One of our rentals is frankly knackered so I need to evaluate cost options to either sell as is (estate agents, capital gains, etc) or perform a major renovation and put it back out on the rental market.
So is there a rule-of-thumb formula to allow me to calculate approximate costs given size of house and what needs to be done (in broad terms) or do I need to ork it all out long hand? When we had an extension a few years back the builders used some £X,000 x square meter x required quality to give estimates. I’m being laid off soon so will have the redundancy cash and the time. Any ideas appreciated as its not my field and I’ve only dabbled in this stuff until now.

Run.
For.
The.
Hills.

From my experience, guess, double it, then add ten to twenty per cent.

Same with any estimates on how long it will take.

This equation works well if you want to do a proper job. Bodge it ans scarper has a different equation.

how knackered is knackered? and if your laid off with redundancy can you not do half of it yourself?

No, there’s no formula. Boiler? Rewire? Reroof?

💡 Get a quote from a professional?

£42

No quick fix then

Ou house was fine when we moved in. A bit dated, certainly, but basically sound, good windows, roof, walls, garage etc.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve spent £40,00-£50,000 on it by now.
The drive, patio/garden, kitchen and bathroom stand us around £27k alone…..
Then there’s carpets, plastering, paint inside and out, removing an old flue, installing a multiple stove….. the list goes on.

I work on the rule of thum that no matter how carefully you calculate the cost you will at least need to double it. Time is anyone’s guess. Mainly because I’m a perfectionist and the simplest things take a lot longer when your trying to get them perfect. Biggest mistake I made was buying a digital spirit level. Means you have no excuse for anything being slightly off level.

I’m in the process of renovating and extending’ a bungalow.
I agree with “think of a number..now double it..” :-/

DrP

A good friend told us – whatever you think it will cost in time, effort and money – just double it and add a bit.

Get a professional in. A renovation may be a lick of paint and a new sink, or it may be no roof, bare brick and start again… (Been there, done both).

Yes, there are quick fixes. Begin by rolling your sleeves up and getting stuck in. Pay a plasterer for anything bigger than a small wall, electrics tens not to actually go bad just the switches and sockets get bashed about, but with a bit of care you can do them yourself. An empty property should take less than a day per room to decorate.

Takes more than a day if the wood work has been painted badly before. Scraping old paint takes **** ages

When others say think of a number and double it, they missed off think of a big number and double it

Just off the top of my head …
Roof £5 k
Bathroom £5-8k
Kitchen £10-20k
Plumbing&boiler£2.5-3k
Rewire £2-3k
Plastering £1-2k
Decorating £1k
All depends on quality of materials …can be done a lot cheaper, but not with my missus…
Do a lot yourself and save a fortune .
Or watch homes under the hammer for top tips 🙂

Well I’ve bought a repossession 3 bed semi, new boiler, switch to combi from tanks, part kitchen, new utility, new bathroom, downsatirs loo, some glazing, couple of doors, full redecoration including flooring, bit of landscaping, fences and gates. £6k, 5 weeks. Paid for boiler fitting and joiner, did the rest myself. When a room is cleared you can go hard on the sanding, or if it’s badly done before, rip skirtings out and fit new is quicker and less hassle. Same with cheap doors.

I bought an ex-rental terraced house approx 20 yrs ago. I used to keep a tally of the DIY / renovation spend, it passed £90k about 10 years ago and I have long since stopped counting.

Just finishing a large 4 bed terrace.
New CH throughout – £3.5k
New Kitchen – Howdens £1.7k inc some appliances
Carpets – £2k
Bathroom £500
Tiles for bath & kitchen- £300 + £150 adhesive & grout
£400 replacement DG units
Plastering- £1.5k
Misc plumbing/electrics/screws etc £300
Skips – £400
Approx £2000 wages for helper
6 months x 3 days/week my time

We totally gutted it, replaced walls etc, done it to a good standard.

About double what you think.

