Budgeting, FINANCING, Preliminary Shopping & Finding Good Professionals

What

A budget is simply an estimate of income and outgoings over a period of time. In other words, how much money you have to allocate to what things that cost money. 

The goal is therefore to work out, as realistically as possible, what you will have to allocate money to and how much those things are likely to cost. It can initially be high-level, but the more your plans develop, the more detailed, useful and accurate your budget should become.

Why

“How much will my [insert project here] cost?” The realistic answer: “Who knows.”

At the beginning, everyone wants to know how much their project will cost, before they have any specific plans. The reality is that most of the costs are variable, not fixed. They change depending on all sorts of factors. 

If you want to get very rough cost ranges early on to decide whether it’s even worth bothering to move beyond the wishful thinking stage, there are various resources online that put forward figures for how much common residential projects like a loft conversion, extension and general internal refurbs might cost. By all means, have a hunt and use them. Be wary relying on those figures though. It’s easy to get ball-park estimates only to find that they prove to be way off the mark. We’ve seen plenty over the past few years that were absurdly high or suspiciously low. Often it’s not clear whether they include VAT or not, whether they’re only for contractor costs or if they cover everything and anything from design through to snagging, or even what year or what parts of the country or type of property they relate to for example.

Rather than taking random figures from online sources, it’s better to speak with people you know locally who have recently done similar projects for similar properties. Hopefully they’ll be able to tell you, roughly, what it might cost for your kind of project, adjusting as needed for the standard of materials and finish you’re aiming for. That’s partly what Renoviva’s Renovations Forum is for. People in your area who’ve done similar projects should be able to help.

If you’re anything like us, you’ll potentially be very tempted to skip the budget side of things entirely and just run with a super high level idea of what things might cost. There’s a lot of good TV to stream these days — who has the time?!

Some people love budgeting. Most don’t. Preparing a budget can be more boring than standing in line for ten hours to buy grass seed so you can go home and watch grass grow. More frustrating than dealing with a phone-bot auto-response voice that can’t understand the words, “yes, I would ******* like to speak to a customer service representative please”. More confusing at times than trying to put together a 30 compartment flat pack console unit. You get the point.

Unless you have so much cash available that you just don’t care, once you’ve decided that you can potentially afford to undertake whatever works you’re contemplating, you need to prepare a budget. 

When

As soon as you’re serious about undertaking whatever renovation work you’re contemplating, preparing a budget should be one of the first things you do.

It can be helpful to work at it concurrently with developing your plans.

Developing your plans and preparing a budget should both be done before you hire any professionals and start spending money.

How

There are 4 steps.

Investigate your financing options
Work out what is likely to cost you money
Get realistic estimates for the likely cost of each of those things
Adjust until you’re happy or shelve your project plans

STEP 1 — Financing

To set a realistic budget, you’ll need to get a realistic sense of how much money you’ll have to spend on your renovation project.

There’ll ultimately be a minimum base line amount that you’ll need in order to complete the most basic version of your project with the cheapest professionals and the cheapest materials and finishes you can bear. Any amount over that though is virtually limitless other than how much you’re willing to spend and how much cash you have available.

There’s potentially a bit of a chicken and egg situation here though depending on your circumstances. If you already have access to funds, or if you can enquire from any relevant third-parties as to what the maximum amount you could provisionally borrow would be, then great, you’ll have an upper limit to work with from the outset. For many though, it may not be possible to find out what the upper limit is if some or all of the funds are to be borrowed. It can also be tricky to work out how much you may have to play with if you are relying in part on your income because you don’t know exactly when certain amounts will be due and therefore how many months’ income you can factor in. If you don’t know your upper limit just yet and can’t find out, your best bet is to just proceed with the budgeting process and then consider the financing. You’ll end up with a much clearer idea of how much you’ll need. If you read through “The Basics” overview (Reno Info Hub homepage) you’ll also get a clearer idea of what project steps you’ll need to consider and factor in as well as the timings of those things.

There’s a wealth of good information out there already on financing so it’s best to have a quick search online and you’ll get the gist of the options and then be able to decide which, if any, you can potentially go with.

