I have just read a great article in the current issue of KBB Installer (for kitchen, bedroom & bathroom installers) which rings true on every level. I was going to put up a link to the article but unfortunately it will not work so I have typed it, in full below. For me the article explains in layman's terms how installations of bathroom, kitchen and also bedrooms take longer than clients imagine due to the "added extras" & "luxury items" making the installation more complex and labour intensive as well as the everyday problems we encounter.
Ian staller - waste not, want not
Our resident whinger gets more than he bargains for when a job turns into a bit of a nightmare.........
I've just finished one of the most epic jobs I have done in a long time. I'm absolutely cream crackered and even told my wife to book a holiday to Falmouth, I need pasties and cider by the barrel load!
The reason? Well, I recently agreed to fit a kitchen and bathroom for a company called Stealth Interiors. I now realise how they got their name. They're the tightest company I've ever worked for in my life. They normally use Polish fitters who I imagine would charge a lot less than I'm prepared to work for, but they told me they needed a very high standard of workmanship and I guess the poles just weren't up to it.
I agreed on the price I was offered to get the whole lot done. From the drawings it looked like a good three weeks' work and as things are still tight I was keen to have a fit with some longevity, plus the nanny that ran the house was a scorcher.
Now stupidly I didn't realise the amount of old kitchen and bathroom crap that had to be removed first was colossal. It was a big old kitchen and the bathroom had miles of wall panelling that need to go. I rang the boss at Stealth Interiors to find out what he had arranged for the waste and to my amazement he told me that I was responsible for organising this myself. I could not believe it; there was just so much - kitchen units, appliances, tiling, old bath, sink, shower; it went on and on! Normally the companies I have worked for organise skips and have people take away appliances. I got on the phone to my wife and explained the problem. "Can't you have a big bonfire?" she said, "No way, the garden is like a manicured museum", I explained. "We need skips and plenty of them".
What a hassle this turned out to be. A standard six yard skip costs around £180 and when the first one arrived some tool had parked outside the house so the skip had to be placed half way down the street. It took me ages packing the waste as tightly into the skips as I could. Each one eating into my price for installing. I needed three all together and I was still left with more waste that I had to put in the van and take home. I can see why we have so many problems with fly tipping. Why I can't take it down the local dump I don't know. Any sniff of a commercial van and they won't let you in. My trusty Transit van has Ian Staller plastered all over it so there's no chance of them letting me in. It musts costs so much money to do anything in this country.
I spent four days filling the skips before I was able to start the installation. Gone are the days of a straightforward installation. The kitchen had everything you could possibly think of. A hot water tap with a tank that had to fit in a very small unit, what's wrong with a kettle? Coffee machines, plumbed-in steam ovens, it's all just so complicated and if it's not understood and installed properly then I'm responsible and this stuff ain't cheap. You need an engineering degree to understand some of the instructions these days - it's a bloody nightmare. Once the kitchen was all in and while waiting for the sillystone quartz worktops to be fitted I moved up stairs to the bathroom. Sorry it's not actually called a bathroom. It's now a wet room. Concealed systems, wall-hung bogs and LED lighting in everything possible made the room look like a strip club(so I've been told). It even had a TV in the bath. Mind you, I can imagine watching Fred Dibnah's world of steam while enjoying a good soak! See you after my well deserved holiday. Ian Staller.
