this form of cooperation works for you, I can prepare a detailed schedule and a task breakdown for each stage.
Best regards,
Andrzej
Below I’m including the messages from the plastering specialists:
Wallpaper stripping – £1,000.00
Wall preparation – £1,000.00
Multifinish plaster – £4,300.00
Estimated price for materials – £600.00
Materials required:
Multi finish – 40 bags
Mesh – 1
Joint tape – 5
Corners – 20
PVA – 2
VAT not included
Summary
Labour: £6,300.00
Tax 20%: £1,260.00
Materials: £600.00
Total: £8,160.00
The cost for plastering all the rooms except the rear hall and lobby is around £6,000, including materials. Most areas will be plastered, but in some spots, we’ll need to fix or screw new plasterboard and then tape and fill the joints.
For the rear hall and lobby, it’s around £2,700, but ideally, we should take another look at it and think it through to keep the cost as low as possible while making sure everything makes sense.
Let me know once you’ve made a decision or if you need anything else.
Best regards,
Adrian
Andrzej → Adrian:
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for the message and the quote.
I just have a few questions – does the quoted price include VAT, or should it be added on top?
Also, does the quote include wall preparation, like stripping wallpaper and getting the walls ready, or are you assuming the walls will already be prepped?
Give me a call when you’ve got a moment, if that’s easier.
Best regards,
Andrzej
Then I had a phone call and got all the missing information.
Labour and Materials:
Plastering all the rooms: £6,000.00
Rear hall and lobby: £2,700.00
VAT 20%
Total: £8,700.00
Hi, The price for applying multifinish in all rooms and sorting the hallway (some new plasterboards, some just multifinish) is £6,500. This doesn’t include any wall prep — the walls must be ready.
Materials will cost around £1,000–£1,300.
Materials needed:
50 bags of multifinish
20 bags of bonding
10 rolls of tape
5 bottles of PVA
40 corners
Large and small buckets
Screws, nails, plugs
The price is for cash.
If you need an invoice, 20% VAT must be added.
Thanks,
Gregor
Labour and Materials
Plastering all the rooms: £6,600.00
VAT 20%: £1,320.00
Materials: £1,300.00
Total: £9,200.00
That guy was self-employed — tax means that if you need an invoice, he must add 20%. If it’s a cash job, no tax.
I’m attaching photos of the walls in the rooms where the wallpaper has been removed. These kinds of details are important and need to be properly addressed — the walls should be sanded and washed afterwards. That’s how we do it when removing wallpaper; it’s a full process, not just stripping the paper.
Hi Aidan, hi Douglas,
First of all, apologies if anything in this message is unclear or not perfectly written – there’s quite a lot of information here, and I’m doing my best to explain everything as clearly and transparently as possible.
If that’s okay with you, I’ll give you a call later today to go over everything and clarify any questions – that might be the easiest way to cover all the points.
Yes, the amount of £2,010 is correct. If you could hold off on the payment and wait until I send over a formal invoice, that would be great.
I also have a question regarding the invoice itself – I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, but I wanted to ask: does it matter to you what the invoice is actually for, or is it just important that the payment is formally covered by an invoice?
I’m asking because, since switching to a LTD company, I’m trying to keep my business turnover as low as possible to avoid crossing the VAT threshold. That means I can only include specific types of expenses as business costs.
There are a few items I’d like to buy for home and garden use – for example, materials to build a pergola or patio, such as Indian stone slabs, fence posts, and some timber. These wouldn’t normally qualify as business expenses, but I could issue an invoice to you for “pergola/patio construction with materials included”.
The total you pay would stay exactly the same – just split into two invoices: one for labour and one for materials.
Of course, if that’s not something you’re comfortable with, I completely understand and I’ll just issue a standard invoice for the strip-out work.
I’m really happy to hear that the virtual tour is working well and that you’re pleased with it – that’s exactly what it’s designed for, and it’s great to know it’s been useful for the contractors you’re sharing it with.
Regarding the Google review – yes, here is the link:
https://g.page/r/CfdT5mxdDF0FEAI/review
I’d be very grateful if both of you could leave separate reviews – that way it counts as two rather than one, which helps me a lot with visibility.
You can also view my Google profile from that same link – I’ve uploaded a few photos of previous work.
There are some small handcrafted pieces I made for private clients or for home use – like a carved wooden owl – which I think are quite striking (though I admit I might be biased, since I made them myself and have a soft spot for them).
One last thing I wanted to ask: I understand you’re now considering bringing in a main contractor. As you probably know, these companies usually take over the full scope of the project and bring in their own subcontractors.
In general, it’s not ideal to mix different teams on one job – it can make it harder to track responsibility and ensure quality. It usually works best when each company manages its own part independently – whether it’s you selecting trades for each stage, or a contractor doing the same with their preferred team.