As a super quick overview just to set out the lay of the land, there are in most circumstances only three options for financing:

  • Savings
  • Rather than immediately dipping into savings, consider whether it’s potentially better to leave savings in a savings account or invested depending on expected savings interest and/or return on investment potential compared to the cost of borrowing if borrowing is an option. Of course, borrowing has potential downsides too so only look toward borrowing what you will definitely be able to repay.
  • Income
  • If you have enough regular income to cover costs, you could finance your project solely with income.
  • You’ll enter contracts with various professionals though who will be very much minded to hold you to whatever you agreed to pay, so you must of course be very careful to ensure that you can still make payments in the event of any change of circumstances.  
  • Credit
  • The main option is usually mortgage (secured loan) related — increasing your existing mortgage loan, remortgaging or getting a second mortgage. You should be able to borrow against the post-works (future) value of the property.
  • Personal, unsecured loans of one kind or another available, such as home development loans, are also a potential source of financing. Alternatively you could borrow from family or a loan shark (joking — don’t do the latter).
  • Some people also turn to credit cards. Much like income though, be very careful to ensure that you can still make payments in the event of any change of circumstances.
  • Many people also rely on various credit financings for certain services and products. For example, if your credit rating is decent enough, you may be able to make arrangements with some or all of the professionals you engage to some kind of credit financing arrangement (ideally 0% interest) in respect of their fees. Certainly there are plenty of 0% credit financing options for many of the client-provided items you’ll need to buy, such as a new kitchen and appliances. Needless to say again though, beware of taking on debt obligations that you won’t be able to repay, including in the event of any adverse change of circumstances.

Why spend the money if you don’t have to though?

STEP 2 — Work out what is likely to cost you money

Next, you’ll need to list, as accurately and in as much detail as possible: 

What is likely to cost you money?

You don’t need to worry about how much money at this stage. Just focus on all of the things that will likely cost something. When we say “likely”, we mean that you should also include the things that might realistically cost you money, even if you hope they won’t. Maybe you hope to take a fully DIY approach to party wall matters for example, but it’s not 100% certain because you can’t exclude the possibility that you’ll be required to engage one or more party wall surveyors. Don’t omit that potential cost. Err on the side of over-inclusion, not under-inclusion. 

You’re going to need to work out for yourself what is going to cost you money. It’ll depend on a variety of things, including the works you have in mind, what you’re supplying versus what will be included in contractor costs, what level of finish you’re aiming for, and so on. It’ll take some time to develop your plan and think through all of its elements.

Preparing your budget is therefore an iterative process. To begin with, just jot down the high-level categories. Then work toward trying to add more as you think of things. Then break down all categories into their relevant sub-parts, getting as granular as you can. The more you develop your project plans, the more you’ll be able to add detail. It’s hard, but the very act of doing this will help you enormously in solidifying your plans. 

You should really at least have a fairly well-developed budget before you start to spend money on anything. 

Let’s use a loft conversion and ground floor kitchen extension project as an example. 

The below table shows 3 iterations just to illustrate how you move from the high-level to the more granular. 

The contractor items should be far more granular than you’ll see in the below of course but those details will be listed out more fully by your schedule of works and/or by their quote. Figuring out what exact works need to be done and obtaining quotes is really its own thing. When you have a good overview of what the construction work will entail, you can either relist all the details in your budget plan or just drop in the brief description for the project or part of the project as we’ve done. 

PRE-WORKS
PRE-WORKS
PRE-WORKS
Drawings Drawings Drawings
Surveyors

Planning / architectural

Planning / architectural
Party walls

Structural

Structural
Build over agreement

Building Regs

Building Regs
Planning fees Surveyors

Drainage layout
Building control

Property measured survey

Loft bathroom layout
Storage

Drainage

Kitchen design
Party walls

Electrical & heating

Notices

 Surveyors

Schedule of condition

Property measured survey

Party wall surveyor

Drainage
Build over agreement fee Party walls
Planning fees

Notices

Lawful development certificate fee

Schedule of condition

Household planning fee

Party wall surveyor

Building control fees

 Build over agreement fee
Storage Planning fees

Storage fees for 5 mths

Lawful development certificate fee

Insurance

Household planning fee

Building control fees
Storage

Storage fees for 5 mths

Insurance

Moving van x 2

Packing materials

Lock for unit
WORKS
WORKS
WORKS
Contractor / trades Contractor / trades Contractor / trades
Parking

Loft conversion to 2nd fix

Loft conversion to 2nd fix
Client provided items

Extension to 2nd fix

Extension to 2nd fix

Painting & decorating

Painting & decorating labour
Parking Parking
Client provided items - Loft Client provided items - Loft

