Reasonable house renovation cost - how much did yours cost? Am I being had?

[themummyway]

Anyone that's done any major renos to your house... could you tell me how much it cost?

By major renos, I mean:

• Remove and refit kitchen inc. rewiring
• Knocking through walls to open up space (extension already exists)
• Fit shower in existing downstairs loo
• Complete repaint of all rooms, refit of flooring in all rooms
• Fitting new radiators/new boiler etc.
• Ripping out doors/installing new ones

& Some more structural work. Happy to provide more details if asked, but the list is rather long.

I'm being quoted c. £50k. exc. Kitchen
Details: 3bed 1930s house in London so perhaps this is reasonable...

In our old house we ripped back to the breeze block
Re wire, re plaster, new bathroom, new kitchen, new windows and doors, new boiler radiators and heating, new carpet and flooring, new internal doors. Re painted it, loft boarding and insulation.

£23.5k in total.

We had absolutely no money and it took two years.
That was 2010 to 2012

This house

Windows and doors
New boiler radiators and put heating in the loft conversion
Rewrire re plaster
Paint
New carpets
New en-suite

£35 k
That's 2015 to 2018

2 years ago we put in a new kitchen, put new flooring throughout 2/3rds of the house and repainted 2/3rds, plastered multiple rooms, all new lighting, outside repointed etc. This was on a large 5 bed Edwardian and it came to c. £80k (the kitchen was nearly £20k of that).

Get some more quotes but don't reveal what any quote to the next one.

Some include VAT and some don't. You need to check

I did major renovations last year to include:

Excavation of ground floor room, new floor laid, 'tanking' of one wall and the floor, new oak flooring to that room. Walls plastered. Window blocked up and new bifold doors fitted.

Garden excavated of approx 9 tons of earth and decking fitted to 1/3. New fences. Awaiting the remainder of garden to be completed this year.

New kitchen/utility room including tiles, all new appliances, and solid surface worktops.

New bathroom including new floor and walls including soundproofing between the adjoining bedroom wall and underfloor heating.

All ceilings and some walls replastered.

Completely rewired top to bottom.

Custom carpentry, tv unit, boiler cupboard, spindles on one staircase.

All new internal doors, lots of new skirting and an under stairs cupboard built.

All new windows (10 of them) and a new front door.

Professionally decorated whole house inside (4 beds, kitchen/utility, 2 x reception room, halls, stairs and landings) and out (4 stories so scaffolding included)

Two new fireplaces and mantles.

All new flooring and carpets.

Lots of work done but cost in excess of £110k

Thanks for sharing all - are you London based?

I'm unsure whether this total cost includes VAT, however I'm hoping it does. It was a ballpark figure, but builder still needs to cost up properly.
Not keen to spend more than £50,000 in total so will dig my heels in and cut back on some things if needed...

3 years ago we:
Knocked through two walls, inserted an RSJ
Replastered and repainted the new space this created
Moved the downstairs toilet and installed a 'pocket door' that slides into the wall
Broke up a concrete floor and replaced it with wood
Removed a chimney brest
Replaced the kitchen
Added in a new side door and window
Moved a stud wall and added in a new en-suite (not toilet)
Replaced main bathroom

That cost us about £65k (London, 4-bed Edwardian house)

Rewired, every room plastered, shower room, new bathroom, structural work to two wall, new front and patio doors and a few new windows, decorated, new drive, relocated existing boiler. Cost about £35K in the North 2016-present. Yours seems about right to me

I’m in the south west so not London prices!

50k is probably about right if you are outside zone 1 and 2... if you are in 1 or 2 then that's too cheap

I think you need to be far more specific. A kitchen can cost £2000 or £20,000 same with a bathroom. Even paint there is a huge difference in price between standard trade emulsion and F&B

I’d assume you’d be supplying flooring on top for this too.

Depends what that quote is for. I’d assume the builder would include vat on the quote.
Is it labour plus materials?
We did semi detached house renovation zone 2 and it came to a lot more than that, finished in Feb. Total was more than 100 k but that includes flooring, fittings, new bathroom kitchen extension, new we, new patio, new fence, rewiring,, boiler, plastering,etc etc. All done to a good spec but not crazy oligarch hi spec. That was actually going with the cheaper builder who we’d used before and trust rather than a friends more fancy one, god knows how much the other one would have costed.

I spent over £40k in an expensive part of the north.
Moved a walls, moved bathroom, new roof, some new windows, new french doors, re wire, wood burner, reskim, all new plumbing, moved sewer, new kitchen, new bathroom, carpet, decorating, new internal doors, new skirtings etc, dug up and relaid kitchen floor, new boiler and radiators and pipework, new stairs.
I’ve done the whole house.

