What Do Renovations Cost?

When you're doing up your home, there's a long list of jobs to be done. It's easy to remember the obvious tasks - stripping wallpaper and putting up a new design, for example. But there are a whole lot of small but essential tasks necessary in every room, and they're easy to forget when you're planning the work. Use our guide to make sure everything's included when you're DIYing and bringing in tradespeople, and all the jobs are completed in the right order.

By Sarah Warwick

Before You Start

In your haste to get cracking on renovations, don't forget that forward planning is vital to the success of your project. These are the areas to consider:

Do It Once, Save Money
Work should be done in one go. You'll save time, money, and they'll be less disruption if all the plumbing, all the electrical work and so on across the whole house, or the part of the house you're working on, is completed as one job rather than piecemeal.

Ensure You Conform To Regs
Renovations need to conform to the building regulations. These cover areas such as structure, fire safety, ventilation, hygiene, drainage and waste, access to the building, energy conservation, electrical safety, and so on. If you undertake the work, then you are responsible for its complying with them. If you employ a builder, confirm that he or she will be responsible for compliance but remember that it's still important for you to know what's required because as the building owner you'll be putting things right if there's a problem. If you're working with an architect, he or she will also be up to date on the current regulations.

The building regulations will stipulate when you need to fit fire doors. For buildings of historic interest, some variation is allowed. For example, if you convert the loft, and the doors on the stairway that creates the escape route in the event of a fire are of historical merit, you may be able to keep them or upgrade them. Speak to the building control officer and conservation officer at your local authority for guidance on your home.

Levels of insulation are also covered by building regulations, but once again for historic or conservation area buildings, consult your local authority.

Find Out More About Regulations

You can find out more about the building regulations at the government's website. Follow the link on applying for building regulations approval, and you'll be taken to your local council site for information and contacts. You can also download pdfs of the regulations from the government's planning portal.

In Scotland, visit the Scottish government site, and in Northern Ireland go towww.dfpni.gov.uk, and in both use the search to get to building regulations.

Is There A DPC?

Very old buildings were not built with a damp-proof course (DPC). However, this may not be a problem providing the building can 'breathe'. For a historic home, the building regulations state that the aim of improving the building's resistance to moisture should not be prejudicial to its character, or increase its long-term deterioration. Always take the advice of your local planning authority's conservation officer. Find out more about the construction and breathability of old buildings from The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.

Get Quotations

Quotations from the tradespeople you're thinking of employing are necessary. Get three for each trade, and take up references by speaking to previous customers, and looking at the work if possible. Don't employ people on a day rate as you won't be able to control your budget. Be extremely wary of anyone who asks for total payment up front.

Consider Timing

We've given guidelines to approximately how long work might take, but the timings will of course vary widely depending on your property, and any difficulties encountered when work begins, so use them as a starting point only not a definitive indication.

Other Major Work

If the survey of the property has shown up any issues with damp and woodworm, it's vital to deal with these before you commence other work.

You also need to work on the exterior as necessary before you renovate the interior otherwise a leaky roof could ruin your newly beautiful rooms. Likewise, the garden should come last (assuming access is possible) after you've finished using it as a builder's yard.