Is this a reasonable budget for house renovation?

HomeOwner1

Hello All,

I'm looking to renovate my BTL property. A list of the works is below:

What's the "accepted" ballpark for this sort of work?


- Rewire the entire house (3 bedroom - what I've found so far is 2k-3k ballpark. Some modifications of the electrics has been done - what could be done without disruption - so the rewiring cost will not be everything)
- Replaster - I am estimating 5k max? This would be what's needed after the rewiring
- Decorating - not sure on this, it will be painting the three bedrooms, living room, hallways
- New kitchen - although a budget kitchen can be sourced for 1k, some tiling will be needed. The kitchen itself is in an L shape but fairly narrow in width.
- And of course the bathroom - I budget 5k as the fitting seems high. I don't anticipate moving pipes
- Double glazing (3-5k for 8 windows, 2 large?)

Would all of this be possible to do on a 25k budget? The house is in London. I know this is vague i.e. no measurements etc, but have builders visiting the property this week to get quotes. A lot of the parts will be low-end ie the kitchen, tiles, etc.

Thanks

Ken68

Only know country prices...decorators £80 a day plus materials. 7 DG windows £1900. This is King's Lynn area.

DRP

HomeOwner1 wrote: »

Hello All,

I'm looking to renovate my BTL property. A list of the works is below:

What's the "accepted" ballpark for this sort of work?


- Rewire the entire house (3 bedroom - what I've found so far is 2k-3k ballpark. Some modifications of the electrics has been done - what could be done without disruption - so the rewiring cost will not be everything)
- Replaster - I am estimating 5k max? This would be what's needed after the rewiring
- Decorating - not sure on this, it will be painting the three bedrooms, living room, hallways
- New kitchen - although a budget kitchen can be sourced for 1k, some tiling will be needed. The kitchen itself is in an L shape but fairly narrow in width.
- And of course the bathroom - I budget 5k as the fitting seems high. I don't anticipate moving pipes
- Double glazing (3-5k for 8 windows, 2 large?)

Would all of this be possible to do on a 25k budget? The house is in London. I know this is vague i.e. no measurements etc, but have builders visiting the property this week to get quotes. A lot of the parts will be low-end ie the kitchen, tiles, etc.

Thanks

I'm just a homeowner who has done a refurb or two over the last decade.

I think that looks ok apart from the glazing. Wouldn't surprise me if it came in at average 1k a window if you have some big ones or bays.

If you are doing all that work you'll need at least new carpets. Or if the tradesmen tear up the floor or you find damp then you might consider new flooring. If the house needs all this work, don't be surprised if you find the roof needs doing ... oh and you may as well change the boiler when you do the kitchen!

The trouble i find with renovating is that finishing one room makes the rest of the place look terribly dated/scruffy, even when it looked ok before. SO you're never happy until the whole house is done.

Smiley_Dan

You forgot the insulation and air-tightening.

TheCyclingProgrammer

I was going to say £20k without glazing would be a reasonable budget so long as you keep tight control over the kitchen and bathroom costs.

With the glazing too you might be cutting it fine but I don't think you'll be too far out. If you can add another £5k contingency fund you should be ok.

brightontraveller

IT depends on how much you value your time ?
There are very few Builders that can keep certain trades going all the time that means they will sub out works to others normally windows, electrics, plastering, plumbing ,tiling, kitchen fitting( nearly 90% of works you require ? They may well do one of these trades themselves but chances are quality of finish if they do all will be poor? They will be making money on top of each of these trades (Your budget also doesn’t appear to include anything for heating from my experience if all the other works are required so will heating be?) If you want to save money get prices from each individual trade although some may think builder’s connections may allow them to source these trades cheaper than you reality is there is no incentive for the tradesman to work cheaper for a builder or should I say a bad tradesman there is a good one there isn’t ?

Doozergirl

While a tradesperson may not work for less for a builder, builders will want the best people.

Tradespeople will generally choose to work for one, or a small number of customers, that pays regularly and has to deal with making the customer pay. They'll give loyalty in return, which means that builders are much more likely to have the best labour available to them than the average person doing a one-off renovation.

Just sayin'

MisterBaxter

If you do try and go down the individual trades route be sure that you have a proper project plan in place and that you know which trades to get in and in which order; if you are buying materials make sure they are ready for when the trades arrive. On a smallish job such as this is it should be possible to bring trades or even small specialist companies in to do each of the work types in sequence. Get the sequencing wrong or fail to have materials ready and the job can start to cost you more as you will be meeting abortive costs.

The only way to really test if this will work out cheaper is to price up both methods and see what you get. If you are project managing the job yourself don't forget the value of your time if it prevents you from earning elsewhere; a building firm will effectively take on the bulk of the project management for you.

Builders are getting quite busy in a lot of areas so as Doozergirl says you may find that a lot of the better tradespeople are happily working on a regular basis for builders and will struggle to fit you in. I know many of the larger builders are turning to agencies just to get a supply of labour so getting someone to work direct for you may not be as easy as you think.

I think you could achieve what you are planning with the budget you have up here in the Midlands which I suspect means in London and the South East may mean you are cutting it fine. Using contract kitchen and bathroom ranges can get you reasonable quality/life at a sensible price. Planning considerations around windows and external renovations can impact on cost if that is an issue in your area.

brightontraveller

Doozergirl wrote: »

While a tradesperson may not work for less for a builder, builders will want the best people.

Tradespeople will generally choose to work for one, or a small number of customers, that pays regularly and has to deal with making the customer pay. They'll give loyalty in return, which means that builders are much more likely to have the best labour available to them than the average person doing a one-off renovation.

Just sayin'

Interesting view mine is as an observation I’ve found Loyalty certainly isn’t a prerequisite for quality work (I’d say the opposite no hunger, no incentive to do it better or to learn anything new …. ) If you outsource works then get the best? Loyalty is a sentiment that would be hindrances not a benefit? Builders can make money from employing third parties and paying them top dollar without passing supposed extra cost of this to client by running there business well?

But construction I often see its more the case of run it poorly subsidies by outsourcing (often paying the subs less than market rate leading ultimately to poor quality of finish or worse agencies staff leading to increased build costs )People hark on about tradesmen being suitable qualified when most that run construction firms are certainly not ? The quandary for client is do they run it themselves but not be suitably qualified to do so or get a third party The synonymous "Building Firm "(80% of the time also not suitably qualified to do so?) At least with the former there is an incentive? For most projects that need it I’d say employ independent C.O.W etc and get individual trades to quote and supply there own materials in with there costing…

I think Uk has some of the best tradesmen in the world but worse management / business owners with construction being one of the worse culprits e.g I couldn’t say install a boiler etc without being qualified to do so but I could start up a company sub the work out without any knowledge whatsoever ????? As too OP I'd say if the works are only as you say if you kepp an eye on them yes you can do it whithin stated budget but I think you've potentiality missed out much more that may need to be done than is included e;g heating roof , floors etc

Ken68

Lost? tools are a problem with too many tradesmen on site.