Glazing

Glazing - skylights

Blinds

Velux x 3

Electrics

Flat roof x 2

Radiators

Glazing - other

Internal doors

PVC casement x 2

Sanitaryware

Blinds

Tiles

Velux blinds x 2

Flooring

Roller blinds x 2

Paint

Electrics - Sockets
Client provided items - Extension

2-gang (MK white) x 8

Glazing

Shaver (MK white) x 1

Electrics

Electrics - Switches

Radiators

1-gang 1 way dimmers (Varilight white) x 3

Internal doors

Fan isolator x 1

Kitchen

Switched fused spur x 1

Flooring

Electrics - Lighting

Blinds

Downlights (white warm aurora) x 18

Paint

Electrics - Other

Extractor fan with timer

Smoke alarm (mains)

CO detector (mains)

Radiators

Convector rads (0.6m x 2m) x 2

Towel rad (0.5m x 1m) x 1

TRVs x 3

Internal doors

FD30 4 panel doors x 2

Regular 4 panel door x 1

Handles x 3

Hinges (6 x fire door, 2 x reg)

Tubular mortice latches x 3

Bathroom

Toilet

Sink

Sink waste, plug & overflow

Sink tap

Shower tray

Shower waste

Shower screen & fittings

Shower basket

Shower brassware (head, hose, etc)

Bath

Bath waste, plug & overflow

Bath tap

Vanity unit

Mirror

Towel ring

Toilet roll holder

Robe hooks

Tiles

Trim

Grout

Bedroom, landing & stairs flooring

Underlay, Carpet & Threshold bars

Paint

Woodwork primer & undercoat (white)

Woodwork topcoat (white)

Ceilings mist & undercoat (white)

Ceilings topcoat (white)

Walls mist & undercoat (white)

Walls topcoat (white)
Client provided items - Extension

Glazing

Bi-fold doors (3m x 2.2m)

Flat roof skylights (1m x 2m) x 2

Blinds

Roller x 1

Electrics - Sockets

2-gang (MK white) x 8

Electrics - Switches

2-gang 2-way rockers (MK white) x 2

1-gang 1-way rocker (external lights) x 1

Cooker (MK white) x 1

Switched fused spur (MK white)

Electrics - Lighting

Downlights (white warm aurora) x 10

External wall lights x 2

Electrics - Other

Smoke alarm (mains)

Heat alarm (mains)

Radiators (N/A - UFH provided by plumber)

Internal doors

FD30 4 panel x 1

Kitchen

Base units (w/ legs), wall units, oven unit, pull out unit, doors, drawers, plinth, cornice, pelmet, panels

Hardware (handles for drawers & doors)

Worktop (quartz)

Sink

Sink waste, plug & overflow

Tap

Buil-in hob

Double oven

Extractor hood

Built-in microwave

Fridge / freezer

Washing machine

Dishwasher

Flooring

Tiles

Grout

Paint

Woodwork primer & undercoat (white)

Woodwork topcoat (white)

Ceilings mist & undercoat (white)

Ceilings topcoat (white)

Walls mist & undercoat (white)

Walls topcoat (white)
POST-WORKS
POST-WORKS
POST-WORKS

Furniture

Furniture

Furniture

Kitchen table

Kitchen table

Kitchen table chairs

Kitchen table chairs x 8

Breakfast bar stools

Breakfast bar stools x 3

Parking (for snagging)

Parking (snagging)

STEP 3 — How much are things likely to cost?

Once you’ve worked out what things are going to cost money, you can add:

 The likely cost of each of the things. 

For some, you may be able to obtain exact figures that won’t change. For most, you’re going to have to do a bit of research and get rough expected prices one way or another and then tighten those up as things progress.

As with erring on the side of over-inclusion for what is likely to cost you money, you should err on the side of over-estimating, not under-estimating, cost.

You’ll want the budget figures to be relatively accurate though or you could be faced with a surprisingly high total that you can’t possibly finance. At least that can be dealt with by adjusting your plans and rebalancing your budget (or finding more accurate costings if you were a bit fast and loose on that front). What’s much trickier is an unrealistically low total. You could end up in a very sticky spot later on after contracts are signed and things are all very much underway if you discover only then that the costs are, in reality, significantly higher and you can’t possibly finance them. Unless you happen to have a fake passport and can abandon your life in the UK for a remote town in Venezuela where you can spend the rest of your days, that’s a situation you definitely want to avoid.

You might find it useful, at least initially, to use ranges rather than exact figures. Say that you discover your preferred new range cooker will likely cost £1500 but you know there are good options either side of that, plus maybe prices go up or down or you get it on sale. You therefore drop into your budget chart £1300-1700 instead of £1500. If using ranges, it’s best to try to keep the ranges fairly narrow and realistic, otherwise the totals will be so broad they’ll be unhelpful.

