Budget home renovations

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jonb

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#173542 27-May-2015 09:59

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?

Edit: looks like it might be do-able for under 40k, 20k was way too optimistic.

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#1312510 27-May-2015 10:10

You do mean each right?

Bathrooms can cost $5k to $100k depending entirely on your quality level.

We did an ensuite and 2 bathrooms including building (moving walls), tiling, finishing, vanities, bath, 2 showers etc. That cost us close to $40k. We bought Athena fittings/bath and decent vanities at the bathroom sale at Greenlane. We saved a lot on the building work.

Our kitchen was probably around $15k for cabinets, tiling and plumbing. We didn't get a stone workbench or anything. We were very lucky to get a considerable amount of interior work (moving a wall, new steel beams etc) done labour free.

We have had friends spend $30k on a single bathroom, italian everything etc. You can spend $80 on a toilet or $800 on a toilet. Kitchens are the same. Granite benchtop is thousands, laminate is a few hundred.

The above probably isn't really helpful, just what we experienced.

jonb

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#1312515 27-May-2015 10:14

That's helpful. Was looking at 20K for everything, using existing plumbing and standard fittings etc.

MikeB4

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#1312517 27-May-2015 10:16

We are in the process of pricing to do a wet area disability bathroom in our home, the estimates would seem to be around $18,000

timmmay

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#1312525 27-May-2015 10:26

A few years ago we stripped and redid our bathroom, 2x4m. It included new smaller PVC exterior window and weatherboards, tiles, under floor heating, toilet, LED lighting and mirror lighting, great shower, new high pressure hot water system, double basin, bath, moving cylinder to ceiling cavity and plumbing. Cost around $40K.

I wouldn't recommend tiles, they MUST be heated otherwise they're awful. Lino tiles are a better idea.

Doing it cheaply you might get it done for $50K. Wouldn't surprise me if just materials cost more than $20K, maybe more than $30K if you went for good quality. To get a good firm in to do all that you could easily spend $100K, but if you hire an individual builder and cheap out on everything you can probably keep it below $50K.

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#1312526 27-May-2015 10:28

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

The short answer is no.

We recently renovated two bathrooms in the same house (1918 vintage). Completely stripped and relined and retiled. Good quality but no luxuries (except underfloor heating). $70,000 for both.

Perhaps $20,000 for each project, if you're careful with your money.

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Jase2985

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#1312528 27-May-2015 10:29

Nope, in the end it will probably be close to double that.

Our bathroom in out 1950's house cost 20k, that was quality fittings and units, was all new plumbing and tiled throughout.

Thats was for a 2x2m room and a 1x2m toilet

networkn

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#1312531 27-May-2015 10:31

jonb: That's helpful. Was looking at 20K for everything, using existing plumbing and standard fittings etc.

Based on what we did which was FAIRLY modest, though with new everything, I'd say you have little hope for a good quality nice looking fit out of TWO bathrooms for <$20K but everyones expectations differ and it will depend on what compromises you are prepared to make to meet the budget.

Electrical, Plumbing etc, costs were a lot more than we initially budgeted. Even our tiler quoted a price, but due to unforseen complications came in about 22% over budget.

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frankv

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#1312553 27-May-2015 10:58

Wet floor requires special (i.e. expensive) waterproofing, unless its a concrete floor.

networkn

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#1312584 27-May-2015 11:06

networkn:
jonb: That's helpful. Was looking at 20K for everything, using existing plumbing and standard fittings etc.

Based on what we did which was FAIRLY modest, though with new everything, I'd say you have little hope for a good quality nice looking fit out of TWO bathrooms for <$20K but everyones expectations differ and it will depend on what compromises you are prepared to make to meet the budget.

Electrical, Plumbing etc, costs were a lot more than we initially budgeted. Even our tiler quoted a price, but due to unforseen complications came in about 22% over budget.

I'd say it was some of the best money we spend in our house, but upon reflection I wish we had spent a little more as 5 years on, some elements aren't holding up as well.

Find a GOOD tiler (Who does a LOT of bathrooms). We had a cheap(ish) one, and the tiles aren't perfect and it annoys me every day. I may well get someone in to redo it sometime.

Re Tiles, imagine that tiles in a small bathroom (In fact any room) look darker (Considerably) than they do in the shop, or in any part of the house.

xontech

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#1312586 27-May-2015 11:08

Agree with above on it being $20K each based on your requirements. With regards to the bathroom also agree with above that tiling is an expensive option if you are trying to do it on a budget. It isn't the tiles themselves, it is the tiling and waterproofing work associated with them that costs.

We did what I would class as an average spec, full renovation on a 2.5m x 4.5m bathroom at the start of this year. This did involve relocating the shower and vanity plumbing so a bit of extra cost there. Having a very quick look back here are some of the bigger items - not comprehensive but may give you an idea of where the money goes.........

Vanity and Tapware (Shower and Vanity) - 2000 (decided not to cheap out on the shower mixer, didn't want to be pulling the walls apart if it fails)
Shower Tray (Foam for Tiles) and Glass - 1531
Plumbing - 1603 to pre-line, 370 to completion
Tiles - 400 (shower and half the walls
Lino flooring - 500 (estimate as don't have details) Went with Gefloor Texline, very pleased with it so far. Warm and soft.
Waterproofing and Tiling - 3000
Shower Glass installation - 400
Builder - 8300 (includes re-lining walls and ceiling, concrete channeling in floor for plumbing)
Electrician - 1000
Rubbish Removal - 150
That's about 19.2K, there was some bits and pieces I haven't detailed here so it would of

frankv

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#1312623 27-May-2015 11:43

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.

networkn

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#1312635 27-May-2015 11:49

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.

jonb

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#1312653 27-May-2015 12:31

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?

xontech

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#1312655 27-May-2015 12:38

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.

timmmay

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#1312658 27-May-2015 12:39

We had a bathroom firm who managed all that. Even then there were days nothing happened, out doing work at other properties. You pay for their project management but they take away all the hassles.

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