How Much Does A Refurb Cost In The UK? 🤔 With Examples

Before we get into this post let’s just get something clear.

The numbers here are from different sources and are just average amounts.

The costs are going to vary depending on where you’re getting the work done, the quality of the materials used and the contractor used.

In general, you are going to be paying on the higher end if you’re in London or other areas in the South.

Likewise, prices are cheaper up north as wages tend to be lower up north in general.

When looking at any of these prices just see them as general guidelines and make sure you get quotes from local tradespeople that you could actually use.

Also, remember to set aside a contingency of at least 10%-20% for any unforeseen costs.

Let’s get into it…

Stripping Wallpaper

According to Airtasker, stripping wallpaper costs between £150-£650 with a median price of £375.

Source: Airtasker wallpaper removal costs

According to Checkatrade wallpaper removal costs about £350 per room.

Source: Checkatrade wallpaper removal costs

Or you could buy a steamer and try and do it yourself.

Skimming

If you’re lucky you won’t need to completely replaster your rooms and instead you can just re-skim them.

This involves just a thin layer of plaster to smooth everything out.

According to Checkatrade, it costs about:

£440 to re-skim a small room
£480 to re-skim a medium room
£650 to re-skim a large room

Source: Checkatrade plastering costs

According to household quotes.co.uk it costs about:

£400 to £550 to skim a small room
£450 to £600 to skim a medium room
£550-£700 to skim a large room.

Source: Householdquotes plastering costs

According to these figures if you were to skim 4 rooms in a 2 bedroom terraced house

It should cost you around £1800-£2400 if you assume all of the 4 rooms are medium-sized and you pay £450-£600 per room.

Plastering

If skimming isn’t enough and you need a full replaster of the walls and ceilings it can cost you a bit more.

According to Checkatrade, it costs around:

£636 to replaster a small room
£755 to replaster a medium room
£1300 to replaster a large room

Source: Checkatrade plastering costs

According to householdquotes.co.uk:

£600 to £700 to plaster a small room
£650 to £900 to plaster a medium room
£1000 to £1400 to plaster a large room

Source: Householdquotes plastering costs

According to these numbers if you were to replaster 4 rooms in a 2 bedroom terraced house it would cost you £2600 to £3600 if you assume it averages out to 4 medium-sized rooms and you paid £650-£900 per room.

Rendering

If you really want to step up the curb appeal of a property then redoing the render can completely change the appearance.

Rendering is basically plastering but on the outside of the house.

According to householdquotes.co.uk, it costs:

£2100 to £2900 to render a 2 bedroom bungalow
£3800 to £5300 to render a 3 bedroom semi-detached house
£6300 to £7800 to render a 4 bedroom detached house

Source: Householdquotes plastering costs

According to Checkatrade, you should budget around £31.50 – £63 per m2.

This should work out to £2,835 – £5,670 for a 3 bedroom semi-detached house with 90m2 of walling.

A small bungalow would cost around £1,575 – £3,150.

If you are using monocouche render then budget around 30%-60% more per square metre.

Source: Checkatrade rendering costs

Painting a room

Getting rid of that old magnolia paint from the 80s and freshening up the property with a new lick of paint can do wonders for a house and its appearance.

According to Checkatrade the cost per day for a painter and decorator averages around £350 and the average cost to paint a 4.5m x 4m room costs about £400 (assuming you use standard trade paints).

Source: Checkatrade painting costs

According to priceyourjob.co.uk, it’s slightly cheaper:

It costs around £250-£300 to have an average-sized room painted by a painter and decorator and about 20% of the cost is from materials.
It can cost around £500 to have a one room painted including all the woodwork.

Source: Priceyourjob painting costs

As an example if you had 4 rooms painted in a 2 bedroom terraced house it could cost you between £1000 to £1600 assuming each room costs you between £250-£400.

New Carpets

This can vary depending on a few factors such as:

Carpets you use
Whether you use underlay
Shape of room
Shape of stairs
Whether you have extras like stair rods
Size of the area
How long it could take
How much prep work is needed e.g. moving furniture or taking off old carpets.

But in general, according to Checkatrade:

The average cost of a carpet fitter is £120 – £150 per day and a whole house should only take 2-3 days
The average price for carpet is between £6 – £40 per m2
It will cost around £85-£95 for a standard double bedroom
A straight stairway should be around £75-£100
A standard-size lounge will be around £55-£65
Underlay will cost around £1-£4 per metre squared
Fitting carpets including underlay should cost around £4-£7 per square metre including underlay

Source: Checkatrade carpet fitting costs

Overall a house that is about 75 square metres in size will cost around £300-£525 to have new carpets fitted (including underlay).

New Kitchen

This really depends on the person and the spec of the kitchen.

According to Checkatrade, the cost of fitting an average-sized family kitchen ranges between £1400-£2100.

Source: Checkatrade kitchen fitting costs

If we look at another source, according to Victoriaplum the average UK kitchen installation will cost around £3500 for a 13-14 square metre kitchen. This would include:

Removing the old kitchen
Fitting the new kitchen
Fitting new sinks, taps, and appliances
Walls, floors and ceilings e.g. tiles, plastering, paint.

