Is £188k a realistic budget for a 4,446 sq ft refurb?

[PedanticBuilder]

Hey all, 

 

I'm currently planning the refurb of a 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom property with around 4,446 sq ft of internal space and have put together the attached budget. I'd be interested to get people's thoughts on whether I'm in roughly the right ballpark with this, or whether I've seriously underestimated anything.

 

I'm planning to do a lot of the work myself, so most of the figures are materials only. Anything marked as "subcontractor" is work I'm planning to outsource.

 

The total is currently coming out at £188,490 with no contingency included. I'm particularly interested in how other people approach budgeting for larger refurb projects.

 

Would appreciate any thoughts, especially from anyone who's recently done something similar.

 

Thanks!
Hayden

[Mr Punter]

Skirtings, architrave, flooring, plumbing, wiring, heating, ventilation.

 

It is a huge house and a massive amount of work.  Make sure you have not missed anything and you are not wishful thinking.  How long do you think it will take you?

[Spinny]

Think you need contingency regardless, otherwise as soon as some problem comes up you are stuck. I doubt the market will value a half complete project at much more than an unstarted project.

How would you phase the work ? If you run out of money what is best - a whole unplastered house, or some rooms complete and others not started ?

Are you going to sell it or live there forever ?

No Electrics or plumbing ?

[PedanticBuilder]

15 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

Skirtings, architrave, flooring, plumbing, wiring, heating, ventilation.

 

It is a huge house and a massive amount of work.  Make sure you have not missed anything and you are not wishful thinking.  How long do you think it will take you?

Thanks for your input, good points! The skirtings appear to be in a good shape, could do with sanding and repainting. 

I'm giving myself 2-years as I have a 3-year old, a baby on the way and a full time job 😅 So will mostly be evenings, annual leave and weekends. 

[PedanticBuilder]

14 hours ago, Spinny said:

Think you need contingency regardless, otherwise as soon as some problem comes up you are stuck. I doubt the market will value a half complete project at much more than an unstarted project.

How would you phase the work ? If you run out of money what is best - a whole unplastered house, or some rooms complete and others not started ?

Are you going to sell it or live there forever ?

No Electrics or plumbing ?

"Think you need contingency regardless" - Fair point! Ive added 10% contingency but in reality, its my forever home (answers your other question ) so I'll spend what needs to be spent, it will just mean delay until we save up the shortfall.

"How would you phase the work ?" - very good question, we are hoping to start upstairs and get that in a good state. Then we will tackle lower floors and bathrooms incrementally, keeping the mess contained. Definitely not figured that out yet but need to have a game plan. The app I use has a Gantt chart and tasks feature so I can plan what needs doing, assign materials to tasks and ensure I'll have enough to cover each task. 

Electrics - Doh! Thanks, forgot to add that.

[-rick-]

The amount you've got down for bathrooms doesn't really allow for much more than the most basic products (and it's tight even then). When it comes to choosing fixtures and fittings you may find that number going up quite a bit.

[Spinny]

It is quite a piece of work to create a meaningful budget and to stick to it. Our original builder had a QS draw up a line item budget for our extension/refurb contract but with estimates for the plumbing and electrics. I insisted he got quotes for those items which came in a lot higher than his estimates. You need to either have a pretty good idea of what you want to do and the relevant prices, or be defining a budget and then constraining your choices to fit within it. These days there are lots of items where choice and affordability can change the price by multiples and huge amounts of that choice.

You should have a window and door schedule and cost that up, a steels and lintels schedule etc etc. You are bound to want some labour too I'd have thought - some things require multiple people, some particular skills, or placing risk with contractors.

As it's your forever home you will need to phase it appropriately. Are you going to be living there, or when would you need to start living there ? Living on a building site is not much fun, but makes it easy to be around as much as possible. Are you trying or willing to do it over 1 year or 5 years or even 10 years ? Do you have a partner ?