Costs
What building work costs in London, before you ask anyone to quote
Real ranges from work we have priced in London, with what sits inside them and what does not. A range is not a quotation — but it should tell you whether to keep reading.
Figures on these pages are indicative ranges for planning purposes and are not a quotation. Prices vary with specification, access, condition and programme, and are confirmed only in a written quotation following a site visit.
Common questions
What people ask about price.
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Ask us directly07424 445105No. They are indicative ranges taken from work we have actually priced in London, published so you can tell whether a project is roughly affordable before anyone visits. A quotation is a different document: it follows a site visit and a written specification, it is fixed, and it states what is included and what is not.
Usually because they are not pricing the same job. One price carries the structural steel, the building control fees, the making good and the waste; another leaves them to be found later. Access, condition, specification and programme move the number as well. Compare the scope line by line before comparing the totals, or the cheapest price is simply the least complete one.
Enough to cover materials ordered before work starts, and no more. Be wary of anyone asking for a large share of the contract value up front: the money should stay slightly behind the work, so that what has been paid for is always either on site or already built. The figure is written into your contract before you sign anything.
Against completed stages rather than dates. On a domestic job that usually means points such as groundworks complete, structure up, first fix, second fix and handover, each of them visible on site before it is invoiced. The final payment falls due after snagging, not before it. The stages are written into the contract at the start so nothing is renegotiated mid-build.
The recurring omissions are structural calculations, planning and building control fees, party wall awards, temporary works, skips and permits, making good and decoration, and the kitchen, sanitaryware and tiles themselves, which are often shown only as a provisional sum. Ask which of those sit inside the figure you have been given. Ours says which, in writing.