Estimated costs for home renovation (3 beds)

playaz

Hi guys,

I know this answer will vary greatly I was just looking for some advice and very rough figures on a home renovation. The most important thing at the moment is the smell - it is horrid, it needs a serious fumigation top to bottom.

How much would it cost to do the following based on the 3 bed house shown below:

• Fumigate the entire house (due to pets)
• Re-do the front drive (just want a very basic flat drive, the current one needs re-doing as the foundation is a mess)
• Install a new kitchen (lower end of the market - including new cooker/oven)
• Re-do two double bedrooms & 1 single bedroom - (just strip wallpaper and re-carpet each room)
• Totally steam clean of side 'out-house' (dogs lived there) and re-paint this
• Install a brand new bathroom (Bath, sink & toilet)
• Re-wiring of the whole house (I have seen some dodgy DIY work with some the lights)

I know any figures cannot be accurate but even a few very rough 'ball-park' figures would help as I have no ideas of this sort of thing.
I am not good with DIY so would prefer to leave it to the experts.

Here is the house I'm looking at
3 bed House

Thanks in advance

cattie

Well I moved about 18 months ago to a very spacious 2 bed flat which has probably a bit more space as your average 3 bed house does.

It has needed a lot of refurbishment, apart from rewiring & I'd estimate I've spent around £20k-£25k to date. This has included new kitchen, bathroom, full boiler & ch installation, restoration of parquet flooring, carpets in both bedrooms & lobby, new doors to all rooms, building of fitted wardrobes in main bedroom, various carpentry jobs around the home & some plastering & of course complete redecoration.

However, I have chosen good quality kitchen & bathroom as well as good quality fittings & carpets etc. so it could have been done cheaper had I gone for a lesser quality.

My previous property was a 3 bed house, again needing refurbishment which included a full rewire & to get that place up to scratch came in at around £35k. Again everything was of a good quality & it could have been done cheaper if a lesser quality was used.

I do live in a London suburb, so tradesmen's prices are much more expensive here than you'd probably have to pay. I think I paid around £4k-£4.5k for the rewire I had in my house.

On average down here a drive can cost anything from £1k-£2.5k depending on size & type of finish. Just be careful you don't get a cowboy to do it as one of the houses I once owned had a blocked paving drive done by a fly by night that the previous owner used & I had to get it completely redone as it was all over the place with lots of bulges.

I've got no idea of fumigation as never had it done & don't know anybody who has.

Doozergirl

I've never fumigated and we've bought some dodgy places. Once they remove their belongings and you rip up all the flooring and the rest of their stuff and open the windows, it will go. If there are stains on floorboards etc then you can spray them old school with water mixed with white vinegar. Fact is, if it's bad enough that you want to fumigate it then it's not worth keeping. The walls can be sugar soaped if they don't need replastering.

Is the boiler up to scratch etc? Windows, roof, rainwater goods? It's the surprises that add up.

I think block paving is about £45 a metre. Rewire £2-3000. Kitchen £2-3000 for the bottom of the range. Carpet is as cheap as you want it and if you're trying to save money then you'll want to do the decorating yourselves.

A full and genuine renovation can easily cost £30k.

lessonlearned

The problem is that until you start stripping out you never know what you are likely to find, so be sure to have an additional sum for contingency.

For example removing a bath can often reveal rotting floors where leaks have occurred. We've just had this one.

You've not factored in any re-plastering costs. Removing wall tiles will inevitably fetch off some plaster and stripping wallpaper often means that walls will need skimming, at least if you want a nice smooth surface for painting.

Fumigating as such shouldn't be necessary unless the place is infested with fleas or bed bugs. There are number of products for removing pet stains and odours if vinegar doesn't do the trick, unless of course urine has rotted floorboards.

Again the boiler may well have a gas certificate but it doesn't necessary mean that it's not on it's last legs.

One thing is for sure - renovations nearly always cost more and take longer than you anticipate…….

captainhindsight_2

i would recommend reskimming the walls, if your re-wiring its pretty unlikely your not going to get any marks left due to running the new wires down the walls and imo makes it so much easier for redecorating.Not sure on cost though

dee4life2005

I've just purchased my first house, a traditional 2-bed victorian semi and it needs everything done. Central heating, boiler, water pipes replaced (were lead), re-wire, re-plumbed, new kitchen, bathroom and full re-decorated.

Doing pretty much all of the work myself, and calling in some IOU's from family. I've so far spend £11k, and that includes the boiler, radiators, some replacement double-glazing, the kitchen, shower and enclosure, rewire (only costing material as dad is a sparky) and plumbing (done myself).

I reckon once I include appliances, painting, carpets / flooring etc. I'd be lucky to see much change from £20k and that's doing most of it myself ... with only the exception being a plasterer (at mates rates) and a corgi to do the boiler.

I'd probably be nearer £30-35k if I'd been paying a sparky / plumber etc. do the work i've done myself.

Joel12

Unfortunately, I think that you might be looking at a much larger investment if you are not going to do any of the work yourself. Though it has been mentioned before I am not so sure that having the entire home fumigated is necessary, if you are not happy with the way something looks or you think it is too dirty to keep, get rid of it.

dee4life2005

My brother recently bought a house that had pets, and it had a bit of a smell about it. Once he'd taken the carpets out and disposed of them and given the house a bit of airing by opening all the windows etc. the smell disappeared. As said above, it would be unlikely a full fumigation would be required ... although I guess it depends on what the smell is and how strong I guess.

trailingspouse

Don't pay to have it fumigated until you've got rid of carpets, curtains and wallpaper. The people before us were heavy smokers, but the smell has all gone now that we've got rid of everything that was trapping it.

Kitchen - £5000 ish.
Re-wiring - £4000 ish - although I'd be surprised if you need a full re-wire going by the age of the house. Get an electrician to come and have a look, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Painters and decorators really don't like stripping wallpaper - they'll charge you the same for doing this as they do for hanging it (which involves a great deal of skill) - you would be better doing the stripping yourself.
Bath, sink, toilet - you can get sets very cheaply, or you can spend an absolute fortune, it really is entirely up to you.

Sorry there are no ballpark figures here. To get a better idea you need to get some trades to come and give you estimates - I'm guessing you haven't bought this house yet? You can still ask a lekky to give you an estimate for re-wiring, and if you have the kitchen measurements you can find out how much a kitchen might cost, before you make the decision to buy. Also - you don't have to do it all in one go. Do a bit, save a bit, and do a bit more.
All the best with it!!

justintime999

Whatever your best estimate plus half more.

NewtoDIY

Specifically regarding the fumigation, I've been through this having suffered a nasty bout of cat fleas which were left for us by the previous owners. The best thing to do is to call the council pest control and see if they will fumigate it for you. Ours did for free after I told them that I was covered in bites.
It helps if you haven't moved in already because if you have all your furniture in the house, you'll have to clear about 80% of all floor space to be effective. I wrote at length on another forum about what I had to do to solve our problem with fleas, but a cheaper alternative and just as good is to buy Indorex spray online. You would have to open the windows, and start at the top of the house moving down and then leave for a few hours. Is it just the smell you're bothered about or are you concerned that they've left you nasties?