bathroom renovations and house value

[neil leslie]

Our bathroom is really rubbish and we're just about to spend a stupid amount of money on doing it up; around £10,000. Any ideas on how much this would actually add in value to a house?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Interesting point. Next door has recently changed hands after only about 3 years. The previous owners bought it from an 80 year old who had maintained it well, but not modernised much on a 100 year old house, only as he needed. They changed the layout and installed a new fitted kitchen, modernised the bathroom, and added a second one.

The new owners have ripped all that out and replaced it with units to their taste.

[Lobster]

And your point is...? :-)

David

[Doctor Drivel]

What a totally pointless post. This is senility does to you.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That the best bathroom in the world might add nothing to the value of the house if the buyer intends to replace it with his own choice?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You'd know about that.

And that. Now try adding something useful to the tread?

Oh dear. Twin 'combi's' might spoil the look of a 10 grand bathroom.

[Doctor Drivel]

I do. It was totally pointless.

[Doctor Drivel]

Haven't you realised by now?

[Doctor Drivel]

[chris French]

In message , neil leslie writes

Hope you plan on living there for while......

a lot less than 10 grand. Assuming a really crap bathroom like we had - very scruffy, stained, dreadful pink colour, totally crap over bath shower. etc. then I imagine that it might add a couple of grand if you are lucky. but as has been said, much depends on the property etc. However, more importantly I think, it will increase the saleability if the house. A crap bathroom will put some buyers off which a decent bathroom might otherwise attract. But a 10 grand bathroom won't increase the saleability 3 times more than 3 grand one.

IMO, if you will probably be selling in the relatively (within say 3-4 years) then I would consider if the benefit of the useage and pleasure you will get for those few years is worth the money it will cost , bearing in mind you won't get most of it back on sale. But if you plan on living in the house for another 15 years say, go for whatever you feel is worth it, it'll be pretty irrelevant in 15 years time.

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , neil leslie writes

Impossible to say - Objectively, it tends to cost me around £2,500 to fit a smallish bathroom with bath, sink, WC, and thermostatic shower, plus white tiling. Factor in something for hassle, and you might get to say, £5,000 or so.

So, if a buyer is logical, sees your crappy bathroom, and works how much it will cost to replace, you might get £5,000 less without the bathroom.

Subjectively - many people will see a crappy bathroom and not want to but the house. How much would that lose you? Hard to say, but more people wanting your house tends to get more money.

If anybody ever asked me if they should spend £10K on a new bathroom to help sell their house, I would say dont bother - spend £2,500.

Answer- if you are thinking of selling your house - dont spend £10,000 on a bathroom. If you want a nice bathroom, exactly to your taste, which you might use for the next 5 to 10 years, just do it and forget about what it might add to your house.

All of this assumes that you have a fairly typical house.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It also might well depend on what sector the house is aimed at. Some first time buyers might want somewhere they can move straight into. But then others are forced by high prices to buy a wreck. Some also prefer a new house for the same reason, while others prefer an older one that they can make their own, as it were.

But it's generally accepted that most fittings don't recover their cost, especially at the upper end price wise of such things. Bathrooms, kitchens etc. Whereas things like fitting central heating where non existed, or adding a garage generally will.

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 12 Aug 2005, Dave Plowman (News) wrote

I don't know how often this happens in standard houses, but it's a well-known phenomenon in high-end real estate sales: buyers won't look at the place without an all-singing-all-dancing new kitchen and bathroom, but they invariably hire a decorator/designer who pulls it all out and starts over.

It's an easy calculation for a developer to make (cost vs quicker sale), but it's a lot more difficult when when people want to combine their own wishes as a householder with trying to make a quid on the improvement.

The OP's got to figure out which hat he's wearing -- owner or developer

-- before he can decide whether a 10K bathroom represents a good "investment".

[Andrew Gabriel]

Well, I did one a couple of years ago, and this is a breakdown from memory. I may have forgotten a few things, but I doubt I got anywhere near £2000 on the parts. Labour was all my own. I did buy the parts over the course of a year, which meant I could look out for special offers.

Kawaldi Bath + fittings + P&P £120 Bath taps £40 Bath panel £70 Washbasin £80 Tap + waste £40 WC £100 Thermostaic shower mixer £80 Shower screen £80 Flooring + skirting £120 Wall tiles £60 Extractor + isolator £25 Lights £40 Shaver socket £20 Mirror £50 Cupboards/worktop £130 Pipework + plumbing fittings £150 Cable, earth bonding, etc £10 Door £8 Door furniture £15 Loo roll holder, towel rack £30 Paint £20 Fan heater + FCU £30 Radiator £54

which is coming in at under £1500. (Actually, the fan heater and radiator were reused from previous bathroom.)

Other significant items which some people would want to add to these would be curtains/blinds, and a heated towel rail.

OP didn't say how he was spending £10,000. If this is being paid to a chain of national bathroom fitters, then bear in mind this is more likely to be a £3,000 bathroom (including labour) and £7,000 profit/commission, of which the latter does exactly nothing for the value of the house.

[Matt]

In a widely quoted survey last year, the change that increased the value of a property the most (more accurately retained the highest % of the cost), was surprisingly, off street parking.

Apparently council flats with externally fitted water heaters were cited as the single item most devaluing the value of the property ;-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I can believe that - although it's not often possible to provide it afterwards, as it were.

No surprise there then. ;-)

[Doctor Drivel]

You should have all your gas appliances outside as they regularly explode.