How to Budget a Property Renovation: Room-by-Room Cost Breakdown
2026-08-22
Why Renovation Budgets Blow Out
The number one reason renovation budgets overrun isn't bad contractors or unexpected problems. It's vague specifications. When your brief to a builder is "modernise the kitchen," you'll get a price that means different things to different people. One quotes £4,000 for new doors and worktops. Another quotes £12,000 for a full rip-out with new appliances. Both are right. Neither is what you expected.
The fix is a detailed room-by-room specification before you get a single quote. Specify every surface, fitting, and finish. Not because you're being obsessive, but because ambiguity is where cost overruns live.
The Three Tiers of Renovation
Before diving into room costs, understand where your project sits:
- Light refresh (£5,000-£15,000): Paint throughout, new flooring, update light fittings, possibly new kitchen doors and worktop. Structure stays. Layout stays. Bathrooms stay.
- Moderate refurb (£15,000-£40,000): New kitchen, new bathroom(s), replastering, new flooring, redecoration, potentially new windows or boiler. Some layout changes possible.
- Full renovation (£40,000-£80,000+): Strip to bare shell. New everything: kitchen, bathrooms, electrics, plumbing, heating, plastering, flooring, decoration. Possible layout changes, extensions, or loft conversion.
Most buy-to-let renovations fall into the moderate tier. Full renovations are typically BRRR or flip projects where the uplift in value justifies the spend.
Kitchen Costs
The kitchen is usually the single most expensive room. Here's the breakdown:
Budget BTL Kitchen (£3,500-£6,000)
- Units (flat-pack, contractor fitted): £1,200-£2,000
- Worktop (laminate): £300-£500
- Sink and taps: £150-£300
- Tiling (splashback only): £200-£400
- Flooring (LVT): £300-£500
- Appliances (oven, hob, extractor): £600-£1,000
- Labour (fit kitchen, plumbing, electrics): £1,000-£1,500
Mid-Range Kitchen (£6,000-£12,000)
- Units (rigid, soft-close): £2,500-£4,500
- Worktop (quartz or solid surface): £1,000-£2,500
- Sink, tap, waste disposal: £300-£600
- Full wall tiling or glass splashback: £400-£800
- Flooring (quality LVT or tiles): £500-£800
- Integrated appliances: £1,500-£2,500
- Labour: £1,500-£2,500
Bathroom Costs
Budget Bathroom (£2,000-£4,000)
- Suite (toilet, basin, bath or shower tray): £400-£800
- Shower (electric or mixer): £150-£400
- Screen or curtain: £50-£200
- Tiling (bath panel and splash areas): £300-£600
- Flooring (vinyl or LVT): £150-£300
- Accessories (towel rail, mirror, toilet roll holder): £100-£200
- Labour (plumbing, tiling, fitting): £1,000-£1,800
Mid-Range Bathroom (£4,000-£8,000)
- Suite (wall-hung, back-to-wall): £800-£1,500
- Thermostatic shower with rain head: £400-£800
- Frameless glass screen: £300-£600
- Full floor-to-ceiling tiling: £600-£1,200
- Heated towel rail: £150-£300
- Illuminated mirror cabinet: £150-£400
- Labour: £1,500-£3,000
Bedroom Costs
Bedrooms are the cheapest rooms to renovate. A standard bedroom refresh:
- Replastering (if needed): £400-£700
- Decoration (2 coats emulsion, woodwork gloss): £200-£400
- Flooring (carpet or LVT): £250-£500
- New internal door (if needed): £150-£250 fitted
- Light fitting: £20-£80
- New sockets/switches (chrome or brushed steel): £100-£200
Total per bedroom: £700-£1,800. For a 3-bed property, that's £2,100-£5,400 for all bedrooms.
Common Areas (Hallway, Stairs, Landing)
- Replastering hallway and stairs: £600-£1,200
- Decoration: £300-£600
- Flooring (hard-wearing LVT or carpet): £400-£800
- Banister (sand and paint or replace spindles): £200-£600
- Front door upgrade: £500-£1,500
- Smoke alarms (interlinked, hard-wired): £300-£600
Total: £1,500-£4,500.
The Items That Catch You Out
Every renovation has costs that don't fit neatly into a room. These are the line items that blow budgets because they weren't in the specification:
- Consumer unit upgrade: £400-£800. Required if the existing board is old or doesn't have RCBOs. Often flagged during the EICR.
- Boiler replacement: £2,500-£4,500. If the boiler is over 12 years old, budget for it. It will fail during tenancy if you don't replace it now.
- Damp treatment: £500-£3,000 depending on severity and method. Rising damp needs a DPC injection. Penetrating damp needs external repair first.
- Window replacement: £3,000-£8,000 for a whole property. Double glazing is increasingly expected by tenants and may be required for EPC compliance.
- Skip hire: £200-£350 per skip. A full renovation can generate 3-5 skips of waste.
- Building control fees: £300-£800 if structural work requires sign-off.
The Specification Is the Budget
Every cost listed above has a range. The difference between the low end and the high end of a full renovation can be £30,000. The specification eliminates that ambiguity.
Write down exactly what you want in every room: the type of flooring, the style of kitchen units, whether the walls need replastering or just painting, which rooms get new radiators and which keep existing ones. Then give that specification to three contractors. The quotes will be within 10-15% of each other because they're pricing the same thing.
Without a specification, you're comparing quotes for different projects. With one, you're comparing value for money. That's the difference between a renovation that comes in on budget and one that doesn't.