Source: Victoriaplum kitchen fitting costs

But you do also need to take into account whether you need new flooring or any additional plumbing and electrical work as well as new appliances.

Then you’ll of course have to pay for the actual kitchen itself and this can vary a lot depending on the spec you are going for.

You could spend just over £1000 at Wickes or you could go to a boutique kitchen supplier and get a high-end kitchen for £20,000.

New Bathroom

According to Victoriaplum the fitting of a new bathroom costs on average around £7200 and after paying for the materials like the actual suite and fittings it would cost around £9800.

Source: Victoriaplum bathroom fitting costs

According to Checkatrade the average cost of fitting a new bathroom including all materials costs between £4000 and £6000.

Source: Checkatrade bathroom fitting costs

New Radiators

The cost to remove and replace a double panel radiator will cost around £200 according to Checkatrade.

To give you an idea of the cost of a budget radiator you can pick up a single-panel radiator starting from around £30 in Wickes and a double-panel radiator for around £5-£10 more.

So replacing 5 double panel radiators would set you back around £100.

Source: Checkatrade

New Consumer Unit

If you purchase a buy-to-let property that is older you may want to replace the old fuse box with a newer consumer unit.

According to Checkatrade, here are the main costs for getting a new consumer unit for a property.

Remove a fuse box (£75)
The cost of a populated consumer unit (10 way) (£350)
The cost of metre tail cables (£4 per m)
The cost to install the consumer unit (£350+)

So you can see that before considering cables you’ll need around £775 to remove an old fuse box, buy a new consumer unit and get it installed by an electrician.

If all you need is a new circuit breaker then that will set you back on average around £52.50

Source: Checkatrade new consumer unit costs

According to householdquotes.co.uk, the total costs will be:

£150 – £560 for a mains switch consumer unit
£180 – £560 for dual RCD or high-integrity consumer unit
£90 – £225 for garage or shower RCD consumer unit

These numbers are for removal, supply of new fusebox and labour.

Source: Householdquotes new consumer unit costs

Rewiring a House

If the house is particularly old and needs a complete rewire this is going to set you back a few thousand.

Rewires generally last for a good 25-30 years, but not forever! And you can end up with faulty wires and cabling before that.

According to Checkatrade the cost of rewiring a house using a professional will cost £3000 to £12,5000 depending on the size of the home.

The average cost for a 2 bedroom house rewire is £4800.

This cost should include the cost of removing old fittings and installing new ones as well as the installation of a new consumer unit.

Source: Checkatrade rewiring costs

Just remember you may need to pay for other tradesmen to cover up any cosmetic issues after the rewiring is done.

According to householdquotes.co.uk, it costs:

£2000 to £15000 to require a property depending on the size
£4000 to £4800 to rewire a 2-bedroom house

Source: Householdquotes rewiring costs

New Double Glazing

According to Everest windows, the average cost for a standard uPVC casement window will cost £600-£1800 per window.

Other types of windows will cost more depending on the style and material.

In terms of style:

A sash window will cost 50% more than a casement window
Tilt and turn window will cost 25% more than a casement window
Bay window will cost 150% more than a casement window

In terms of materials:

Aluminium frame will cost 25% more than uPVC
Timber frame will cost 50% more than uPVC

Source: Everest Windows

Keep in mind that certain types of properties will have to use certain types of windows if they are listed buildings or in conservation areas.

Example

Let’s see how much it would cost to replace all the windows in a 2 bedroom terraced house with 4 windows.

If you just look at standard uPVC casement windows you could be looking at spending £2400 – £7200 if you spent £600-£1800 per window.

According to Checkatrade, it can cost on average around £1000 to replace a window with a uPVC casement window.

These numbers include the cost of materials and labour.

Source: Checkatrade double glazing costs

Knocking Down A Wall

You may want to knock down structural walls if you are doing a renovation to rearrange the layout of a property.

On average, prices range from £1,250 – £1,750 to remove a structural wall (load bearing) and £800 – £950 to install structural supports.

This means it can cost around £2050-£2700 in total to have the wall removed and the new structural support to be put into place.

Depending on size the cost can be:

£1085 for a 1 metre doorway
£1525 for a 2 metre double doorway
£2700 for a 4 metre space to connect two rooms

Source: Checkatrade removing walls costs

Adding A Stud Wall (Partition Wall)

A stud wall or a partition wall can be used to create additional rooms from existing rooms in a cost-effective way.

According to Checkatrade, it can cost:

£55-£65 per square metre for a timber frame stud wall
£55-£65 per square metre for a metal frame stud wall

These are both plastered on both sides.

Cost for Different Sizes

The average ceiling height in the UK is around 2.4m so let’s look at stud walls that are 2.4m tall for rooms of different lengths.

