Home improvement cost info please.

[garetheves]

Me and my girlfriend are thinking of buying a house to "do up" but to work out if its feasable (cost wise) to do this we are putting a list together of things that potentially may need doing and a rough priceof the jobs. Has anyone recently had any of the following done, or any tradesmen on here that could give me a rough quote:

 

1. Full installation of Gas Central Heating, including Combi Boiler installation.

2. Full Kitchen

3. Full Bathroom.

4. Damp Course.

5. Garage Built (plus removal/destruction of old one).

6. Plastering (Probably the majoroty of the house 3 beds, bath, kitchen, lounge)

 

Any help and rough prices would be much appreciated.

[SupraAyf]

25-30k Imho

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[garetheves]

25-30k Imho

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I was thinking around the 20K mark. How about individual prices for each job??

[TT-DEK]

Me and my girlfriend are thinking of buying a house to "do up" but to work out if its feasable (cost wise) to do this we are putting a list together of things that potentially may need doing and a rough priceof the jobs. Has anyone recently had any of the following done, or any tradesmen on here that could give me a rough quote:

 

1. Full installation of Gas Central Heating, including Combi Boiler installation.

2. Full Kitchen

3. Full Bathroom.

4. Damp Course.

5. Garage Built (plus removal/destruction of old one).

6. Plastering (Probably the majoroty of the house 3 beds, bath, kitchen, lounge)

 

Any help and rough prices would be much appreciated.

 

1. About 3K

2. Up to you, probably £3k fitted, nice one as well

3. £300 for suit. Fitting £2-300?

4. Hmmm, a good price, foreigner, brothers a builder

5. Difficult one, depends how big? tiled roof? flat roof BRICK

I got quoted £7K WTF.

6. Again, a foreigner, probably half the price you would pay normally?

[Paul]

Only rough ideas of prices before I get flamed but from personal experience and mates chat.

 

1)£2500

2)£5000 plus

3) £2000/3000 plus

4) £500

5) ?

6) A grand?

 

Just to add, Our heating was about £2500, Kitchen about £7000 with me fitting (proper job, all electrics done too). Bathroom was around £4500 (plumber fitted and I tiled etc)

I'm talking good quality stuff though, if you want a basic Screwfix or Wickes setup then you can pay pennies but depends if you want it to last.

[SupraAyf]

I was thinking around the 20K mark. How about individual prices for each job??

 

Really depends on where you live and who you know m8. The last big factor is what spec (and what quality) you want for your kitchen and bathroom etc. 20K is good but you'll have to be in the know with the tradesmen! Our kitchen was the same price as a Supe single turbo (a good one at that) so you can see that you can either spend your money well or just chuck it in the bin like we did!!

[Charlotte]

(the only one i have experience with) - Plastering is fairly pricey. We've had almost all the flat done and it's cost a small fortune. But our rooms are massive. That's the same across the board unless you get a mate to do it. So...depending on room sizes I think plastering would be more in the region of £3.5-4k.

[toyotasuprauk]

These sorts of budgets will always vary massively depending on what you do your self, quality etc. Bathroom and especially kitchen depends on what options you have. For example 3 meters of black speedstone work top is £800. Lots of kitchens will cost from £3K to £6K. A trade kitchen with appliances would probably be £1200 before any labour is taken into account.

 

Labour is the shocker. A plasterer I had round said he and his partner had been really busy plastering a whole house that they charged £3000 to do!

[Paul]

One thing to bear in mind with the labour price is that the price in no way reflects their quality. We had 6 quotes to landscape the back garden, the one we chose was the second cheapest and did a cracking job, some were double what he charged and were clearly tossers who talked sh*te:) We designed it and specified materials to be used so the only difference was their individual ideas of labour rates.

[toyotasuprauk]

So true the price really doesn’t reflect the quality! The difference between quotes can be huge too.

[terawua]

or any tradesmen on here that could give me a rough quote:.

Jamie P is in the trade - he sorts me out all my tradesmen for my renovation project - top bloke!

 

1. Full installation of Gas Central Heating, including Combi Boiler installation.

3000+

2. Full Kitchen

depends on taste but cheapie 3K to 10K for pimp

3. Full Bathroom.

1000+

4. Damp Course.

no idea!

5. Garage Built (plus removal/destruction of old one).

depends on what sort - prefab could be as little as 2K or again, brick more obviously!

6. Plastering (Probably the majoroty of the house 3 beds, bath, kitchen, lounge)

small room is about 3-400 for walls an ceiling.

 

TBH, you can negotiate on most things. I got structural work done (wall knocked down and lintel put in) for 300 quid but I do a lot of the dog work myself. What about electrics in this place.. are they tip top? YOu need to have it all inspected these days, bloody part P regulations!

 

Any help and rough prices would be much appreciated.

[Paul]

So true the price really doesn’t reflect the quality! The difference between quotes can be huge too.

One of our neighbours believes you 'get what you pay for' and dishes out happily for jobs that when complete I could tear to pieces with the faults and shoddy workmanship and I'm not a tradesman:(

It's a shame because the honest bloke with good skills will get overlooked because he ain't dear enough?

[terawua]

TBH... not that it's this country.. but have you ever seen that Holmes on Homes on SKy TV.... some of the stuff that goes on there, and these are people who do it for a living and they are a bunch of hackers.

 

I would get references, and if possible go and see their work before deciding on parting with money. If they are any good and have happy customers, they will be haoppy to put you in touch with them surely?

