Ball park costs for renovation

[kev208]

My partner and I are in the process of buying a house. its an ex-student house but in really good condition because the father bought it for his son.

although we plan to do a lot of the work on it ourselves what we really need are ballpark figures for certain things.

so

very small bathroom - total refurb, old for new basically + tiling plumbing etc, this is assuming a bathroom suite cost of around =A3500

total redecoration - 2 downstairs rooms, hall, stairs, landing, 2 medium sized bedrooms and 1 tiny box room. This is assuming a modest budget for carpets and painting

we're ignoring the kitchen as its quite usable at the moment, we'll save up for that.

this isnt some sort of renovation job. we're buying this house to live in so there's not rush with anything.

our overall budget is about =A35000.

I know its probably impossible to say without more info but is this realistic?

[R.P.McMurphy]

My partner and I are in the process of buying a house. its an ex-student house but in really good condition because the father bought it for his son.

although we plan to do a lot of the work on it ourselves what we really need are ballpark figures for certain things.

so

very small bathroom - total refurb, old for new basically + tiling plumbing etc, this is assuming a bathroom suite cost of around £500

total redecoration - 2 downstairs rooms, hall, stairs, landing, 2 medium sized bedrooms and 1 tiny box room. This is assuming a modest budget for carpets and painting

we're ignoring the kitchen as its quite usable at the moment, we'll save up for that.

this isnt some sort of renovation job. we're buying this house to live in so there's not rush with anything.

our overall budget is about £5000.

I know its probably impossible to say without more info but is this realistic?

Sounds more than enough to me. For that price you should get a decent job done.

Steve

[Rick]

Sounds OK to me. I get tempted into thinking 5K is a lot, and splash out on a really wow bathroom, and have nothing left for the rest, this is best avoided. Those endless odd trips to B&Q for just a paintbrush, really add up in the end.

Rick

[Cuprager]

Snip Those endless odd trips to B&Q for just a paintbrush,

Thats so true, when I did my bathroom last year I budgeted 500 (we were keeping the suite as it was nice) and ended up spending a lot more. It was the small extra things that you just didn't realise you needed that added up.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its very hard to say.

The approach I would take on the bathroom, is buy the cheapest acceptable bath, basin and loo, but shop around for decent TAPS and pay a little more..and spend the money on

- 1 mounting the thin plasticky bath with LOTS of woodwork and car body filler so it doesn't flex. And case it in yourself with tileabl ply, or MDF.

- spend teh money you have saved on really good tiles ....they make ALL the difference. With bathrooms, the labour is the cost - a full suite for 4000 is easiliy achieved..but you can spend twice that on tiles and fittings..and maybe ten times that on installing it all.

I'd say that I'd expect to spend a grand on a decent bathroom. Ive done em for about 600 - small ones without showers - and its Ok..but the tiles end up being a bit plain.

decoration is really cheap..on materials...but HUGELY labour intensive. Surface prep., filling all the cracks and holes, sanding it all down..then loads of careful work with paint brushes..and you may want to re carpet etc..not a short job..but very satisfying.

Id say a grand for the bathroom and two for the redecoration.

[manatbandq]

If you DIY then you could have a very nice bathroom for a material cost of =A31000.

If you are on a budget, pay for decent underlay and spend a bit less on the carpet. Then, when you can afford nice carpet, the underlay will be re-useable.

Decorating could be just filler and a few tins of paint, depends on the state of the walls.

You've probably saved enough to get quite a decent kitchen, too.

MBQ

[Ben Blaukopf]

We renovated a flat over 2 years.

New bathroom, except for the bath which we touched up with a repair kit New kitchen, inc floor, plumbing, appliances etc. Painted the bedroom, living room, and boxroom and all the doors. New boiler (not diy-ed) A couple of new rads, and changing the valves on all of them. That was my apprenticeship in plumbing... New kitchen - inc appliances New carpets A reasonable collection of tools

We didn't need to touch any ceilings, beyond cleaning, filling, and painting. No probs with windows either. But you said it was in good condition, so I guess you won't be touching these either.

I can't remember exactly what we spent but it was less than 9K, including everything except petrol - I put *everything* we spent in a spreadsheet. It also excludes a LOT of time spent window shopping and thinking.

So given that 5,000 excludes the kitchen, and a boiler, it's plenty, and you shouldn't need to cut corners. But stick to a budget, and leave a good contingency for random things, and mistakes.

Ben