Budget home renovations

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Networkn
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#1312661 27-May-2015 12:44

jonb: Thanks, seems like will need to raise budget or do in increments. Do you have experience of getting builder, plumber, fitter, tiler individually compared to a one stop bathroom shop?

Having seen what was involved, it would largely depend on how you value your time. We did it with a firm who handled everything and given how many issues and how much time they spent for the fee they charged I am VERY glad I opted to not do it myself (Project Management).

Don't do it in increments, do it 1 bathroom at a time completely. The number of ways an incremental upgrade could go wrong are too numerous to list.

I'd recommend (strongly) Increasing your budget and saving longer than doing it piecemeal or on the cheap.

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#1312670 27-May-2015 12:52

networkn: ... Don't do it in increments, do it 1 bathroom at a time completely. The number of ways an incremental upgrade could go wrong are too numerous to list.

I'd recommend (strongly) Increasing your budget and saving longer than doing it piecemeal or on the cheap.

+1

Good advice.

You HAVE to do it all at once, or it all turns to expensive custard.

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networkn

Networkn
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#1312673 27-May-2015 12:55

I'd have to say, don't underestimate how much time you will spend as a family in the bathroom. Small things that annoy you, will really wreck your enjoyment. I know it's a little crass, but make sure you get a good toilet (Good quality, easy clean, low splash etc) and I'd recommend trying for the largest shower you can fit, nothing worse than being cramped in.

Stu

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#1312742 27-May-2015 14:02

xontech: The only experience I have had with a one stop shop is complete bathrooms. Got a quote (maybe $22K). When I asked for a high level breakdown of the quote I never heard from them again.......

I have been lucky enough to find who I think is an awesome builder. The other trades have been done by the guys he works with all the time. As we trusted the builder we inherently trusted them. And to date we haven't been disappointed.

If you get a builder who does bathrooms often they should also have people they work with all the time.

Are you in Auckland at all? I think I need to talk to your builder! We're just going through the task of getting quotes. Interesting comment on Complete Bathrooms, and I've now crossed them off the list (based on your comment and others found on the Web).

Like the OP I was going down the DIY path, but am now going to get someone to sort out the whole job and just get it done.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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kiwitrc

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#1312744 27-May-2015 14:03

frankv: Suggest you think about a shower dome... not terribly expensive, but it makes the shower much warmer, and stops the moisture getting out into the bathroom. I expect it will prevent any mould problems.

I agree, I have two at home and we put on in at work. They are so good, I am going to remove the exhaust fan from the bathroom (we already removed the work one). We get zero mould in the bathroom and you can use the mirror without any fogging.

mattwnz

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#1312747 27-May-2015 14:07

jonb: Needing to do some renovations to the house, but not able to go down the route of spending 20K for a bathroom.

Has anyone done similar jobs recently and have a rough idea of how much it cost? Obviously all jobs are different, just a rough idea.

Ensuite - new shower, , floor tiling, mini vanity, toilet, fittings. Building/carpentry to make shower area into more of a wet room if possible.

Bathroom - 10 sqm tiling, some carpentry around the existing bath, new vanity and fittings, toilet,

Kitchen - New workbench, cupboard doors, some carpentry & plumbing to add a dishwasher, cooker, sink, rangehood, splashback, 5sqm of tiling.

Would it be possible to get all that for ~20K, with minimal DIY?

If you are a DIFM person, then I think you will struggle to get it done for 20k, unless you were buying the cheapest parts. I would suggest you buy all the part etc you need, eg otilet shower etc, as plumbers will likely charge you retail + a margin, when they buy it for trade. Buying the parts isn't rock science and also not DIY, but is a way to save a lot.

xontech

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#1312769 27-May-2015 14:21

Stu: Are you in Auckland at all? I think I need to talk to your builder!

Yes I am.

If you are on the Shore give Dan at Builtrite a call (027 479 0989). He only works on the shore and be prepared for a 3 month wait. Among the many things we liked about Dan was that he was fine with us being as involved or not as we wanted to be. For example we did the painting in the bathroom and also we sourced all the bathroomware ourselves. We also found him to be great at checking every decision with us and never assuming. Check out no cowboys etc for ratings etc. (actually this has reminded me to put a rating on for the bathroom).

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Stu

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#1312791 27-May-2015 14:52

Cheers. Wrong side of the bridge, unfortunately. The hunt continues!

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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rphenix

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#1312804 27-May-2015 15:09

networkn:
frankv: Suggest you think about a shower dome... not terribly expensive, but it makes the shower much warmer, and stops the moisture getting out into the bathroom. I expect it will prevent any mould problems.