That’s why I’m wondering if there’s still a chance I could be involved in any future work at the house. I’d honestly be very interested in handling the full renovation of the upper floor – room by room, step by step (excluding major structural work like roofing).
Also, I believe I could offer a lower price on things like a bathroom or kitchen than a larger company would – because I don’t yet have to charge VAT, which they likely would.
If there’s a chance to meet on Sunday, that would be great. I also still have your key – let me know if you’d like it back or if I should hang onto it for now.
I’m also sending you the link to a recent virtual tour showing a kitchen and bathroom we’ve recently installed – both built entirely from scratch.
In the kitchen, we started by removing the dividing wall to create an open-plan space, then completely redid all plumbing and electrical work. The wiring was outdated, so we installed a new dedicated electric line for the cooker, ensuring it meets current safety standards.
The bathroom, similarly, was stripped back to bare walls – including replacing all plasterboards – and fitted with underfloor heating for added comfort.
Both spaces were fully refurbished, starting from demolition through to the final fit-out.
Unfortunately, we didn’t record the bathroom renovation, but I should soon have a video showing the kitchen installation process.
Here’s the link to the tour:
www.akrefurbishments.co.uk/stmonans
All the best,
Andrzej
I wanted to let you know that the current invoice will unfortunately be slightly higher than the previous one. The work took us more time than I originally anticipated. I had assumed we would be able to complete most (if not all) of the tasks on Saturday, which is why all three of us were on-site that day. However, the job turned out to be more time-consuming than expected, so two of us returned on Sunday to finish everything.
Here’s a summary of the work completed:
On Saturday, we started by moving items from room 0.20 (now the living room) to 0.08 (current kitchen). Everything was moved except for the sofas – there wasn’t enough space in the kitchen, so they were temporarily left in the living room.
We cleared the workspace for the fireplace installation team – as per the latest info, they’re scheduled to begin work on May 20th. We also secured the front area with protective sheeting.
We painted the windows white to block visibility. Unfortunately, neither B&Q nor Johnsons Decorators had the appropriate type of paint – both stores said it must be ordered online. To save time and cost, I used standard white emulsion I had at home – it works just as well.
We began dismantling the wardrobe in room 2.06 (upstairs bedroom). The wardrobe was securely fitted and had to be carried down piece by piece.
On Sunday, we completed the dismantling and started removing carpets. Carpets and underlays (most underlays were in poor condition) were removed from the ground floor, first floor, and one room on the second floor.
The ground floor had additional board-style underlays that had to be scraped off.
The skip has been completely filled and is ready for collection – photo attached.
We also moved the electric cooker out of the kitchen and placed it next to the two white goods outside.
(I feel obligated to add: the design looks like something straight out of Back to the Future – had to say it.)
We removed one of the electric heaters on the first floor. I hope that these are intended to be removed altogether, as we didn’t specifically discuss it. However, I assume that since you’ll be installing a new heating system, you’ll want all old electric heaters (and possibly water radiators as well) removed.
From our last meeting, I understood that you’re interested in a virtual house tour. I’ve already begun building a dedicated webpage to host the 360° tour.
360° photography and virtual tour creation: £850
One-year hosting: £60
Total Cost: £910
Saturday work: £650
Sunday work: £450
Virtual tour: £910
Total: £2,010
Let me know if anything needs clarification.
Before I send over the next invoice, I wanted to quickly check in and discuss a couple of things with you.
At this stage, I can’t really issue a formal invoice specifically for the virtual tour service. However, I can include the cost as part of the general building works if that suits you. I’d appreciate a moment to go over this with you in person or over the phone to make sure we’re aligned.
Also, I have a small request I’d like to ask – it’s related to the invoice as well, but I think it will be easier to explain during our next meeting.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss any of the details, I’m happy to go over them during our next meeting or over the phone – whichever is more convenient for you.
Best regards,
Andrzej
To arrange an appointment call now If I don’t answer the phone please send a text message what you want to do and where you are based, I’ll contact you as soon as I can.
You can see My portfolio on YouTube or on My website
NO JOB IS TO BIG OR TO SMALL.
DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL FOR FREE QUOTS
My name is Andrzej (Andy) I am a professional Polish handyman/joiner with over 15 years of experience in UK. Im self employed and hard working person. Each Customer is treated individually. I can help You decide what’s best solution that You’re looking for.
![St Monans [320]-00.01.19.530](https://www.akrefurbishments.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/St-Monans-320-00.01.19.530-scaled-r4tg4ym8v8ci4ifptv4wi8kyaxyvmbjazb1ij7ci7q.jpeg "St Monans [320]-00.01.19.530")
2024