The focus for working out costings should be your most detailed list of things that are going to cost some money. 

It can be difficult working out the likely cost of many of the typical things that need to go into renovation project budgets so before we set out the table again, select the dropdown buttons below for pointers on the key ones.

You probably won’t do much purchasing until the works phase of your project. You’ll need to begin preliminary shopping during the early stages of the pre-works phase though.

It’ll depend on what arrangement you ultimately make with your contractor but usually the client (you) will buy and have delivered all of the items that you will see when the project is done — flooring, tiles, the kitchen and so on. The tables above set out the typical client-provided items. As you can see, there are many. 

It’s vital early on to get a handle on what is available out there, in part so you can develop your project plan and sense of aesthetics and in part so you can get cost figures for your budget. 

Below are some tips to help you get rough cost figures or ranges to insert into your budget table. 

  • Get organised:
  • If you want to avoid having a meltdown in the middle of a tile shop or end up divorced from your spouse, it’s wise to get organised. Thankfully, that’s easier than ever with various digital organisational tools. You could use MS Excel or Google Sheets to draw up a table and populate it with categorised lists of items and related links. Maybe you’re old school and prefer the paper route. Whatever works, but just be sure to use something that enables you to create a (long) list of items, that you can categorise, and that you can easily edit. 
  • The list of client-provided items in your budget plan will be very similar to your shopping list but the shopping list serves its own purpose. The shopping list is for keeping track of the potential items you want to buy, including from where, and you can have as many potential items in it as you like. The budget is just for listing the items (i.e. a bath) and what their expected cost is (i.e. £500). The shopping list however could have a list of 25 potential baths you’ve shortlisted, ranging in cost from £300 to £800. You take the average cost of those baths for your budget estimate or alternatively use the range. 
  • Shop around:
  • For services —
  • Consider which services you’ll need. You’ll likely need an architect or architectural designer. If changing structure, you’ll need a structural engineer. Unless self-building, you’ll likely need a contractor or various trades. You’ll probably need various other services too though. Include all of them and don’t forget to include services like storage and movers if needed.
  • If you’re certain that you’ll DIY one or more service requirements (i.e. party walls or painting and decorating), you can enter £0 into your budget plan for the relevant service / labour cost. If there’s any doubt that you’ll be able to DIY or that a professional may end up being required, assume you’ll pay a professional. (If entering £0 for things like painting and decorating because you’re going the DIY route, do still factor in costs for gear and paint etc still though.)
  • Aim to keep it local if any in-person time is required. You’ll generally find that those offering professional services locally will be cheaper than those further afield (unless handled remotely). The same is true usually for goods that are bought with some service, such as glazing and its fitting by installers. 
  • Get at least a few quotes so you can get a good sense of average pricing or a pricing range. You might be amazed at the price variance for what should ultimately be the same thing. Make sure quotes are apples to apples comparisons though. 
  • If your plans aren’t yet solid enough to get quotes, you can instead contact professional services to ask for a rough estimate. You might struggle with this because many professionals don’t seem to like to give any pricing indication at all given how many variables there can be. If that’s the case, try to at least set out the major parameters of the works you plan to undertake so it’s not a total stab in the dark for them (for example, if it’s a loft conversion, the key information like it’d be for a detached house, roughly 40m3 additional space aiming to be done under permitted development, with 1 bedroom space and 1 bathroom). If they’re still reluctant, push them at least to give an estimated cost range. You don’t need exact pricing when first preparing your budget plan, just relatively accurate estimates or ranges.
  • Make sure to factor in VAT if relevant. Many professional services will throw around figures and never mention that they exclude VAT. That’s a 20% difference so be sure to add that in (unless VAT isn’t payable of course). 
  • For physical retailers and suppliers —
  • As with professional services, get at least a few quotes or estimates so that you can get a good sense of average pricing or a pricing range. As your goal at this stage is just to get approximate pricing, you only need the rough figures. You can hunt for discounts or haggle later.
  • Check prices online. Unless they’re products that also involve some kind of professional service (i.e. shutters / blinds + fittings; windows + fittings; carpet + fitting), they’re likely to be available online too these days. 
  • Factor in VAT and delivery. 
  • For online retailers —
  • Use Google and Google Shopping (or similar). It’s easy to fall into the trap of going with the retailer that happens to pop up first or that you’ve heard of. A quick 30 seconds using Google Shopping can often reveal that you can get the same product for much less elsewhere. You can also use websites like the following to compare current prices. These are handy for seeing historical prices too, which is useful for knowing whether it’s a good time to buy or not. 
  • PriceSpy
  • PriceRunner
  • camelcamelcamel
  • It’s also easy to fall into the trap of buying everything from one or two retailers for convenience. Always remember to analyse from a cost v. benefit perspective. If convenience is worth the extra cost to you, fine. If not, do your shopping on an item by item basis. Don’t just plan to buy everything for your new loft bathroom from one seller when maybe it saves quite a lot to buy a couple of things from that retailer, one from another and something else from another. You can do this in a matter of minutes these days using tools like Google Shopping.   
  • Again, factor in VAT and delivery.

