How to save money on renovation?

Rambosmum

So we came in to a small amount of money (just over 10k) and decided to use this to do up the downstairs of our house.

So far we have:

knocked a wall down, had a stud wall put up and a radiator moved (£1500)

had some electrics done (£475)

bought some network cabling and a new radiator (£150)

Which leaves us with ~ £8500

Which we want to do:

floor - laminate through out downstairs 45m2 with underlay and beading (£1500)

new kitchen - 15 unit L shape cream units wood work top (£5500) only appliance we require is a dishwasher.

Tiling in kitchen (£500)

Painting/ decorating (~£1000) whole of downstairs, including one new kitchen.

New doors (£1140 plus hanging) 6 doors, 4 oak, 2 oak and glass

bifolding internal door (£900 plus fitting)

Total for remaining work : ~£10000

Anyone any idea how we could save some money - the kitchen is the cheapest non-high gloss one I have so far found.

We can't save up any more (I'm expecting so all savings are being used to pay for mat leave/ things for baby/ rainy day) and this money is inheritance so 'unaccounted for'.

Come on money savers, help me save!

knightstyle

We have been there and done it many times on a shoestring. Your prices seem high to me and must include labour which is the most expensive part.
So to save money look at removing a show kitchen from a showroom, ask about it.
Laminate floor look at Wickes, any being discontinued?
Doors, tiles etc. these are often on offer, look around.
Do you really need the bifold door now? Maybe leave it till later.
It all comes down to you putting in time and effort to track down the bargains, they are around.

Hoploz

I don't know where you've shopped for a kitchen. I fitted out mine when I built an extension for £3000 and it was about 14' square of units and worktops. Try the local trade places, eg timber merchants. The lady still came out to plan mine when the walls were half up!

Decorating, just buy some paint and do it yourself!

Tiling, also do it yourself, it's not hard, really.

You've gone for solid oak doors, you could get pine or moulded doors mich cheaper, that's your choice.

Bifolding internal door sounds an arm and a leg to me, again, could be done much cheaper but you've chosen presumably high end materials.

Basically, you want to do high end stuff but can't afford it. So the opeions are, either find the money from elsewhere, or reduce your standards just a little to get a good finish with cheaper materials.

LEJC

The most obvious question to ask is what Diy skills you or OH have ...we have recently renovated several places and find that there are things we cant do ourselves so we get the trades in...but there are most certainly things that we can have a go at and have become quite good at...

Tiling is reasonably easy to do..getting a tiler can be expensive and quick but with a bit of basic knowledge its not as hard as you mat imagine....
Again decorating...is your figures based on a professional or is that something that you could have a go at...what do you plan to decorate the area with,thats quite a high budget considering that the flooring is accounted elsewhere

Always have a look at ends of ranges on tiles etc...you can get some very good deals....and if you are buying anything in bulk whatever it is...ask for a discount.

When we were renovating my favourite phrase to any supplier became..."is that your best price"...and then smiled....

Rambosmum

We will decorate ourselves - the decorating includes things like sandpaper, some skirting that we need, the ladder, rollers etc, not just the paint.

I'm struggling to find any cheap kitchen places - can anyone recommend one in Greater Manchester?

I can't find a pine door I like.

Some of it is down to taste, but we don't want high end- this isn't our forever home.

fairy_lights

Well the painting and decorating you can surely do yourself, if nothing else, which will knock a grand off the budget.


Edit: just seem you will be doing this yourself anyway. £1000 for supplies seems very high. Can't you borrow a ladder? Rollers only cost a few quid, you can buy cheap ones in pound shops. I think you need to shop around a bit to find the things you want at better prices.

Pixie5740

Can you reuse and of the existing kitchen cupboard carcasses and just get new doors?

LEJC

Rambosmum wrote: »

We will decorate ourselves - the decorating includes things like sandpaper, some skirting that we need, the ladder, rollers etc, not just the paint.



Some of it is down to taste, but we don't want high end- this isn't our forever home.

Do you have a toolstation or screwfix near...they are good for bulk sandpaper rollers etc...and perhaps lots of the other incidentals...they are usually cheaper than homebase or b&q etc
trade places for the woodwork and skirtings,even perhaps go to a local timber merchant and haggle again for buying bulk...

£1000 is still a huge budget for decoration

adzy77

You are doing the decorating yourself and its still coming out at £1000?! What are you using

Rambosmum

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Can you reuse and of the existing kitchen cupboard carcasses and just get new doors?

No. The carcass is the issue- open a cupboard door and it comes off in your hands. Almost all the doors have got hinge plates on them and they still fall off.

I can tile - tiles the bathroom and the old kitchen. It's just the amount of tiles needed but will shop around for a cheaper deal.

The decorating also includes light fittings (currently have bare bulbs) and a sideboard and TV stand (currently have a side table acting as this).

LEJC

Buy paint in trade tubs rather than small cans if you can...white is especially good for ceilings etc and a 10L tub shouldnt cost you more than £20...
coming up to summer look out for crown trade tubs in b&q as they were £10 a tub last bank holiday and they are likely to repeat the offer throughout the summer.

Lights and fittings...look around the shops and then research online electrical retailers...many of them sell the same fittings just cheaper.

My electrician did however tell me that Argos is a good place for some reasonable lights and again if you can combine it with offer/sale time all the better.

Ends of ranges and ex display lights are always worth considering too.