Full renovation for £40k?

[Deleted User]

Just watching Worst House on the Street on Channel 4.

They had a new bathroom, new kitchen, new floors, redecorated, washed the outside, new garden, the works. For £40k.

Seems extremely cheap. Is this at all realistic? I guess if it's mostly superficial it might be.

plumb1_2

£40k, yes it is.
But the show a load of bull
2 presenters who know nothing about renovation, and a young couple spending £38k employing workers to do everything.
They didn’t even paint a wall, not normal imo 

[Deleted User]

Really? They paid £4,500 for a new bathroom. Suite, floor, tiles, window, installed. That doesn't seem possible.

Gavin83

[Deleted User] said:

Really? They paid £4,500 for a new bathroom. Suite, floor, tiles, window, installed. That doesn't seem possible.

We spent about that on ours but then we did 100% of the work ourselves. That’s with fairly high end products though, I reckon we could have shaved off £2k had we gone budget on everything. This is recent too, only finished a week or so ago.

Had we got trades in to do all the work I reckon we’d have doubled that budget no problem. Labour is not cheap.

Redwino222

I only caught the end - but they seemed to got for quite cheap on trend things for the house - so I think the £40k is achievable.  

I assume all the work was cosmetic?  No rewiring, roof, damp course, heating required?  

plumb1_2

Oh I missed that bit, plus didn’t catch where the property was . Just happened that the worktop manufacture was the presenters bast mate(very believable) I think not. £1700 for making templates and fitting😂
38k plus£10k plus for furniture, that young couple have money to burn or extremely lazy.
More like channel 4 gave them £50k  and said here’s your script.

FreeBear

Redwino222 said: I assume all the work was cosmetic?  No rewiring, roof, damp course, heating required?  

A DPC does not fail - If there is damp inside a house, then you need to look outside first for elevated ground levels, leaking gutters/downpipes, or faulty flashing. On older properties that have slate or bitumastic DPCs, you may get cracks forming which would lead to thin fingers of damp rising a short distance up the wall - Injecting chemicals in to the wall and then slapping a coat of waterproof render/plaster on isn't going to cure anything. It will just store up some expensive repairs 10-20 years down the line.

gwynlas

The two presenters are a brother and sister who have successfully renovated a number of properties and were probably approached for the roles having been on Homes Under The Hammer on a few occasions over the years.Living and working in the area it is quite possible that they shared their trade contacts particularly as the worktop supplier received a name check twice on the programme.

[Deleted User]

Thanks everyone. That's pretty much what I figured. Trade contacts that most people don't have access to, and cheap materials that look superficially good but will probably age badly.

twopenny

I haven't seen this programme but do remember from other make over shows that every now and then the editor slips up and you see the real close up finish - not the carefully shot on in the best lighting and distance.
The paint work looked like a 3yr old had done it, tiles not lined up in places etc. 
But with the camera at the right angle the lighting just right it looked lovely.
These programs are for entertainment. I wonder what it looked like after a family lived in it for a year?
Now that's what I'd like to see but they don't make follow ups. I wonder why?

warwick2001

I remember a while back there was a 'Homes under the Hammer' episode set in a lovely Cumbrian seaside town (I sharn't name it, just in case the owners of said house visit here). 

The house was bought by a married couple that 'fully renovate' unloved houses, they did the work, and then the show did the end bit when they get the estate agents in to show how much they've improved the house. In the show, the house looked absolutely fantastic, it was an old Victorian town house that had been modernised, using, apparently, 'top of the range' materials, no expense spared etc etc

When we were looking to move last year, it just so happened that this house was for sale, so we popped round for a viewing. It was quite the eye-opener. The quality of finish was absolutely shocking, paint lines not straight, most of the woodwork was chipped, stained and had splats of paint all over it. The 'hugely expensive' parquet flooring looked like it had been installed by a blind person, I couldn't believe how bad it looked. The bathroom fittings were the budget range from Travis Perkins (nothing wrong with that, but on the show they said 'top of the range'....hmmmm). It just looked awful, and had we bought the house we'd have had to start again from scratch. 

Just goes to show, don't believe what you see on TV