Our House Under The Hammer - £30,000 Refurb Uncut

So, I'm 32 but I've been retired for 4 months now. It's a mini-retirement covering all of 2016 and probably some or all of 2017 - we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I discussed the details of how and why I decided to retire in my last post.

One of my retirement project was buying the house that we will hopefully live in for the next 10 to 18 years, although don't quote me on that because I have a tendency of getting bored of houses and wanting to move on. 

We made an offer at the end of Jan and the transaction completed on 31-March-2016 bang in time to help us avoid an extra £9,000 in stamp duty tax. eeek! The new tax rule went into effect on 1-April-2016 and it essentially says that if you buy a house whilst you own a previous a home you need to pay an extra 3% in tax.

Anyhow, here is the video of the refurb and because someone always asks, I give a breakdown of costs below. 

Necklace by Stella & Dot - obtained from ChikoM's store

Builder: Nicu (Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham): 07758 947830​

Refurb Costs & Items, links below

If you want to buy a house to let out or you don't plan on living there long you'd probably spend less than we did because you don't have to go for top notch everything and you don't need extras like instant hot water taps and underfloor heating. Those would just eat your profit margin without adding any real value.

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COSTS OF REFURB

To view this list properly you need to look at the desktop version. It won't show well in the mobile version. I've hyperlinked some of the products in case you want to get the same stuff.

​I know £32,000 disappeared from our bank account during this refurb but I can only account for about £30,500. There must be one large ticket item I'm forgetting.

Labour

Installing new kitchen including plastering
​
Downstairs toilet + tiling of family bathroom

Guest bathroom refurb

Hallway tiling

First floor landing laminating
​
Underfloor heating 3 rooms
​
Plastering and flooring 2 small rooms
​
Chimney breast and plastering master bedroom

Utility + front room, reinsulating + wood treatment

Painting all walls & doors plus radiators + wallpapering 2 walls

Cleaning gutters

Painting utility exterior

​Paving the patio

Cutting hedges

Fixing felt of the garden shed

Skirting

Architraves

Laminating+skirting living room & dining room

Custom shelves

All new lighting and rewiring

​Underfloor heating malfunction

£2,200

£950
​
£1,350

​£200
​
£180
​
£600

​£1,000
​
£800
​
£200

£1,700

£70

£90

£850

£30

0

£240

£50

0

£150

£910

£360

£11,930 TOTAL LABOUR COST

​Three Bathrooms:

Back to wall toilet

900mm quadrant shower with 8mm glass + stone tray + waste

Shower head

Toilets x 2

Semi-pedestal basin

Compact basin and unit

Tap

2 toilet roll holders + 2 towel holders

​Mirror for guest bedroom

£76

£330

£108

£240

£30

£108

£60

£34

​£52

£1,039 BATHROOM TOTAL

Flooring:

Laminate - min57.5sqm (29 boxes) - 60sqm

Laminate - 2 more boxes

Underlay (c.120 sqm)

Underfloor heating in kitchen and bathrooms (ProWarm)

Tiles - floor - Kitchen, Utility, Bathrooms

Tiles - wall, plus 5sqm hexagon harmony

​Carpet - two bedroom and stairs

£750

£67

£203

£1,187

£935

£483
​
£1,250

£4,875 FLOORING TOTAL

​New Kitchen:

B&Q Kitchen

Appliances Online - fridge, washing machine, tumble dryer

Built in microwave

Sink 1 - Franke Inset Kitchen Sink S/Steel

Bin

Soft close drawers 500mm

​More soft close drawers x 4

£4,483

£961

£270

£259

£70

£147

​£78

£6,267 KITCHEN TOTAL

​Lights

Lounge/playroom

Dining

Master

2 small rooms

Landings x 4

Kitchen

Utility + downstairs toilet

Family bathroom

​Living room

​Lights, sockets, switches from Screwfix

£50

£15

£15

£30

£48

£20

£30

£18

£56

£341

£623 LIGHTING TOTAL

​Garden:

Paving stones - 40sqm
​
More slabs - 5sqm (eBay cheaper, delivery rapid too)

£1,195
​
£145

​
​Sundry materials, paints, wallpaper, materials:

​Paint and wallpaper - B&Q Trip 1

Various receipts from Nicu for inputs

Various receipts from Nicu for inputs 2

Various receipts from Nicu for inputs 3

Skip 1

Skip 2

Skip 3

16 coat/towel hooks

Fixing of boiler (replaced fan and panel)

​Various receipts from Nicu for inputs 4

£99

£792

£590

£530

£325

£180

£95

£25

£400

​£140

​Other furniture

2 Toddler beds

Silver rug from Dunelm

Kallax storage solution from Ikea + floor lamp

Yellow stag

Bed - Super King

​Mattress

£200

£220

£293

£39

£260

​£320

​£1,331 TOTAL FURNITURE

GRAND TOTAL:  £30,582

Notes - items included in the kitchen price

Tap 1a
Tap 1b - hot water
Sink 2
Tap 2
Oven
Hob
Dishwasher
Larder system - 600m tall
Larder system - 300m base
Extractor
Washing machine
Tumble dryer
Fridge

£97
£398
£98
£98
£221
£247
£315
£272
£62
£195
£299
£226
£428