Refurbish areas of house

[june79]

Hi, I really need some advise on how to go about refurbishment of the house and feeling quite confused. There are things such as I’d like to

• fit bigger dishwasher and sink in kitchen
• change doors and frames for all rooms
• renew bathroom but not keen on removing the bath tub
• fit in alcove units next to fire place in living room
• change flooring in 3 rooms
• garage conversion

I have a budget of £25k but I am not sure how to go about using the budget wisely as well as give a really nice fresh look to the house. All builders that I look for are either small and not helping enough with ideas. And the bigger companies take whole, bigger renovation projects.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks:)

Thanks, I’d consider doing that way. But wonder won’t it cost more to do small bits separately than paying a company who can do all of the things.

I think you need separate trades.

Always start with the messiest jobs.

I'd recommend the plumber first.

Why don’t you try to price up these jobs yourself , just to give you a rough guide ?

Eg alcoves in living room . Are these units that you will buy or have them made? What material and size ? Are you going to have lighting ?

Labour - you will need a joiner to build units, a painter to paint them and electrian to fit the lighting . Will you then need to redecorate the whole room and fit new carpet?

Changing flooring is easy to get a price. Just measure up the rooms, choose the flooring you want and calculate price online and get a price for fitting . Remember underlay and carpet gripper .

Dishwasher and sink in kitchen - will you have to relplace some or all units in your kitchen ? work out rough price for materials ( new appliance , sink and taps, new units, new flooring and wall finishes if necessary . Then add labour - electrician , Plumber and joiner, Painter and tiler. If you are having to repaint one wall you might need to do them all, unless it’s been done in the last year or two. Can you sill buy the same tiles for splashback or do you have spares ?

Skilled Labour is expensive , probably around £200 a day outside London / SE.

Once you have a rough idea of prices it will help you work out which ones you want to / can afford to do.

If you get one large company you will pay for someone to manage your project . And you will Have to move out if you have no kitchen, bathroom, doors on rooms and no furniture in 3 rooms.

Or you need the time, knowledge and skills to manage separate trades yourself.

Or do one job at a time eg the kitchen and find a joiner who will have his own electrian and plumber that he usually works with.