Putting floating shelves up

[Tim Robbins]

Hi,
I was looking for a quote to get 6 hanging shelves up in a sitting room. 3 on either side of the fireplace. By hanging, I mean no brackets can be seen.

The shelves need to be very strong to support a number of books. 3 of the shelves are about 1.6 meters and three others are about 1.2 metres.

The depth is about 25 cm one side and the other side about 20 cm.

I was quoted 600 for the job.

This was for a shelve thickness of 40 mm.

Is this good value or what?

Thanks.

 

[Slaphead]

Does it involve making the shelves or what, €600 to throw up a few shelves seems out about 6 times too much imo and thats being a good tipper.

 

[Spear]

What is the breakdown of time and materials?

 

[Tim Robbins]

What is the breakdown of time and materials?

200 materials.
400 labour.

The way he is suggesting to do it is to use a mixture of wood and mdf. Each shelve is two sheets of MDF with a sheet of wood in between.

He says it is 2.5 days of work, to make the shelves and put them up.

 

[Spear]

I would have thought you could go to a builder providers and get then cut wood or mdf to size.

Why is he combining the two materials? The combination of two materials is making is expensive. Even so, I don't know why it's taking him 2.5 days. Should be less than a day for everything including cutting and treating.

Another thing is his daily rate. 140 per day seems high. Is he charging VAT and covered by insurance? He would want to be at those rates!!

 

[Leo]

I would have thought you could go to a builder providers and get then cut wood or mdf to size.

Builders providers don't cut wood to your dimensions, a few more specialist suppliers like Woodworkers will do this, but you pay extra for it.

Why is he combining the two materials? The combination of two materials is making is expensive.

It's most likely that he's using a veneered mdf for the sides, far cheaper than using a solid wood for these parts.

What kind of wood is being used Tim. It sounds more like you are proposing building in a unit than simply putting up 6 shelves.

 

[TheBear]

Builders providers don't cut wood to your dimensions, a few more specialist suppliers like Woodworkers will do this, but you pay extra for it.

B&Q have a wood cutting service available in some of their stores. The first x number of cuts are free, and then it's about 10c or 20c per cut thereafter.

Might be cheaper than going to a specialist.

 

[wbbs]

You can buy very good floating shelves like these in different finishes in Homebase or B&Q, even if you had to then pay someone to put them up. Not a hope would I pay that sort of money for them.

 

[Tim Robbins]

You can buy very good floating shelves like these in different finishes in Homebase or B&Q, even if you had to then pay someone to put them up. Not a hope would I pay that sort of money for them.

Thanks.

We want the shelves to be flush with the chimney breast, both in depth and width. I guess B&Q just have ready made sizes? We got ones in Ikea before and they are crap. They start to sag and don't look well.

 

[Leo]

B&Q have a wood cutting service available in some of their stores. The first x number of cuts are free, and then it's about 10c or 20c per cut thereafter.

Might be cheaper than going to a specialist.

It's the first cut is free, and I thought it was 50c per cut after. It's also an expensive place to buy wood to start with. Another point is B&Q have a very limited selection of wood, no hardwoods, no veneers, etc.