Entirely disagree. We had one, it was a nightmare, sadly I can't recall why that much, but I have foggy memory of it causing mould in serious quantities.

Might depend on the shower materials? It definitely keeps the bathroom free of condensation but the shower gets extra damp as a result so I can see wrong materials might cause more mould growth cant say I've had that problem.

networkn

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#1312811 27-May-2015 15:14

rphenix:
networkn:
frankv: Suggest you think about a shower dome... not terribly expensive, but it makes the shower much warmer, and stops the moisture getting out into the bathroom. I expect it will prevent any mould problems.

Entirely disagree. We had one, it was a nightmare, sadly I can't recall why that much, but I have foggy memory of it causing mould in serious quantities.

Might depend on the shower materials? It definitely keeps the bathroom free of condensation but the shower gets extra damp as a result so I can see wrong materials might cause more mould growth cant say I've had that problem.

Well it's interesting, because to fix mould issues they recommend leaving the shower door open after the shower, and ideally a window (Stupid in Winter), but then the moisture is going out into the bathroom as well. Alternatively they suggested a squeegie thing for wiping the shower surfaces of water, but in the end it didn't work the way we expected
it to and didn't replace it when we got the new shower. Got Diamond Fusion which is a great scam :)

MileHighKiwi

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#1312845 27-May-2015 15:46

First rule of thumb with a DIY project is look at your budget and add on 50%! lol...

We naively thought we could renovate our kitchen and dining room for around $8K. It wasn't a huge job; adding on to existing cabinetry to make a breakfast bar, brand new pull out pantry and fridge unit, replace existing doors etc with new ones, and a brand new 50mm bench top. The actual cabinet makers came in at $7500 but we needed to re-jib the ceiling and a couple of walls, sparky, plumber, painter, builders etc...total cost $15K. And the tradies were mates who did a good deal for us!

If you know tradies that will help.

We're planning the bathroom now. We have a small bathroom with shower over bath, simple vanity. We are going to knock out the wall to the WC to enlarge it, put in new bath, free standing shower, new toilet and vanity. Budgeting $8-10K this time which should be a better estimate given our last experience, haha!

A builder mate said flag the tiles, the minute you tile the cost goes up heaps and as someone else said, you need them heated. We've decided to sand and polish the wooden floors.

I think if you push the budget out to $25-$30K you could do it but you'll need some mates rates to make it happen.

Jase2985

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#1312902 27-May-2015 16:37

I used revamp as they were/are local to me. They did a great job and were very easy to deal with.

http://www.revamp.org.nz/

They are in Mangere Bridge

isis

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#1312938 27-May-2015 17:06

we did 2x bathrooms and it wasn't much change from 20k.
Ensuite was tiny, but was fully tiled.

This included all new 100MM waste pipe.

i demo one of the bathrooms myself.

tradies were sourced independently with me managing it to keep cost down, which helped! Like many, we got ridiculous quotes!
we couldn't comprehend the cost considering the size of the room! but bathrooms are expensive!

Kitchen was done once we got over the cost of the bathrooms. Again, not much change from ~30k. Cabinets + granite was around 20+k!

NZSpides

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#1313026 27-May-2015 19:25

When we renovated our 1 bathroom, we spent the best part of a year planning out the layout of the refit.
We had a small house and couldn't make the bathroom any bigger.
Over that year we went and bought the various items as they came up on sale or when we found something that we liked.
We spent $600 on a toilet! (I miss that toilet now).

We ended spending just over $15,000 for that bathroom and adjacent toilet.
We did all the painting, but had a tiler in for the walls and put lino on the floor.

It isn't cheap to do a bathroom, don't plan on it being cheap, you'll be shocked otherwise.

If you get decent ventilation installed (not one of those %rap 3 in one light/heat/vent rubbish units) you'll be fine.
Fit the fan with a 7 minute timer ($25) and you're golden.
Use anti-fungal paint in there as well (cheap) and you'll never have a problem.

We have now bought a new house and I already have plans to rip out the master suite bathroom and refit it - I'll finally get my glass walk in shower!

If you have a concrete floor, tiles for a wet floor are awesome, but they are cold.
I guess if you're a wuss you can get them heated... (yea, I'm cheap)

Don't skimp on quality, you'll regret it.

MileHighKiwi

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#1313057 27-May-2015 20:14

NZSpides:
We had a small house and couldn't make the bathroom any bigger.

We ended spending just over $15,000 for that bathroom and adjacent toilet.

Don't skimp on quality, you'll regret it.

How big was the space? Ours is approx 5.5 - 6m2, so pretty tight. We have a layout in mind which is out of necessity as much as it is practicality. We can't really see any other options in terms of layout. I'm interested to hear how you tackled a bathroom in a small house.

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