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It can be tricky to get estimated costings for any professionals you’ll need to factor into budget planning.

You can ask family, friends, neighbours and the like to try to find out roughly what each might cost for your type of project in your area and for your type of property. There can be enormous variance from project to project though so be wary of using a figure from someone else unless you’re certain their project was very similar to yours in every respect.

Where that fails, you will need to find some good professionals and ask them for rough estimates.

Potential professionals whom you might need to engage are, depending on your project: 

  • Architect, architectural technologist, architectural designer or a design and build company 
  • Structural engineer
  • Drainage surveyor
  • Party wall surveyor
  • Building control
  • Interior designer
  • Kitchen designer
  • Contractors (and/or any specific trades)
  • Garden designer and/or landscapers

The purpose of contacting professionals at this stage is to get some estimates to develop your budget plan. You can further engage with the professionals and get quotes later. (In other words, don’t let lining up professionals hold up developing your budget.)

For any services that are going to require in-person time or activities, you’ll ideally want to focus on finding local people to keep costs down and make your life easier. 

The main options for finding professional services are generally:

  • Get recommendations from:
  • Neighbours, friends, family or anyone else you know in the local area
  • If you’re not sure who has had significant renovation work done, you could look at historical planning applications on your local planning authority’s website.
  • If you’re not (yet) friendly with a neighbour you know has had work done, don’t be afraid to knock on their door. People often love to chat about their renovations. 
  • Fellow renovators in our Renovators Forum
  • Local social media recommendation groups
  • Other professionals you know or have been on contact with
  • Use professional accreditation, association or industry websites, such as:
  • Trades
  • Competent Person Register
  • NIC EIC
  • NAPIT
  • APHC
  • Gas Safe Register
  • HETAS
  • NFRC
  • FENSA
  • TrustMark
  • Contractors / builders
  • FMB
  • Architects
  • RIBA
  • ARB (Under advanced, you can search by postcode)
  • Architectural Technologists
  • CIAT
  • Structural Engineers
  • The Institution of Structural Engineers
  • Party Wall Surveyors
  • FPWS
  • Use search engines like Google (you can also try Google Maps to see who pops up nearby)
  • Use other Internet search tools, such as:
  • Checkatrade
  • Rated People

For contractors, best to also read over our Finding Good Contractors page as it has more other information and tips with respect to finding good contractors, including tips on what checks you should do for those you shortlist.

For other professionals like architectural designers and structural engineers and so on, when it comes to actually considering hiring them, you should still be a little cautious as to who you hire. Things can go wrong due to problems with the designs. Take steps to check that they’re properly qualified and experienced. Check that they have professional insurance. You can also legitimately ask for examples of prior work as well as references.  

When you’ve worked through adding estimated costs for each of your items, including all client-provided items and professional fees, add a healthy contingency amount of at least 15-20% to the end of your table. It’s very tempting to omit this or convince yourself that you won’t need it. Be warned, it’s a virtual certainty that (1) you’ll have missed things, (2) actual costs will turn out higher overall and/or (3) there’ll be at least a few costly surprises along the way. If you’ve done a fantastic job with your budget planning and somehow everything does go super smoothly, fantastic. But, if you don’t factor in a contingency and costs do end up higher, hello Venezuela. 

Let’s use the loft conversion and ground floor kitchen extension project as an example again. 

The various figures we include below are rough as of 2022/2023, rounded, and loosely based on a Victorian terraced house dormer loft conversion within permitted development (so up to 40m3extra space) and a small ground floor rear extension type project in East London. As we said at the beginning of this page, figures will vary depending on a variety of factors, and potentially a lot, so while this table and its figures will be helpful, you need to spend the time working through each of your own items trying to cost them as accurately as you can. Ours are purely for illustrative purposes.