If you have the time, you should do all the prep work, so the hacking, clearing and so on.

Then only use the trade for putting new in.

Thats how I did it, although I did do a lot woodwork, tiling and plasterboarding myself.

I spent more renovating than i paid for the house itself.

It took me 2 years, working around 2 nights and one day per weekend per week on average, but it is a largish house and i hacked back to the stonework, replaced all floorboards, new insulation, ceelings, sand/cement/replasterand, new electrics, new plumbing, 3no staircases and so on. It probably would have been cheaper to new build, with getting the vat back.

Just finishing a large 4 bed terrace.
New CH throughout – £3.5k
New Kitchen – Howdens £1.7k inc some appliances
Carpets – £2k
Bathroom £500
Tiles for bath & kitchen- £300 + £150 adhesive & grout
£400 replacement DG units
Plastering- £1.5k
Misc plumbing/electrics/screws etc £300
Skips – £400
Approx £2000 wages for helper
6 months x 3 days/week my time

We totally gutted it, replaced walls etc, done it to a good standard.

That’s very cheap, I spent a lot more than that!

Personally I find Bathrooms cost me ~3K for tiles, plumbing, radiators, toilet, cabinet, blinds, sink, bath and shower. £500 all in seems very cheap

When your wife chooses the bathroom and toilet costs £750 you know things are going to be pricey…..

DrP

When your wife chooses ROUND and TINY mosaic stylee tiles for the shower, you know it is a)expensive and b) the most frustrating and time consuming job known to man. 😕

🙂

Our builders have just finished… still awaiting their final settling bill but I imagine for all the extra bits and bob’s it’s going to be another £3-6k on top…

Meh… you can’t take it with you..

DrP

Ou house was fine when we moved in. A bit dated, certainly, but basically sound, good windows, roof, walls, garage etc.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve spent £40,00-£50,000 on it by now.
The drive, patio/garden, kitchen and bathroom stand us around £27k alone…..
Then there’s carpets, plastering, paint inside and out, removing an old flue, installing a multiple stove….. the list goes on.

Same here: Done about £4k externally (trees removing, long run of fence put in etc. En-suite – £6k, bathroom £6k, about to remodel and put new kitchen in – £20k, double glazing/bi-folds and new external doors – £11k. Decoration of 4 x bedrooms – £2k.

Still need to fund the flooring and decoration of the hall and landing and living room + installation of a log burning stove so around another £4k.

An empty property should take less than a day per room to decorate.

That’s before the “think of a long time and double it” part.

It took us (3 people) a weekend to strip wallpaper from one wall of our flat. Someone (my girlfriend) had painted over it with 1 coat paint. Steam just turned it to the consistency of bubblegum and destroyed the plaster behind it!

Just bought an ex-rental house that’s stuck in the 80’s, reading this thread with horror and resignation. They’ve even stuck textured wallpaper over the artex!

Cost me £200 and a day so far just doing jobs in the garage, it still doesn’t have side/rear walls, and I’ve not touched the electrics yet!

Other problems are that I really hate lining paper, why the f*** would I take a perfectly flat wall and paper it before painting? The GF on the other hand want’s it everywhere, ditto “feature wallpaper”.

Jeebus give me strength.

An empty property should take less than a day per room to decorate.

Rubbish.

These “ruin my house with poor finish in 24hours” type programmes have a lot of responsibility for ideas like this!

DrP

70’s brick and wood semi.
Originally built out of old cornflake packets and Bostick.
By idiots.

It leaked badly & bits were falling off.
Most things were broken.
Nothing that still worked, worked properly.

Roof repaired.
2 dormer rooms rebuilt/extended/fully insulated.
New interior walls/layout upstairs.
Re plastered.
Downstairs re plastered, door moved etc.
New doors & windows.
New porch.
Full rewire.
New heating system, minus the boiler.
2 new bathrooms.
Wooden floors.
New bannisters.
Including blinds & decorating materials, about £50,000.

