For kitchen fitters
A kitchen is twenty small jobs pretending to be one big one, and the customer only counts the units. Dictate your survey and get an estimate that prices the strip-out, the levelling, the worktop template and the second fix as the separate pieces of work they actually are.
They were quoted 'installation from £X' by a salesperson who never saw the house. You arrive to a bouncing floor, a wall three inches out and a sink that needs moving, and you are the one who looks expensive.
The plumber, the electrician and the stone company are all part of the job the customer is imagining. If your estimate does not say who does what, every gap becomes yours by default.
Doors go on and the ironmongery is still 'being decided'. Half a day back on site later becomes a conversation about whether that was really extra.
A real example
On the left is what you would actually write down. On the right is what your customer receives.
kitchen rip out and refit. 18 units, howdens greenwich in dove grey, client is buying them direct. strip the old lot out and cap the services. they want the wall to the utility taken out - NO, its structural, told them twice, needs a steel and thats a different job. floor is bouncing, 12mm ply over the boards before anything goes in. quartz worktop templated after the carcasses are in, 3 week lead so warn them theyll be on a plywood top for a bit. induction hob, extractor is recirculating so no ducting. sink moving 400 to the left = plumber. spark for 6 sockets, hob supply and the underlighting. handles not chosen yet, put a sum in. end panels, plinth, cornice. two loads to the tip. 8 to 10 days, one lad with me
| Item | Qty | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Strip out existing kitchen, cap services and make safe | 1 job | £620.00 |
| Overlay floor with 12mm ply, screwed and levelled | 14 m² | £308.00 |
| Assemble and fit base, wall and tall units | 18 each | £1,224.00 |
| Scribe and fit end panels, plinth and cornice | 1 job | £480.00 |
| Template, supply and fit quartz worktop | 6.4 m² | £2,464.00 |
| Cut-outs for undermount sink and induction hob | 2 each | £240.00 |
| Fit appliances, recirculating extractor and sink | 1 job | £380.00 |
| Plumbing alterations, relocate sink supply and waste | 1 job | £420.00 |
| Electrical second fix, hob supply and Part P certificate | 1 job | £560.00 |
| Handles and ironmongery, provisional sum | 1 job | £180.00 |
| Removal of old kitchen and appliances, two loads | 2 each | £320.00 |
| Total before VAT | £7,196.00 | |
An illustration using typical UK rates, not a price list. TradeScribe prices from the rates in your own notes and your saved day rate.
These are the lines that come up again and again on a kitchen fitter's estimate. Mention any of them in your notes, however briefly, and they come out properly worded.
Price your labour per unit and add lines for the parts of the job that are not unit-dependent: strip-out, floor preparation, worktop, appliances and second fix. Then add an exclusion covering damaged, missing or wrongly specified items, chargeable at your day rate. Client-supplied kitchens are fitted from a delivery note nobody has checked, and that is where the lost days come from.
Either works, but say which. If you carry it, price the template, the material and the cut-outs as separate lines so a change of stone does not blow up your whole quote. If the stone company invoices direct, exclude it explicitly and note that templating happens after the carcasses are in, which usually means a two to three week gap.
If you are supplying the units, a deposit covering the goods is normal, because a kitchen ordered to a colour and layout is not stock. If the client is supplying everything, a smaller deposit or a stage payment when you start on site is fairer and easier to agree. Set out the stages on the estimate rather than raising it as a phone call halfway through.
The supplier, but the delay lands on you. Put a line on the estimate saying that a replacement item causing a return visit is chargeable, and tell the customer to check the delivery against the plan on the day it arrives. Checking eighteen boxes on delivery day takes twenty minutes and saves a fortnight.
Standard rate at 20% for a normal domestic refit if you are registered. A kitchen forming part of a genuine new build can be zero-rated for the fitted elements, and work on a home empty for two years or more may qualify for 5%, but neither applies to the average replacement kitchen. Get the property's status confirmed before you price a reduced rate in.
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