[chilli]

good advice on here, all I would add is that once you've added it all up, add on a few £, maybe 5k for those unforseen extras that nearly always crop up once you start tearing things down and seeing the real condition of the place...

[Paul]

Good point about references but bear in mind the person giving it, IMO 75% of the public wouldn't know a crap job if it whacked them in the face:d

Set your own high standards and get info by talking to others about their experiences and reading on the net how things should be done.

Information IS power with these guys, don't tell them how to do the job but do let them know you have some idea of the process and what's involved and it'll influence the price in most cases.

[garetheves]

Cheers for all the help guys. Knew it was gonna be a pricey job so the prices arent a shock to me. I know the prices will vary depending on qualty and the people doing the job. None of the stuff we have done or buy will be "on the cheap", most things will be pretty good quality so that will put the price up a bit. Hopefully should make enough on out current house to cover the costs, fingers crossed.

[n00b]

Hi Mate...

 

Im Just about to start work on a house i have just bought.

 

3 bed mid terraced, 3 storey high.

 

£2400 central heating (inc quiet boiler as its going in a bedroom cuboard)

 

£3800 for full rewire including some nice lights everywhere (not just standard 1 wire rewire)

 

kitchen you can try places like howdens ... i get a pretty good discount because of some family and i will be looking at around 2k including appliances (i hjope)

 

bathroom around 1.5 - 2 k for bits ...only if you shop around

(p shape bath and shower toilet sink fitings etc... plus fitting)

 

if you want more info mate i can give it to you when i start renovating on the 12th of sep

 

Charlie

[terawua]

Hi Mate...

 

Im Just about to start work on a house i have just bought.

 

£3800 for full rewire including some nice lights everywhere (not just standard 1 wire rewire)

 

Charlie

 

Holy Moley! Hope mine doesnt come to this much! Then again, mine doesnt need a rewire, just some further pimping. In fact these days I am spending almost as much time on AV forums as on here looking for pimp equipment.

 

Good luck with the refurb...

[JohnA]

I'd go with the first quote, £25-30K for decent work/materials.

[Conrad]

1. Full installation of Gas Central Heating, including Combi Boiler installation.

2. Full Kitchen

3. Full Bathroom.

4. Damp Course.

5. Garage Built (plus removal/destruction of old one).

6. Plastering (Probably the majoroty of the house 3 beds, bath, kitchen, lounge).

 

Growing up I've lived in 20+ houses with my parents through property developing. My old man left his succesful scrap metal business to take up building full time and I now work for him - mainly doing new build.

 

Here's a rough guestimate and what expect to pay:

 

1. CH with boiler expect to pay £2.5k+.

 

2. We use Magnet/Howdens and can get a kitchen for as little as £1k. For intergrated cooker/fridge freezer/dishwasher etc expect to pay £2k+

 

3. A bathroom suite can cost as little as £150 from B&Q but with power shower and for something a little better expect to pay £500 plus fitting.

 

4. Damp course treatment varies, depends on perimeter of house. We recently did up two 3 bed semi's and it came in at £1100 with every brick above damp drilled, injected and plugged.

 

5. The garage cost is hard to guage due to size and how much work you'll do yourself plus / windows / doors / size / roof etc. Expect £3k minimum

 

6. Do you need total re-plastering or just skimming? This can be costly, expect £3k+

 

Hope some of this helps, remember you'll save ££££'s doing work youself and always haggle with tradesman.

 

Property developing can be very profitable but all the hassle and cost of re-developing can be pointless if you pay too much for the peopery in the first place. Make sure it's worth the hassle.

[GLENN STONEHAM]

A lot of sensible & realistic opinions expressed on here.

I"m a surveyor & have seen more properties than I care to remember.

Without inspecting & having more details guesses can understandably be way off the mark though & as stated estimates /workmanship can be like chalk & cheese.Unless you"re really lucky you should not risk picking a builder out of yellow pages etc. Always go on reliable recommendation & even then you can get surprises.Get several quotes.

Its easy to get rising damp quotes ; where the cost lies is for necessary replastering up to 1.m. high cos of hygroscopic salt contamination in a typical rising damp situation.

How big is the house ;is it teraced or semi etc.

Should say its not always bad news ;sometimes costs can work out less than budget but remember all the sundries like tiling,floor coverings,fittings etc.

[piehound]

i charge about £400 a room depending on size for plastering and depending on if its skim or float and skim if its the latter its a lot more

[toyotasuprauk]

piehound out of interest does that include the ceiling and the materials for a skim?

[garetheves]

A lot of sensible & realistic opinions expressed on here.

I"m a surveyor & have seen more properties than I care to remember.

Without inspecting & having more details guesses can understandably be way off the mark though & as stated estimates /workmanship can be like chalk & cheese.Unless you"re really lucky you should not risk picking a builder out of yellow pages etc. Always go on reliable recommendation & even then you can get surprises.Get several quotes.

Its easy to get rising damp quotes ; where the cost lies is for necessary replastering up to 1.m. high cos of hygroscopic salt contamination in a typical rising damp situation.

How big is the house ;is it teraced or semi etc.

Should say its not always bad news ;sometimes costs can work out less than budget but remember all the sundries like tiling,floor coverings,fittings etc.

 

Its a semi.

[piehound]

yeah £400 would include skim etc and any beads if the room was an average bedroom size, and like others have said dont do the yellow pages thing always go on recomendations