Not touched the kitchen – lived in it for six months, can’t face doing it just yet.
🙂

Mate of ours is an architect and he recommended a great builder – no real snags, nothings broken so far.

The feeling of relief when it’s done is indescribable.

Originally built out of old cornflake packets and Bostick.
By idiots.

You are Jeremy Clarkston and I claim my £5

Clarksian slip.
😐

Some of you guys are trying to compare apples with pears. The OP is talking about getting a tired rental property refreshed to rent again, not making your “forever” home from a listed rectory. There are many things to do with your money, but putting £20k kitchens and £6k ensuites into a rental house aren’t anywhere near the top of my list.

I agree, but a £500 bathroom is just a false economy as it won’t last and if you have tenants in you can’t DIY fix it you will end up having to pay a plumber which will cost £££

Same with very cheap kitchens, 20K is excessive but < 1K is just as daft IMHO.

Turned round a wrecked rental inc imersion heater tank ( previous rental stole all the copper and did a quick exit) and. Replacement front door and bedroom window. for 2200 quid about 10 years ago and still not had any issues …..(it one of my dads rentals) Tht was a 250 quid basics bathroom, similar spend on the kitchen, few patches in the plaster , magnolia all through with white glossed woodwork and a cheap carpet.

Gets a new lick of mgnolia between tennents but other than that its holding up well.

I have 7 rental properties, I get trade prices. Do them all identically.
Howdens give up to 90% off list on some items. The base units are pre-built, glued, far better construction than any others I’ve used including my £15k Wren one at home.
When I say £500 for a bathroom, that’s a decent bath, 900 shower cubicle and a stone resin base, and a decent pedestal sink. Showers get fully tanked with sealant kit.
I do almost all of my own work except for plastering and gas.
Finished my latest one this evening, I’ll put some photos up if I get time.

senor j – Member

Just off the top of my head …
Roof £5 k
Bathroom £5-8k
Kitchen £10-20k
Plumbing&boiler£2.5-3k
Rewire £2-3k
Plastering £1-2k
Decorating £1k
All depends on quality of materials

How does a bathroom and kitchen cost that much ? 5k for a roof seems cheap on the other hand.Would have thought bathroom and kitchen would be 10k tops for both

I’d agree you can do a decent bathroom for £500-£1000 (diy). The key is shop and install carefully. I’d also agree that I’ll never ever use tiny mosaic tiles again 🙂

How much do you all earn to spend these sums on houses ? Or do you not drink beer/ buy bike bits?

Just done some work on my UK rental house after it had been rented out continuously for 5 years and it worked out:
Roof (new membrane and replacing/resitting tiles) 3k
All rooms repainted (3 beds, lounge, kitchen, bathroom and hallway) – 1.5k
New fusebox/electrical work to meet current standards – 1.5k
Fireplace renovation, installing new electric fireplace – 0.5k
New carpets (3 bedrooms & Lounge) – 1k
New Kitchen flooring – 0.5k
Cleaning out the garage/gardens (and other small odd job stuff) – 0.5k

Lucky to have two friends to do most of the work, who I paid the going rate to, or project manage the pro’s bought in.
A house is an investment, whether you live in it or rent it out, so its worth putting some effort in to keep it in good condition, specifically the rook, water and electrical parts.

How does a bathroom and kitchen cost that much ?

Bathroom – you haven’t met my missus – floor to ceiling tiles not cheap , neither were the taps and the white goods.
Kitchen – includes building work to knock through two walls.New flat roof,bifold doors etc….

Would like to see some photos colp.

I’ve got a list of what needs doing to our rental before we move into it …..

Kitchen
bathroom
Windows
remove conservatory
move/remove 3 walls
New front door
guttering and cladding.
Possible side extension.
Redecorate (4bedrooms,2 lounges,1 dining room and also halls stairs and landing).

I’m hoping to do it all for around 35-40k.