Renovating your house cheaply may seem difficult to do. Believe it or not, it’s easier than ever. I know because I’ve done it with a combination of my own sweat and tears and by hiring some skilled tradesmen here and there. The trick is to know when you need people and when you don’t. It’s also about finding good alternatives for expensive jobs and reducing your costs wherever you see an opportunity.
So how can you renovate your home cheaply and efficiently?
- Find as many problems as you can & then make a plan
- Prioritize your expensive jobs and find cheaper alternatives
- Use Laborers and independent builders – They’re cheaper
- Take on some jobs yourself
- Don’t spend money where you don’t need to
- Shop around!
It really is as simple as that. If you plan your renovation tasks properly, and look at what jobs you can do you can save a ton of money. We’re really fortunate to live in an age with so much information at our fingertips. You might as well use it. Anyway, let’s go into these points in a bit more detail.
1. Find as many problems as you can & then make a plan
It’s worth inspecting your place for any surprises you may not already be aware of. Pre-empt as many problems as you can.
Here’s a few things you can do to find issues:
- Flick all of the switches on and off throughout the house (If your lights are flickering it could be a sign of faulty wiring)
- Turn all the radiators on, and check if they heat up as expected
- Run all of the taps and see if you see any water leaking anywhere
- Check for any rotten floorboards
Even if you discover these problems, but don’t know what to do, don’t. Discovering things early is great. It means you can avoid any unnecessary expense, undoing any work that you have paid for. At this point, consult professional tradesmen, but also watch youtube videos and google things where you can as well.
Planning how you’re going to tackle your house is one of the most important tasks that you can do when taking on a house that needs a lot of work. Hopefully, you’ve got the information you need to make a plan now.
In terms of what order to renovate your house in terms of electrics, plumbing, decorating, etc I’ve written a post on renovating your home with no experience, that can help you to decide what order to get your jobs done.
Some problems you can fix yourself with a quick YouTube tutorial. A great example of that is bleeding your radiators if you’ve never done it before. It’s a simple job that can be easily be done without getting a professional involved.
Prioritize your expensive jobs and find cheaper alternatives
Some jobs are very expensive and unavoidable, block paving your driveway being an example. Other jobs though can be avoided potentially, e.g. plastering or re-skimming your walls. I decided to wallpaper my house myself after removing the wallpaper and I literally saved myself thousands.
Deciding to use lining paper in your home can be just as effective once your wallpaper is removed and look great too.
If your wallpaper is smooth, you may even be able to wallpaper over it.
It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Completely removing wallpaper is necessary a lot of the time, but if you can avoid it, you can save yourself time and money.
Not to mention tasks filling in cracks in the plaster, sanding, and dusting. Here’s a post I wrote on wallpapering over old wallpaper if you want to know more about it.
Assess whether existing features and fittings in your home can be refurbished or upcycled). This would include the following items:
- Existing Doors – New paint and new handles may do the trick
- Existing wooden fixtures e.g window sills. Stripping them down and re-painting them can look great too.
- Any fitted wardrobes– Rather than replacing everything, If you just replace the doors and handles, they can look brand new.
Use Laborers, and independent builders – They’re cheaper
Using independent builders, labourers can seriously save you money and the quality of work is often great.
It’s so easy to call a building contractor, who can come over, offer to do everything, and then slap you with a big bill. You can just forget about your house until it’s been renovated.
Getting independent builders, electricians, and plumbers for the jobs that you can’t do yourself is much more cost-efficient. You do need to be more specific about what jobs you want doing, and you need to forward plan.
If you have a plasterer come in before you get your electrical work done, you could have a situation where your electrician will have to tear through your nice new walls, to cable any wires. You then need to call your plasterer in again costing you more money.
You also have to think ahead when it comes to appliances. A good example of this is a boiler that needs gas, electricity, and water to function. So if you have an electrician doing work in your home first, you need to make sure the necessary electrics are available in the room you want to fit the boiler.
Only if the electrical connections are there can the boiler be fitted correctly.
Getting jobs done in the correct order is so important as already mentioned in my post on renovating your home with no experience.
When I was renovating my current home I was tempted to hire a contractor, believe me. I was getting married that year too and changing jobs! My reality was that I just couldn’t afford it, and looking back I’m glad that I couldn’t.
The savings and amount I’ve learned is crazy! You realise how much you can get ripped off.
Where do you find independent tradesmen?
We’re in the age of the internet. You can use websites like ratedpeople.com to find independent tradesmen who often have reviews, which can work great. I found my electrician using this website.
There are other channels too. Find out if your local community has an online forum. People often share details of independent tradesmen that they have worked with. This is super useful if you can find someone this way as they are already recommended, and it’s likely that they are local to you as well.
Also just ask people about recommended people wherever you go. I find that the best tradesmen, often don’t advertise that much because of the quality of their work and the number of recommendations they get.
I found my plasterer on a recommendation in a kitchen showroom for instance.
Take on some DIY jobs yourself
Taking on jobs when renovating your house is an awesome learning opportunity to learn useful skills for the rest of your life. Seriously. Getting people round to do some jobs is so convenient, but unnecessary a lot of the time.
DIY Jobs, you could do yourself with the help of a YouTube video. Here are some quick and easy examples:
- Fitting a toilet – It literally slots in and comes with a manual
- Fitting a Bathroom Sink and Taps. If the plumbing is there it’s pretty simple
- Fitting lights and Light switches – switch off your main electric supply and its super easy changing these
- Drilling in fixtures and fittings, e.g toilet roll holders. Super easy job, and simple enough to do. Here’s a post we wrote that serves as a good guide on fitting a toilet roll holder
Collectively, doing these activities yourself have save you ALOT of money. You may be tempted to take on some of the bigger jobs yourself. Just be careful with this.