We are in the middle of renovating (kitchen is going in this week). Apart from the re-wire, we are doing similar to you. SE london/ Kent border.

I’ve included prices below where I can remember, they include VAT and labour.

• kitchen/ dining room knock through and installation of RSJ, opening up chimney to fit range cooker, and new fuse board to kitchen (we decided against a full rewire) (5k excl fuseboard - I cant remember this cost)
• new kitchen units and appliances (6.8k)
• new downstairs bathroom (3k)
• new boiler and pipework throughout (we had lead pipes) (4k for initial work)
• new flooring throughout (carpets in 2 beds, restoring wooden floors in living room/ main bed, tiles in bathroom and tbc in hall/ kitchen) (1k for wooden floors, 980 for carpets, 300 for tiles - tiles fitting incl in bathroom costs)
• new radiators throughout
• built in wardrobes in main bedroom (1.8k)
• built in storage in living room (1k)
• replastering of hallway (incl stairs and both landings), beds 2, 3 and kitchen
• waste removal (mainly wardrobes we had removed, all of the old carpets and kitchen units/ wall that had been removed) - 230

We did all the painting/ stripping out.

Still to do:

• replace main bathroom
• new patio/ garden levelling (DH will do this so will be material costs only)
• log burner
• make good understairs cupboard for storage
• removal of last lot of waste

We managed each bit individually which is a pain but cheaper than hiring one company to do it all. The boiler/ pipework and plastering were much more expensive than I expected.

Builders do not think with VAT in my experience. Every conversation we’ve had except the kitchen has been plus VAT.

M

That sounds reasonable to me. Get a few quotes

Also the other thing to bear in mind is that EVERYTHING cost more than I was quoted. When they say they’ve hit a problem and they need to do Xy or z make them give you an exact cost. 🙄

Sounds reasonable to me too.

We’ve just spent c £70k in total for similar in London, 4 bed house.

I agree with @user1497787065 that you need to be more specific.
Eg does knocking through walls mean structural walls or not as if they’re structural this will make a significant difference to the cost.

And this & Some more structural work. Could mean almost anything in terms of cost.

@Robs20
I'm on the SE London/Kent border and buying my first house which will need some renovating. Hope you don't mind, but I've messaged you to ask if you have any recommendations for tradesmen

Sounds very reasonable. We had a large two storey rear extension and total house refurbishment ( 5 bed detached) including kitchen, 3 bathrooms, complete rewire and re plumb, new boiler and heating system, some rearranging of rooms and re plaster of all rooms. Cost us in the region of £300k. We are in South East.

Thanks All!

I'm not in Zone 1/2, but I clearly massively underestimated how much things would cost. Whew.

Happy to proceed knowing that I'm not being ripped off x

DS has a two up two down terrace in the north. He’s done new windows (sash style) two composite doors, new kitchen, new bathroom, new reclaimed internal Victorian doors, new roof, professionally decorated, kitchen, dining room and bathroom. New ceilings and Replaster in two biggest rooms.

Currently on 30k and still has hall, stairs and living room to finish.

Over the last 4 years in a 5 bed, 1800sq ft terrace in North London we have:

Taken the kitchen back to brick and refitted (DIY Kitchen, with range 😍) plus a new kitchen door
Decorated every wall and door (including taking off all previous wallpaper)
Created a utility space in the cellar (basically a screed floor, and plumbed in and electrics)
Taken out two bathrooms back to brick and refitted
Put in new carpet on loft conversion stairs and bedroom
Renovated all wooden sash windows (all single glazed - couldn’t afford to double glaze them, but the renovation was marvellous)
Installed four fireplaces (two limestone) and granite hearths and put in a wood burner
Sanded all floors (bar kitchen, downstairs hallway, bathrooms and loft stairs and bedroom) repaired and varnished
Refurbished chimney stacks at back of house
Rebuilt a wall in front garden
Rebuilt a 12 metre long wall (about a metre and a half high) in the garden in brick
All external decoration of woodwork

So far, that lot - including all labour, VAT, fittings, appliances and a new spare bed and mattress, a kitchen table and bench, a lovely wardrobe, a hand built larder, some Ikea furniture, rugs, lights etc. has been £100k

Still to do: new shed, garden patio and fencing, sofas! And then we will be ‘done’. Although I don’t believe we will ever be done.

Oh! We also had a new fuse board thingy.