PRE-WORKS
ESTIMATED COST (£)
Drawings

Planning / architectural

 3,000.00

Structural

 2,000.00

Building Regs

 2,000.00

Drainage layout (incl'd in survey cost)

 —

Loft bathroom layout (DIY)

 —

Kitchen design (DIY)

 —

Electrical & heating (DIY)

 —
Surveyors

Property measured survey

 400.00

Drainage

 150.00
Party walls

Notices

 —

Schedule of condition

 —

Party wall surveyor

 2,000.00
Build over agreement fee 100.00
Planning fees

Lawful development certificate fee

 150.00

Household planning fee

 250.00

Building control fees

 1,300.00
Storage

Storage fees for 5 mths

 500.00

Insurance

 180.00

Moving van x 2

 200.00

Packing materials

 100.00

Lock for unit

 5.00
PRE-WORKS SUB-TOTAL
12,335.00
WORKS
Contractor / trades

Loft conversion to 2nd fix

 65,000.00

Extension to 2nd fix

 100,000.00

Painting & decorating labour

 9,000.00
Parking (£0.70ph x 3 vans av. x 8 hr av. x 5 days av. x 18 wks) 1,512.00
Client provided items - Loft

Glazing - skylights

Velux x 3

 2,400.00

Flat roof x 2

 2,200.00

Glazing - other

PVC casement x 2

 1,100.00

Blinds

Velux blinds x 3

 200.00

Roller blinds x 2

 300.00

Electrics - Sockets

2-gang (MK white) x 8

 24.00

Shaver (MK white) x 1

 12.00

Electrics - Switches

1-gang 1 way dimmers (Varilight white) x 3

 43.20

Fan isolator x 1

 4.50

Switched fused spur x 1

 9.20

Electrics - Lighting

Downlights (white warm aurora) x 18

 360.00

Electrics - Other

Extractor fan with timer

 50.00

Smoke alarm (mains)

 25.00

CO detector (mains)

 70.00

Radiators

Convector rads (0.6m x 2m) x 2

 140.00

Towel rad (0.5m x 1m) x 1

 90.00

TRVs x 3

 75.00

Internal doors

FD30 4 panel doors x 2

 420.00

Regular 4 panel door x 1

 115.00

Handles x 3

 48.00

Hinges (6 x fire door, 2 x reg)

 68.00

Tubular mortice latches x 3

 15.00

Bathroom

Toilet

 200.00

Sink

 100.00

Sink waste, plug & overflow

 80.00

Sink tap

 150.00

Shower tray

 280.00

Shower waste

 50.00

Shower screen & fittings

 380.00

Shower basket

 60.00

Shower brassware (head, hose, etc)

 400.00

Bath

 350.00

Bath waste, plug & overflow

 90.00

Bath tap

 280.00

Vanity unit

 500.00

Mirror

 160.00

Towel ring

 60.00

Toilet roll holder

 50.00

Robe hooks

 40.00

Tiles

 1,000.00

Trim

 50.00

Grout

 30.00

Bedroom, landing & stairs flooring

Underlay, Carpet & Threshold bars

 2,200.00

Paint

Woodwork primer & undercoat (white)

 20.00

Woodwork topcoat (white)

 40.00

Ceilings mist & undercoat (white)

 50.00

Ceilings topcoat (white)

 110.00

Walls mist & undercoat (white)

 100.00

Walls topcoat (white)

 240.00
Client provided items - Extension

Glazing

Bi-fold doors (3m x 2.2m)

 4,000.00

Flat roof skylights (1m x 2m) x 2

3,000.00

Blinds

Roller x 1

500.00

Electrics - Sockets

2-gang (MK white) x 8

 24.00

Electrics - Switches

2-gang 2-way rockers (MK white) x 2

 8.00

1-gang 1-way rocker (external lights) x 1

 2.10

Cooker (MK white) x 1

 6.00

Switched fused spur (MK white)

 18.40

Electrics - Lighting

Downlights (white warm aurora) x 10

 200.00

External wall lights x 2

 150.00

Electrics - Other

Smoke alarm (mains)

 25.00

Heat alarm (mains)

 60.00

Radiators (N/A - UFH provided by plumber, in contractor cost)

 —

Internal doors

FD30 4 panel x 1

 210.00

Kitchen

Base units (w/ legs), wall units, oven unit, pull out unit, doors, drawers, plinth, cornice, pelmet, panels

