Will we be bankrupt after one room?!

[TwinklyGoldReader]

Recently had an offer accepted on our next home- it's in our dream location but needs a fair bit of work.

We had budgeted 30k for home improvements. I'm such an over-thinker so now I'm starting to stress this won't be enough! We have family to help us with some bits but will obviously still need to spend quite a lot on labour. As a rough guide we'll need:

• one wall putting up to create separate living room (currently living/diner)
• one wall knocking down to create kitchen/diner
• The entire house needs plastering (walls and ceiling) with the exception of kitchen and conservatory. We're just doing downstairs/stairs and landing for now.

-carpet on stairs/landing, living room & daughters bedroom -vinyl in kitchen diner maybe -replace kitchen tiles and worktops (the units themselves are lovely)

Can anyone with recent experience tell me if we've massively under budgeted?!

will the wall that needs knocking down require an RSJ?

This. But also I’m not sure why you would need to spend a lot on labour.

DH and I both have desk jobs, but have between us built walls, removed non supporting walls, laid vinyl, tiled, replaced kitchen worktops and fit new kitchen cupboards… none of it was particularly challenging, where we haven’t had a budget for labour we’ve just DIY’d. £30k sounds easily doable for what you’ve suggested.

@Lwrenn unfortunately yes, I believe so!

Do you need to do all the work at once? Can some of it wait while you save up?

@hamsandyams well done to both of you getting stuck in. We'll definitely be doing the same where we can, but I think plastering, knocking down walls and laying carpets are a bit behind myself and DH!

@Ketzele I think the downstairs will have to be one big push, as it'll be pointless decorating for it to all get covered in dust and potentially damaged :( the bedrooms will be left for in the future though!

I think you have over budgeted. You are doing a lot but none of them are massively expensive jobs individually. I think unless you get some dodgy people in to do the work you will be fine x

OP there are a few gaps here.

Without knowing your location or size of house, it's very hard to say. For instance, with plastering, is this skimming or knocking off old plaster and reboarding?

If you have a house so old it needs replastering, are you sure it doesn't also need a rewire or replumb?

If you've not bought it yet, I'd suggest getting a decent surveyor in and talking through prospective costs with them. Budget 10-20% more than what they advise, and make a project plan. Serial renovator here, and even we've been caught off guard a few times...

Yes. You have massively under budgeted. If you are replastering (you don’t say why?) then skirts and arcs need to come off, whatever is there in terms of plaster needs to come off and be replaced, then full redecoration plus second fix joinery replaced. I wouldn’t live in whilst that is done either, the dust will be awful.

Assuming you’re only skimming, your budget is fine, even with an RSJ. Unless you have crazy expensive tastes for the tiles/worktops/carpets.

But really good points made by PP - knocking off plaster and regarding would be a lot more expensive, and it makes sense to look at the electrics, plumbing etc at the same time too.

We’ve just lived through a renovation, on the home stretch now. We’ve had the whole of the downstairs plastered, couple of new walls put up, a wall knocked down (with RSJ), doorway moved and definitely spent less than £10k. However we found plastering costs varied wildly, as did the quality of the finish so I’d suggest multiple quotes and definitely ask for recommendations.

We lived in the house while the work was being done - but a PP is right, plaster dust gets EVERYWHERE. As long as you’re prepared for that, it’s fine. We didn’t unpack most of our stuff until after all the plastering was done because honestly no matter how much plaster dust you think there will be, triple it 😂

Why does it need remastering? I live in an old house with original lime plaster and it probably needs replastering if you ask a plasterer as it’s blown in places it’s actually fine and hasn’t changed in the ten years we’re been in the house.

You say the whole house needs plastering with the exception of the kitchen diner but also mention knocking walls down and building walls...the kitchen diner will need plastering, new kitchen, flooring, new windows maybe?

In 2019 we renovated a 3 bed semi including knocking down internal structural wall to create kitchen diner, new kitchen, putting up a new wall, to make living room seperate, plastering pretty much everywhere, new bathroom (£5k), re wiring (£3.3k).

It came to £45k total, this was 2020 prices in North or England. I've priced the bits you haven't mentioned, but I would be finding out when it was last re-wired etc.

Hope this helps!

I concur on the plastering and laying carpets, and taking out load bearing walls! But you have plenty budget for that (depending on how substantial the wall removal is).

Oh, and in hindsight I VERY much wish we’d started with upstairs then done downstairs - as upstairs you could leave alone while doing downstairs, but doing upstairs trails dust and dirt and grime alllllll over the house as people are coming up and down.

I’m afraid I think you have under budgeted. You may have to do the work on stages and save in between improvements. Current prices for things like plastering have rocketed recently.

Whereabouts in the country are you OP? You’d be fine in my neck of the woods as we’ve literally just paid out for what you’re describing and paid considerably less than £30k (and that included fitting a whole new kitchen on top of everything else you’ve got planned).. But if you’re in a more expensive part of the country the labour could be significantly more expensive.

If you can't do mostly cosmetic changes for 30k your being taken for a mug, thats our budget for a severe structural overhall which includes a fully replaced roof structure.

Plastering a whole house depends on if you are skimming or back to bricking but a standard 3 bed is usually estimated at £4k

A stud wall is about £1k but extras like number of plug socked, radiators, moving lights etc... might add a bit more on. Unlikely to be more that 3.5k even with all the bells and whistles.

Wall removal depends on if its load baring, stud wall removal is next to nothing just knock it down yourself and make good but a load baring wall will need a engineer and likely a RSJ so about £1k for engineer and £2.5kish maybe for RSJ and acrow props etc... (although depends on size and engineers calculations)

Carpet/vinyl depends on your budget, you can get carpet from as low as £3.50 per meter online or as expensive as you want. Pick what you want then use your floor plan sizing to times that amount by. You'll likely need other extras like underlay and extras like carper rods too.

Worktops once again depends if you go cheap (laminates) or expensive (marble) or anything in between, I would suggest hiring a chippy though as cutting can be awkward and expensive to mess up.

Removing tiles is a PITA that I personally avoid (its why I hate tiles) because removing them can cause damage thats irritating to then have to fix. Tiling a blank spaces is fairly easy though.