You want to save money, but you don’t want to lose time either. The trade-off between time and money is delicate. Just make sure you’re comfortable with it. The DIY jobs below take more time, but you can do them yourself.
- Coving – Can take time but it’s doable. Here’s a post I wrote on plaster or polystyrene coving if you’re looking to know more.
- Hanging a door – Can take time, but again can be done. Here’s a post I wrote on which side should a door open into a room if you want to know what’s involved
- Skirting Boards – Can be very time consuming, especially if you have not done it before. When to fit your skirting is an important consideration. If you are getting laminate or hardwood flooring here’s a post I wrote on choosing between skirting or beading that you may find useful before you fit it.
If you have the luxury of time by all means give these jobs a go. You’ll gain a skill and save money. If however, you are time constrained, it may be useful to get tradesmen in to get these jobs done quickly.
Don’t spend money where you don’t need to
Be careful where you spend your money on a renovation project. I’m not talking about expensive fixtures and fittings. If you’re living in the place you’re renovating then great, that’s where your money should be going.
Don’t spend unnecessary money on:
Rubbish skips, if you can easily take the rubbish to your local waste disposal center yourself.
Jobs that don’t require your immediate attention. Spending money on your garden for example, before you have done up your house doesn’t really make any sense. all of your efforts should be at your house, to begin with.
Tradesmen to do small quick DIY jobs you can do yourself as already mentioned.
Avoid buying furniture before you have renovated your home. It’s tempting to buy things and store them for when you have done up your home. As mentioned in our article on Open Plan Home: Getting Rid of Your Hall Way or Adjoining Walls article, find out what furniture you need rather than what you want.
If you buy things and store them in your house that you are renovating, you also run the risk of damaging them as well. It’s not worth it.
Costs just spring up on you, so it’s best to get the structural work done first.
Shop around!
When it comes to buying the big-ticket items like your bathroom, your kitchen, your boiler your radiators, it’s really important to get the possible deal.
Particularly when it comes to your kitchen, get as many quotes as possible and then challenge the retail suppliers to give your their best offer including all of associated fitting services that they offer.
Look online for lesser known kitchen suppliers with good reviews online. You can save a fortune by ‘taking a chance’ on them.
Kitchen retailers like Wickes sell individual kitchen cabinets and worktops, allowing you to design your own kitchen. If you can find a competent kitchen fitter, you may be able to save yourself money there as well.
Related Questions
What renovations will increase home value the most?
In my experience, newly fitted kitchens and bathrooms have the biggest impact on your house value. Getting your double glazing done if not already done will also have a big impact.
When it comes to selling your home, a open plan layout can give a feeling of space. I removed the hallway in my home to increase my living room space, which I think makes it considerably more appealing.
Having a well maintained garden also helps.
What is the most expensive part of a kitchen renovation?
The purchasing of your kitchen cabinets is the most expensive part of a kitchen renovation without a doubt, making up the bulk of your costs.
One way to get around this cost is to change the worktops and the cabinet doors of your existing kitchen if structurally sound. You can have the look and feel of a brand new kitchen without spending the money doing it. Sounds pretty good right?
What unexpected renovation costs should I expect when fixing up a house?
There are costs that are unexpected and costs that are unaccounted for. Unexpected costs are related to those already mentioned in section 1 of this article – Find as many problems as you can & then make a plan. This includes potentially rotten floorboards, leaky pipework, and bad electrics for example.
But there are unaccounted costs that are often forgotten that you need to factor in. For instance, the cost of moving your things into storage if you are temporarily renting whilst you do your home up for example.
If you are living in your renovated house, and your existing kitchen isout of use, take away meals can seriously increase your costs. The devil is in the detail.
Is it more expensive to remodel or build?
A re-model is usually less expensive than completely rebuilding your home. On the other hand re-building, your home is usually more straightforward given that there are less unexpected surprises that you are likely to find.
Whether you re-model of renovating entirely depends on the structural integrity of your home. If for example, you have a roof, rotten floorboards, and supporting joists, it may be more straightforwrad to re-build.
Re-building a home, however, is often a luxury for the richer amongst us. If you have bought your existing home on a regular mortgage, it’s unlikely you’ll be allowed to tear down your home and re-build without taking on an expensive development loan.
So unless you own your home outright, i.e with no mortgage it’s usually not an option that you would want to take.
How can I get money to fix up my house?
If you are struggling to find the money to do up your house, get ready to hustle! Make sure you are taking advantage of all local grants available to you. If you are a low income earner, you make be eligible to get some essential works paid for.
Hopefully, you have cut back on luxury items where you can. If you need to take things a step further, it may be time to move in with family for a short period of time.
I lived with my aunt for 6 months at the end of my renovation project as I couldn’t afford my rent! It was great to re-connect with family and it really helped me out.
In Summary…
Renovating a house is an experience as well as another fulltime job should you choose to take it on. That being said it’s probably one of the most rewarding activities you can do in terms of your personal growth.
With all planning in the world, you will always find some unexpected surprises that will set you back slightly. That being said if you prioritize your expenditure correctly, it can help you prepare and pay for them accordingly.
Doing quick DIY jobs without calling tradesmen, is a must do to avoide oversepnding. Knowing the order to carryout activities also can help you avoid having to re-do activities in your home and overspending.
If you master all of these elements well, you’ll do well with your home renovation and avoid a load of unnecessary stress!
