Cost of refurbishing a 3 bed home from scratch

ricky._2

Hi all

I've recently bought a 3 bed property and have been researching how much its going to cost to gut out the entire property from top to bottom and refurbish.

After doing a little bit of research on these forums, across other forums and via my "expert" friend - here's a breakdown of expected costs:

• Loft insulation - £150 (gvmt grant could save this cost?)
• Damp proofing downstairs - £1,000
• Rewiring electricity - £2,500
• Double glazing front of house - £2,000
• Replace water tank with new combi boiler & power flush system - £2,000
• Plastering whole house- £1,500
• New bathroom fitted- £750
• New kitchen fitted - £2,500
• Misc decorating (paint, essential fixtures etc) - £600
• Carpet - £2,000
• Other misc costs (skip hire etc) - £500

Total: £15,500.

Firstly, is there anything major I've missed off this list?

Secondly, does anyone have any advice as to what order these should be completed?

Lastly, are these projected costs completely way off? My aim is actually to keep costs down to £10k-£12k. Has anybody done a complete refurb recently on a shoestring budget that can help with any money saving advice?

evokit

Looking at your costings i think you have under estimated on a few things unless your doing all the work?
Ive done 2 in 4yrs, both for myself and done 90% of the work myself also. last one was 22k but have underfloor heating all downstairs.
only work i didnt do was plastering, window fitting and doors.
i chased all for electrics and supplied everything so had that done for £700.
Boiler change and bathroom plumbing.
i sourced 90% of everything, sockets, switches, tiles, bathroom etc myself of the internet saving 1000's
you need to add flooring and extras and fitting
rad changes
bathroom for £750 fitted??? that will be your fitters cost, more if you want tiling etc and materials
kitchen 2500...depends on size quality etc ikea maybe yet your fitting charge will be around 1200 min regardless where you are in the country as a ball park

alanco15

Hi I agree,

I have done many houses over the years, and this sort of price would be me doing alot of the work myself.

Maybe you can labour for any guys you get in to save on costs, if they let you .

[Deleted User]

Blimey - can I get a new bathroom for £750 at the same time too?

Are you going to be doing the painting/decorating yourself?

keystone

Agree with Evo. My next door neighbour did his for around £12k but all the labour was his own or his mates helping out (they all work for the same council maintaining council housing stock). It was a tip too when he bought it.

Practically if you are hiring people in to to the work a more realistic overall budget is £25 - 30k and then be thankful for any savings you make which you will be able to do but you must have a realistic pot of money set aside in the first instance.

Cheers

keystone

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Blimey - can I get a new bathroom for £750 at the same time too?

Highly unlikely.

Cheers

drummer_666

I bought a 3 bed terraced house 2 months ago, have gutted most of the house and am putting it back together. My budget is £18k, my aim is £16,500. But I'm doing most of the work myself. Only using builder for wall knock thru, roof and plastering. Electrics and boiler getting done by pros too.

I think it would cost at least £2k to plaster the whole house, more if it's also being boarded before being skimmed.

Damp proofing - is this just the walls or is it floors as well?

Boiler - is this any new rads? I think it'll be closer to £3k that's with only one or two new rads.

New bathroom and kitchen - how big is the kitchen and will you be doing the work yourself - ie. tiling and fitting the kitchen

If you're repainting every room you'll need a lot of paint. I've already spent about £200 on paint, still got at least another £150 to spend - I do have very high ceilings though. I've also been buying when paint is on offer or trade etc. Don't forget to paint outside if rendered esp if you have damp issues

For my 3 bed, 2 reception room, massive kitchen diner, 1 bathroom, 1 downstairs shower/wetroom this is my break down:

Heating/Plumbing - £2,650 (reduced usually 3k)
Electrics - £700 (kitchen and one socket in bedroom, dug out channels and fitted back boxes myself)
Structural Engineer Fee - £75
Building Regs Fee - £130
Wall knock thru, shower ceiling, replace flat roof, stud wall - £2,000
Dig up floor, damp proof, relay, level - £800
Damp injections - £500
Plaster kitchen, lounge where hacked off for damp, hall - £800ish
Kitchen inc appliances, tiles etc 7.8x2.2m - £2,500 (kitchen bought trade, tiling and fitting kitchen myself)
Wet room - £600 (being tanked etc as a favour, got tiles on offer, toilet and basin donated)
Bathroom - £750 (tiling and fitting myself, basin off eBay, toilet trade)
Windows - £3000-3,500 estimate - buying trade and fitting some myself, builder fitting others
Misc - £1,500
Inc skirting, coving, dados, doors, fireplace, hearth, hiring floor sander, then all your filler, sugar soap etc

diywhynot

If you source very cheap gear and DIY most of it then you might squeeze it in within your budget but I doubt it. If you get trades in but buy all of the materials remember any faults/defects/tardiness will cost you lots of extra dosh for wasted time. Many trades don't want to work for homeowners who' work' alongside for reasons too many to recount here.

drummer_666

to keep costs down, do as much of the work as possible yourself.

i.e. knock off plaster yourself, then let damp company inject, get builder to replaster

get on freecycle, gumtree and eBay to pick up cheap bathroom suites, kitchen appliances

get paint whilst on offer at homebase, b&q etc - same for tiles, but look online also

Happy-Days_3

In the process of a refurb at the moment - blog in my profile if you want a look - though look back prior to Feb as recent months it has been more about our first child rather than the house.

The cost depends so much on where you are. Hope it is somewhere cheap, because those costs look way too low. Maybe if you are DIY'ing as much as poss and you are somewhere cheap, might get close, but doubt it!

In terms of order of things - first question is are you living there while work is being done. If so, that makes it really difficult. Also, who is managing all the trades? Guess it must be you at those prices. That would be a nightmare if you are living there.

If you are living there, you need to work out what order you do things in and where you will live / go to the toilet / cook while work is underway.

If not, then it is easier. Step 1 - Rip everything out. This is easy enough for you to do. Strip all walls, old bathroom, kitchen, everything, get it down to a bare shell.

Then, after that, get in the messy trades, so electrics, boiler, damp proofing, windows in and any first fix work on the plumbing.

But keep in mind even things like this will pose problems if you are managing the process. A simple one that nearly caught us out. Got the first fix of the electrics done - all organised, knew where we wanted plugs etc in the kitchen, all in place - great. Only when I came to install the kitchen did it suddenly dawn on me I needed to drill numerous holes in the wall to hang the units on did I realise the cable runs were just as important as the sockets. But, we lucked out and all the holes I needed to drill were away from the cables.

Also, do the loft at this stage. What are you doing with it? If just insulation, just get some more and roll it out perpendiclar to what is there. Job done.

Then, start building the place back up, so get the plasterer in, followed by kitchen and bathroom fitters. Then after that on to the decorating. And finally, last thing, carpets in and off you go.

Our refurb has so far been incredibly hard work, but good fun and very satidfying, all the best for yours!

diable

And you haven't factored in if something goes wrong especially if you lift the downstairs floorboards and find you have rotten joists.