 7,000.00

Hardware (handles for drawers & doors)

 350.00

Worktop (quartz)

 3,000.00

Sink

 300.00

Sink waste, plug & overflow

 70.00

Tap

 400.00

Buil-in hob

 600.00

Double oven

 800.00

Extractor hood

 400.00

Built-in microwave

 400.00

Fridge / freezer

 1,000.00

Washing machine

 500.00

Dishwasher

 400.00

Flooring

Tiles

 2,000.00

Grout

 100.00

Paint

Woodwork primer & undercoat (white)

 25.00

Woodwork topcoat (white)

 25.00

Ceilings mist & undercoat (white)

 20.00

Ceilings topcoat (white)

 60.00

Walls mist & undercoat (white)

 30.00

Walls topcoat (white)

 120.00
WORKS SUB-TOTAL
216,154.40
POST-WORKS

Furniture

Kitchen table

 1,200.00

Kitchen table chairs x 8

 480.00

Breakfast bar stools x 3

 900.00

Parking (snagging) (£0.70 per hr x 2 vans per 6 hr day av. x 3 days av. x 2 wks)

 50.40
POST-WORKS SUB-TOTAL
2,630.40
Contingency (20%) 46,223.96
TOTAL
 277,343.76

STEP 4 — Adjust until you’re happy or shelve your project plans

When you’re done listing in detail everything that is likely to cost you money and you’ve at least gotten good estimated pricings or ranges for each, you’ll have the total estimated cost. You’ll also be able to tally up whatever sub-totals that might be useful. 

If your total is higher than your expected or preferred upper limit, you’ll need to adjust your project plans in light of budget costs. That may simply entail replacing a few of the more expensive client-provided items with less costly options. It might require a more significant overhaul though. Perhaps you just can’t afford to add a downstairs toilet to the new extension, for example, and you need to simplify build plans. It’s best to reconsider plans and rebalance costs as needed before your project gets fully underway. You’ll likely continue reconsidering and rebalancing, to a lesser degree, as things progress also.

Often you can find ways to reduce costs and still effectively get the overall result you want, albeit with a few adjustments or small concessions. If your total budget figure is far beyond your upper limit though, and you can’t find ways to adjust plans and reduce costs in a palatable way, you may need to consider putting on the brakes until you can raise more finances or potentially even abandoning your project altogether. If it comes to that, sorry, it’ll no doubt be very disappointing. On the upside, having gone through the budget process and knowing that it’s untenable in advance of getting locked into various contracts will save you from having to abandon your life in the UK for a remote town in Venezuela (unless of course that remote town in Venezuela sounds good, in which case, maybe that ends up being a better outcome anyway).

If you can proceed, and you get to the point of finalising project plans and your budget, you can add a couple of new columns to your budget entitled “actual cost” and “difference”. As the project progresses, you should enter actual costs and whatever the difference is between those and the budgeted costs. You’ll then be able to monitor real world costs against your projected costs and, if need be, continue to reconsider and rebalance things to keep within the budget. Yes, that means if you discover that you’ve spent more than you’d expected on beautiful high-end bathroom tiles because they’re just so pretty you can’t imagine bathing in a room without them, then you might have to forgo the hand forged copper bathtub in favour of something within budget or find another way to reduce costs elsewhere. Good luck.

PRE-WORKS
ESTIMATED COST (£)
ACTUAL COST (£)
DIFFERENCE (£)
Drawings

Planning / architectural

 3,000.00

Structural

 2,000.00

Building Regs

 2,000.00

Drainage layout (incl'd in survey cost)

 —

Loft bathroom layout (DIY)

 —

Kitchen design (DIY)

 —

Electrical & heating (DIY)

 —
Surveyors

Property measured survey

 400.00

Drainage

 150.00
Party walls

Notices

 —

Schedule of condition

 —

Party wall surveyor

 2,000.00
Build over agreement fee 100.00
Planning fees

Lawful development certificate fee

 150.00

Household planning fee

 250.00

Building control fees

 1,300.00
Storage

Storage fees for 5 mths

 500.00

Insurance

 180.00

Moving van x 2

 200.00

Packing materials

 100.00

Lock for unit

 5.00
PRE-WORKS SUB-TOTAL
12,335.00
WORKS
Contractor / trades

Loft conversion to 2nd fix

 65,000.00

Extension to 2nd fix

 100,000.00

Painting & decorating labour

 9,000.00
Parking (£0.70ph x 3 vans av. x 8 hr av. x 5 days av. x 18 wks) 1,512.00
Client provided items - Loft

