What are the important things to spend £££ on when renovating?

[felulageller]

For context house is in £250-350k range.

We want to maximise the house value to improve the LTV when remortgaging. So we want to spend the money wisely.

But I'm torn on things like splashing out on marble worktops, parquet flooring, more expensive brands of appliances etc.

Kitchen budget Inc floors/ tiles/ fitting is max £10k (7 units).

Bathroom £4k.

Flooring in 5 other rooms £3k.

Does this seem realistic?

Is under floor heating an option ? So glad we had that installed in our revamp? Are you going to be living in the house or are you doing it up to sell?
I think that makes a difference in what to spend on

In terms of the LTV for a re-mortgage, the quality of decor isn't going to make a difference. It will be a desktop valuation and will be based on the most recent sold values of similar houses and possibly any significant changes you've made, like extending or adding a bathroom.

Budget seems okay to me, as long as you spend carefully? The saying about kitchens and bathrooms helping to sell houses is true imo.

Save on your kitchen units and buy from somewhere like DIY kitchens (go for something mid-range like painted MDF rather than expensive wood, but not cheaper wrapped doors). Use the cash you've saved on the worktops instead - they are the thing most people notice on first entering a kitchen, so go for a lovely quartz or granite in a light neutral colour that won't easily date.

In fact imo for a house valued between 250 -350k, that should be your guide for everything - go for mid-range to lower end (but not the cheapest). I can't see how very pricy flooring, appliances etc will increase the house value. Only extending the house and to a much, much lesser extent a new kitchen and bathroom do that (providing you chose a classic, neutral style that future buyers can't be put off by).

Good shout on quartz worktops as they look great and make keeping surfaces clean a doddle they'll pay you back for the investment every single day.

Thanks that's really helpful.

We got a quote for a granite worktop but they want an extra £1200 for a specialised fitter for it!

Can't you shop around for your quartz/granite and organise that separately? I only paid around 1200 for the worktops and the fitting.

Also, not so much about value, but don't scrimp on the things you touch that need to hold up over a long period of time or get a lot of use e.g. taps, handles (and especially the latches, cheap ones can fail), flush mechanisms. This would also include worktops in my opinion.

You can also pick up higher end/better quality taps (I like Roca but Bristan are pretty reliable for instance) etc. left over from other people's renovations for a fraction of the retail price on eBay.

Agree with pp that you need to shop around - £1200 sounds an awful lot just for fitting. Do you have a lot of worktop surface? I would guess around £2500 - £3000 including fitting is about average, depending on the material chosen (I paid about £1800 including fitting for a cheaper quartz but I don't have lots of worktop surface).