Anyone used Rated People to find a tradesman? or know anything about building and stuff?

We had something similar done in our house about 2 years ago. I think it was roughly 2k including the wood burner and all the work.

Really? That's good since woodburners are a good few hundred quid. I may state budget as under £2k then since I wasn't expecting the builders to be able to install the burner since I didn't think they would be registered to do that - thought I would need a separate heating person in.

Out of interest, how did you find your builders?

I went to a couple of different people who did wood burners, got quotes inclusive of the work, they then outsourced the building work, plastering etc.

We had a granite hearth laid, not sure what size the wood burner is, we also had the chimney lined and a new pot on the chimney. We had to have the opening made larger too, similar to yours.

Make sure whoever fits the burner is hetas registered, you need the paperwork when you sell the house.

That's so weird, I was literally just about to post asking this same question! Will follow with interest.

Our new house has bizarre plug sockets in weird places and a phone socket with wires hanging out. BT want to charge us £130 for a call out ? I was hoping I could find someone who would charge much much less for just basically sticking a bit of plastic over it rather than the brown tape we currently have to stop the cats sticking their noses in.

Thanks Mrs Imp, I'll try that approach. I will also ask our plumber since, thinking about it, that's how we got a roofer. Does sound a very similar job and £2-3k is affordable.

BBB just to say I listed another job on the site as can't find the category for 'phone socket repair man' and within 30 secs of my ad going up I had 3 texts telling me who was going to call, followed by 3 different guys giving me quotes, followed by 3 emails with all their info, all very polite and lovely. Seems a good service so far.

Oh yeah, I forgot... I used rated people when we got our bathroom refitted. Same as PB, got 3 phone calls within about half an hour. We were really pleased with the service.

We use rated people for all minor things! Actually and major things!

its a great service and I never worry about the people I am letting in to my house. I'm quite nervy with people, just very shy, but I am comfortable using rated people to find people.

be accurate in your quote for the work and then give honest feedback. Our electrician we found was great, we will use him for everything now! He was new to town so we'd never have found him without it.

Thanks. I'll do something about it in a day or so when we can work out when we want it done. Would rather have email only contact than give anyone my phone number due to working shifts, wonder if the site will let me do that?

I think I set email preference. It does limit your responses. I usually allow text to calls but say it will go to voicemail then I can call back.

My brother is a joiner by trade does house refits etc I will e-mail him for you BBB and let you know what he thinks.

We used rated people.com to find a roofer and an electrician. Both contacted us within a couple of days of posting on the site and were very competitively priced. They turned up on time and did a great job and the cost was exactly what they quoted. I'd definitely use the site again.

Re your telephone sockets, we had a crackly phones problem last year and BT wanted to charge £200 just to come out and test. We came across a satellite TV and aerial company who also did replacement phone sockets and testing etc (he was an ex-BT engineer) who re-fit the master socket, did all new wiring outside, fitted 3 more extra sockets for extensions and hard wired the internet for us all for £180 and it's been blissfully crackle free since.

Iused the roofer Brenda got from Rated he is great, actually a builder and has now done 3 jobs for me with more to come. thanks Brenda ?

Thanks Kjay that would be really helpful. So far I have done as Mrs Imp suggested and contacted a local woodburner company to ask if they can quote for the whole job. They can do the building and design as well, and they are going to come round and give a quote as soon as we can both be at home at the same time. If your brother can give a vague estimate, even if it doesn't include the cost of the woodburner, it would maybe make me see if the quote I get is realistic.

Oh brill! I'd certainly use him again if we needed any jobs doing.

No problem, he text me earlier to let me know he got my e-mail. He is going to e-mail me back and as soon as he does I will copy it to here

That's handy! I might drop our TV aerial guy an email seeing if he happens to do phones too.

Hi BBB! Here is the reply from my brother, hope it helps give you a starting point any other questions give me a shout and I will get back on to him.

In the case of enlarging the fire place opening there should not be any structural issues depending on how much you wish to take out. As long as you keep at least one brick in from the corners and at lest a few courses down from the ceiling to put a lintel in to carry the weight but this will all depend on if your fire place is one or two "skins" of brick.

If you wanted to use a railway sleeper as a mantelpiece it could all so double up as the lintel, there for it would "float" above the opening or have two legs to give it the surround effect. Sleeper can be bought for £15 reclaimed to £60 plus for new.

You can get off the shelf fire surrounds but depending on what size opening you go for will tell you if you can pick one off the shelf or if it will have to be custom made. Again cost will vary on size and style but all start from around £100.

The stone hearth will need to be graded for the type of wood burner you pick. Certain hearths are only suitable for certain burners and fires, if you check out this web site,

https://solidfuel.co.uk/

They can provide all the information you'll need for picking the right burner and heath. Burner start about the £200 mark to upwards of £1000

The main issues with this job will be the flue. Depending on the age of your house, the condition of the chimney breast and where it vents to, it will all need to be checked by building control because it will need to be a class 1 flue and fully sealed. This can be done by installing a full flue from burner to pot but these can be costly.

Over all the best advise will to have your chimney checked by a chimney sweep (Yes they do still exist!) and they will be able to advise on your options regarding the flue.

As for the joinery work, standard day rate for a joiner is around the £120 to £160 per day but some may give you a price per door and depending on what type of door ( hollowed, hardwood or softwood) these could be between £30 to £60 per door. With out knowing how many doors, frames and skirting boards you have it will be hard to give you a idea on price but to replace all doors, frames and boards you'll be looking at lest a week plus materials.

So just of a idea of over all cost I would easily budget between £2.5k to £3k with at lest two weeks work. This is with in what I would cost working by myself as a self-employed joiner, for a lager firm I would put another £1k on.

Just a bump for barefoot- not sure if you saw the reply

Thanks for the bump, I hadn't seen it but have now. Very helpful, thanks xx