Parents have an old over-bath electric shower, it’s always been a bit crap due to the low power. Recent broke and theyve been quoted £5k for a replacement. Think that includes new wiring on the assumption that this needs upgrading for decent performance. Still sounds like a hell of a lot. Concerned they re being taken advantage of/given the hard sell.

What is reasonable for putting in a new shower inc wiring?

Might be tempted to get another quote.

Sounds very expensive, can they get some other quotes?

That would replace a small bathroom. How many other quotes did they get?

Is their mains water pressure decent? If so I would get a mixer shower not electric.

I think someone has added a zero in there by mistake.

Our wet room didn’t cost much more than that. And that was a proper back to the walls and rebuild completely from scratch.

Get 3 quotes and if your folks are getting on a bit be around for a couple and ask questions and for a cost breakdown.

Hugely expensive. Two days work at most, and that’s worst case with all sorts of problems and new 6mm wiring and a new breaker in the consumer unit. The new shower itself will only cost a few hundred quid – ours is 9.5kw and it’s fine.

How old are your parents?….

Theres your answer sadly. Five grand is ridiculous

That’s a £500-600ish job in my eyes, without seeing it anyhow to know the cable routing but

New Shower £200
10mm2 Cable £100
1/2 Day to fit £100
Sparkie to sort cable, connect and test £200

Any retiling or making good to walls?

£5k would pay for a complete bathroom fit out. As an electrician I know that is way, way overpriced.

That’s not far off the price we’ve just paid for a full news bathroom and a new combo boiler to go with it!

Sounds like your folks are getting ripped-off.

If the current consumer unit isn’t up to regs then there maybe be extra either to replace it or adding a mini rcd unit but even so that is a bit pricey. It might just be the “go away” price.

I would be a bit wary that my parents had allowed someone in their house who was that audacious as to quote that for a shower, obviously taking advantage, would be tempted to check out that company and make a few enquiries. Not wishing to scare you but theres some pretty unscrupulous folk out there.

As above, £5k would get you a complete new bathroom and a very decent one at that. I’d agree with above that £1k max. Also when you say low power do you mean water pressure (my guess) or heat. Water pressure might be harder to sort.

That appears to be high! We’re receiving quotes in that price range for a complete new bathroom, tiling etc..

I got a whole new bathroom, fitted including materials for £2700. See if this company has a facebook page, or advertises on local area community pages, and make it public, it’s a disgraceful quote aimed at taking advantage of old people.

£1000 for a good, local, ‘expensive’ company to do this. £500-700 for someone a bit cheaper.

That quote is reminiscent of British Gas new boiler quotes!

thecaptain – Member

Think that includes new wiring on the assumption that this needs upgrading for decent performance

For reference, we had an electrician round doing some work & I asked him to quote for putting some thicker wire in on the shower feed so we could upgrade to a more powerful shower.
He was gonna take it on a very convoluted route to avoid having to chase it into the walls so there was a lot of wire, but he only quoted £240 for the work, including materials.

£5k is crazy….

We just spent:
£289 on new shower (Mira from Screwfix).
£70 on 10mm cable (we needed 20m)
£4 on isolation switch
£50 on new separate consumer unit just for shower and 2 x gland kit
£180 for 1-day of fitter’s time

This was part of a full bathroom, but that that’s what I can allocate to the job of just replacing shower.

Total: £593

Note: Our cable run was straightforward (new cable just got pulled through existing cavities by old cable).
Plumbing and electric entry points into the shower were similar to old so wouldn’t require re-tiling (moot in our case as whole room being done).

Hope that helps when you look at quotes.

That’s an outrageous price. Be thankful that your parents consult you when they get a quote, and the fact they’re even considering it should alert you to the need for you to be vigilant on their financial dealings from now onwards.

Hopefully it was just the tradesman’s way of saying he didn’t want the job.

note that an aqua-lisa pumped shower can set you back about 700 quid before anything else. yes, they are pricey, and yes, that still leaves 4.3k which would appear to be rather a lot.
just trying to point out though that some of the numbers may not be quite as fanciful as those quoted above might suggest.

Thanks all, it’s what I thought. Think it does include a fair bit of electrical work that might not be necessary (but might be, it is an old installation).

I think the danger has been averted for now, I’m not there but my sister is.

Think the original idea behind electric was partly that so we could have a shower when the hot tank was off/cold and there used to be 5 of us living there (which of course no longer applies), but also the hot water pressure is pretty feeble compared to the cold so a mixer may not be that great.

Electric showers are rubbish.

I’d suggest a thermal store for the hot water and a mixer shower. That way you get mains pressure hot water and don’t need to switch to a combi boiler. You could just switch to a combi, but they tend to pack up a lot more than the old simple bookers with a hot water tank, even if it’s just the system losing pressure due to old rads and pipework.

And 5k is definitely mickey taking territory.

Thanks all, it’s what I thought. Think it does include a fair bit of electrical work that might not be necessary (but might be, it is an old installation).

It’s very likely that there is some electrical work required. Electric showers used to be about 7kw, they now tend to be 9 – 10kw, which means heavier cable and appropriate RCDs.

water pressure is pretty feeble compared to the cold so a mixer may not be that great.

I hate electric showers and would go for a mixer with a shower pump. Nothing better than a really powerful shower.

The 5k is taking the piss.

Where in the UK are your parents? I’m sure someone on here could recommend a good plumber to do the work.

Think the original idea behind electric was partly that so we could have a shower when the hot tank was off/cold and there used to be 5 of us living there (which of course no longer applies), but also the hot water pressure is pretty feeble compared to the cold so a mixer may not be that great.

We have an Aqualisa Aquastream power shower that fits on the wall like a normal electric shower but requires a hot and cold feed. It’s great

They’re about £350 + fitting. Lovely powerful shower, no messing with seperate pump. Cheap to install.

it’s a disgraceful quote aimed at taking advantage of old people.

Not British Gas by any chance?

Thanks again for all input. I dont’ want to name and shame as I’ve only had this story 3rd hand and it’s possible there is a bit more to it than I heard. Definitely hope to get some local quotes and a power shower is an interesting idea, I suppose it depends whether they want to use it when the water is off.

I paid £500 recently for an electric shower install from having nothing in the room. Price included, new bath, electrician to route cable from consumer unit to bathroom, shower and all labour/work in way. I also got the lights changed as well.

I had a good labour rate and mine is a simple modern house but £5K = taking advantage.