3.5 metre length stud wall:

3.5m x 2.4m = 8.4 metres squared
Cost = £462 – £546

4 metre length stud wall:

4m x 2.4m = 9.6 metres squared
Cost = £528 – £624

5 metre length stud wall:

5m x 2.4m = 12 metres squared
Cost = £660 – £780

Source: Checkatrade partition wall costs

Knocking Down A Chimney Breast

According to Myjobquote:

Costs between £2200 – £2400 to remove a chimney breast upstairs and downstairs (not including the chimney stack on the roof)
Costs between £3000- £3500 if you remove the stack on the roof too
Costs £500-£1750 to remove just the ground floor chimney breast

Source: Myjobquote removing chimney breast costs

According to Homehow, it costs:

£925 – £1670 to remove the chimney stack on the roof
£1455- £2010 to remove the ground floor chimney breast
£1570 – £2120 to remove the first-floor chimney breast

Source: Homehow removing chimney breast costs

Adding An Extension

There are a lot of things that go into the cost of an extension.

For example, it can be affected by the plumbing needs, heating, windows, flooring etc.

According to Checkatrade, you can expect to pay £1500 to £2500 per square metre.

Let’s say you have a terraced house that is 4.4 metres wide (about 14.4 feet).

And you want to add a 4-metre extension at the back.

You would need 4m x 4.4m extension which is 17.6 square metres.

Depending on the quality of the build you can expect to pay between £26,400 to £44,000 for this 17.6 metres squared extension.

Source: Checkatrade extension costs

New Boiler

This can vary depending on the type of boiler as well as if you want to move the boiler location.

According to Heatable:

In general, just the standalone boiler can be from £600 to £2500.

Looking at a standard combi boiler with installation expect to pay between £1500 to £3500.

Source: Heatable new boiler costs

According to Greenmatch, here’s how much different types of boilers can cost including installation:

Combi – £2750
Electric – £2790
System – £2790
Conventional – £2955
Biomass – £16,000

Source: Greenmatch new boiler costs

Replacing Doors

If you want to replace all the doors in a buy-to-let property you need to stay on budget because it can add up if you go for high-end products.

A standard white door can cost £75-£205 including the cost of materials as well as labour.

So if you replaced 6 doors in the house it can cost around £450-£1230.

These doors will tend to be hollow core, solid core or MDF. For solid wood doors you’ll need to pay a bit more

For solid wood doors, you’ll be looking to pay £145-£300 per door including the cost of materials and labour.

So if you replaced 6 doors in a property with solid wood doors you can expect to pay between £870-£1800.

Source: Householdquotes door fitting costs

Loft Conversion

In general, for the most cost-effective loft conversion, you’ll want to go for a Velux or a dormer conversion.

According to Householdquotes.co.uk:

A loft conversion typically costs between £21,000 to £44,000, but you could easily pay up to £63,000 if you want a particularly large extension.

Source: Householdquotes loft conversion costs

According to myjobquote.co.uk:

The average costs for Velux loft conversions are £15,000-£20,000. For a conversion with a dormer, the price range is £30,000-£60,000.

Source: Myjobquote loft conversion costs

Underfloor Heating

Underfloor heating is a really nice touch for homes in the UK especially with the cold damp weather we get.

When choosing to get underfloor heating you can either go for wet (hot water running through pipes) or electric heating.

Here are the costs according to Checkatrade:

Electric underfloor heating cost:

New build install: £50 – £75 per m²
Renovation property: £60 – £85 per m²

Wet underfloor heating system cost:

New build install: £120 – £135 per m²
Renovation property: £135 – £185 per m²

As you can see, wet underfloor heating costs more since it is more efficient and of higher quality.

In general, underfloor heating is popular for kitchens and bathrooms where you may have tiled flooring.

If you assume an average kitchen size of around 13 square metres and you are doing a renovation then it would cost you:

£780-£1105 to put in underfloor electric heating in the kitchen
£1755- £2405 to install underfloor wet heating in the kitchen

Source: Checkatrade underfloor heating costs

Refurbishment Example Case Studies

So you’ve seen what some sources say about the cost of different renovation costs, but what about some real case studies?

Well, we’ve got a few videos here from 4 different real-life refurbs to give you an idea of what you can expect.

£26,500 Renovation – 3 Bedroom Terraced

This 3 bedroom terraced house is in Wales.

£23,000 Renovation – 1 Bedroom Apartment

This refurb is for a 1 bedroom apartment in London.

£17,000-£17,500 Renovation – 2 Bedroom Terraced house

This renovation is based in the outskirts of Liverpool.

£15,300 Renovation – 3 Bedroom Terraced

This refurb is based in the North West of England.

Here’s a video where you can see more of this property that was refurbished.

Based on these 4 example case studies you can see how much costs can vary as a one-bedroom in London cost £23,000 but a 3 bedroom in Wales only costs £3000 more at £26,000.

You can see that the 2 bedroom properties both hover around the £15,000 to £17,500 mark.

In general, I would budget around £15,000 at the minimum for a 2-bedroom property in the North if it only requires work on the inside of the property.

This would include the cost of replastering, fitting new carpets and painting the whole house. It would also include the cost of a budget kitchen and bathroom.