How much do builders charge in London?

Builders in London charge more than anywhere else in the UK, but the day rate you're quoted tells you almost nothing about what your project will cost. A day rate buys one thing: a person on site for a day. It doesn't include materials, skip hire, scaffolding or building control fees. It doesn't include anyone managing the sequence of trades, and it doesn't include snagging at the end. Worst of all, it has no finish line, because nobody has committed to how many days the job will take.

That last part is where day-rate jobs go wrong. Nobody is on the hook for the end date, so drift costs you, not the builder. We hear from people partway through day-rate projects that have wandered on for months, asking what it would cost to finish the work properly. A fixed price works the other way. The builder has committed to a total, so if the job takes longer than planned, that's our problem, not yours. The risk sits with the person best placed to control it.

So we only quote fixed prices. We survey first, put the full scope in writing, and the price we quote is the price you pay. As a guide, a kitchen extension starts from £2,500 per square metre and a whole-house renovation from £1,200 per square metre, with the exact figure set once we've seen the property. If a builder gives you a day rate, ask two questions: how many days, and what happens if it takes more. The answers tell you who is carrying the risk.