Glazing - skylights

Velux x 3

 2,400.00

Flat roof x 2

 2,200.00

Glazing - other

PVC casement x 2

 1,100.00

Blinds

Velux blinds x 3

 200.00

Roller blinds x 2

 300.00

Electrics - Sockets

2-gang (MK white) x 8

 24.00

Shaver (MK white) x 1

 12.00

Electrics - Switches

1-gang 1 way dimmers (Varilight white) x 3

 43.20

Fan isolator x 1

 4.50

Switched fused spur x 1

 9.20

Electrics - Lighting

Downlights (white warm aurora) x 18

 360.00

Electrics - Other

Extractor fan with timer

 50.00

Smoke alarm (mains)

 25.00

CO detector (mains)

 70.00

Radiators

Convector rads (0.6m x 2m) x 2

 140.00

Towel rad (0.5m x 1m) x 1

 90.00

TRVs x 3

 75.00

Internal doors

FD30 4 panel doors x 2

 420.00

Regular 4 panel door x 1

 115.00

Handles x 3

 48.00

Hinges (6 x fire door, 2 x reg)

 68.00

Tubular mortice latches x 3

 15.00

Bathroom

Toilet

 200.00

Sink

 100.00

Sink waste, plug & overflow

 80.00

Sink tap

 150.00

Shower tray

 280.00

Shower waste

 50.00

Shower screen & fittings

 380.00

Shower basket

 60.00

Shower brassware (head, hose, etc)

 400.00

Bath

 350.00

Bath waste, plug & overflow

 90.00

Bath tap

 280.00

Vanity unit

 500.00

Mirror

 160.00

Towel ring

 60.00

Toilet roll holder

 50.00

Robe hooks

 40.00

Tiles

 1,000.00

Trim

 50.00

Grout

 30.00

Bedroom, landing & stairs flooring

Underlay, Carpet & Threshold bars

 2,200.00

Paint

Woodwork primer & undercoat (white)

 20.00

Woodwork topcoat (white)

 40.00

Ceilings mist & undercoat (white)

 50.00

Ceilings topcoat (white)

 110.00

Walls mist & undercoat (white)

 100.00

Walls topcoat (white)

 240.00
Client provided items - Extension

Glazing

Bi-fold doors (3m x 2.2m)

 4,000.00

Flat roof skylights (1m x 2m) x 2

3,000.00

Blinds

Roller x 1

500.00

Electrics - Sockets

2-gang (MK white) x 8

 24.00

Electrics - Switches

2-gang 2-way rockers (MK white) x 2

 8.00

1-gang 1-way rocker (external lights) x 1

 2.10

Cooker (MK white) x 1

 6.00

Switched fused spur (MK white)

 18.40

Electrics - Lighting

Downlights (white warm aurora) x 10

 200.00

External wall lights x 2

 150.00

Electrics - Other

Smoke alarm (mains)

 25.00

Heat alarm (mains)

 60.00

Radiators (N/A - UFH provided by plumber, in contractor cost)

 —

Internal doors

FD30 4 panel x 1

 210.00

Kitchen

Base units (w/ legs), wall units, oven unit, pull out unit, doors, drawers, plinth, cornice, pelmet, panels

 7,000.00

Hardware (handles for drawers & doors)

 350.00

Worktop (quartz)

 3,000.00

Sink

 300.00

Sink waste, plug & overflow

 70.00

Tap

 400.00

Buil-in hob

 600.00

Double oven

 800.00

Extractor hood

 400.00

Built-in microwave

 400.00

Fridge / freezer

 1,000.00

Washing machine

 500.00

Dishwasher

 400.00

Flooring

Tiles

 2,000.00

Grout

 100.00

Paint

Woodwork primer & undercoat (white)

 25.00

Woodwork topcoat (white)

 25.00

Ceilings mist & undercoat (white)

 20.00

Ceilings topcoat (white)

 60.00

Walls mist & undercoat (white)

 30.00

Walls topcoat (white)

 120.00
WORKS SUB-TOTAL
216,154.40
POST-WORKS

Furniture

Kitchen table

 1,200.00

Kitchen table chairs x 8

 480.00

Breakfast bar stools x 3

 900.00

Parking (snagging) (£0.70 per hr x 2 vans per 6 hr day av. x 3 days av. x 2 wks)

 50.40
POST-WORKS SUB-TOTAL
2,630.40
Contingency (20%) 46,223.96
TOTAL
 277,343.76
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