Whenever I hear that someone’s building project has gone over budget, I worry about where the extra cash will come from. Let’s face it, a budget is set for each task because that’s the amount you have available to spend on it – otherwise the budget would be bigger, right?
So, if the costs spiral out of control, how on earth can you cover it and finish the project? I’d just be left with a big hole in my home if the allocated money ran out – there would be no extra cash available to bump up the budget.
This is why I believe it’s important to work out your costs for materials and labour in advance, before you start work on any project in your home. Whether it’s a new roof installation or simply decorating a room, let’s get a handle on the figures involved before picking up any tools.
Re-roofing your home
One of the most important building projects you can do on your house is repairing or replacing the roof. Without the roof, you’re not going to have much of a house left after a while! It not only keeps you warm and dry inside your home, it also protects the walls, interior and insulation from weather damage.
So, if you need to carry out building work on your roof, you want to make sure you can afford to complete it thoroughly. No one wants a tarpaulin covering a hole in their roof while they save up to finish the job, right Thankfully, there are roofing calculators online that can help you to figure out the potential costs involved, based on the size, type of roofing material and local trades.
An easy to use calculator can give you a quick result using an AI-powered estimate or you can use a manual calculator to discover the area and angle of your roof for an accurate estimate of square footage, which you can then get quotes for. Remember, you should always get a professional to carry out any work on your roof – it’s a dangerous task and should NOT be DIY’d.
Knowing the dimensions and potential costs of your re-roofing project prevents you from starting something that you can’t afford to finish. Be sure to get quotes from multiple local installers and see which one provides the best service that you’re most comfortable with, rather than being the cheapest; you want it to be completed in a professional manner, after all.
Building an extension
Under the current permitted development rules, it’s often possible to add new rooms to your home without needing to go through a lengthy planning process. That said, you DO always need to check if your project is suitable and can be legally done, so make sure you check with your local planning office before you start any building work.
If it IS possible to build an extension on your current home, this can be a cost-effective way to get a bigger home without having to move house, which can often have hidden costs you should consider before putting your home on the market.
There’s a rough rule to calculate the cost of an extension via the square metres you’ll gain, which is around £1500-3000 per m², depending on the location of your home and the quality of materials you plan to use. Luckily, there are also calculators online that can give you a pricing guide for the type of extension you want to build.
And don’t just consider the build cost when working out your budget: you’ll need to decorate the interior, too. You’ll need flooring, paint, light fixtures, window treatments, furniture and even soft furnishings, so add them all to the budget spreadsheet to get a final cost before you decide if an extension is for you.
Installation tasks you can do yourself
Of course, it’s possible to DIY some elements of your home if you’ve got the time and the skills to do so. You can install kitchen cabinets, some types of flooring, built-in storage, tiling your bathroom renovation and more with just a bit of know-how and enthusiasm!
If you’re able to do these tasks yourself, you can certainly achieve some lovely interior looks when you’re working to a budget. Often, the cost of labour is the highest part of a project, so tackling the tasks that you can do yourself may save money.
This then gives you more budget available to get a plumber to finish off the project by plumbing in the kitchen sink or installing the bathroom suite after you’ve done your part of the job. This is the approach we took when renovating our kitchen.
We didn’t have enough budget for labour but we knew we could build flat-pack furniture so we put together the units and installed them ourselves. This was after having removed the old units (another labour-saving task), filled and painted the walls, installed the flooring and tiled the splashback.
We were even able to install the worktop, sink, taps and appliances – it was just the process of connecting these items to the water, electricity and gas supply where you would definitely need a professional to come in to complete the job. So that’s only a couple of hours spent on labour rather than days – or even weeks.
I hope these tips will help you to work out the budget for your next building project and I hope you’ll be able to minimise those costs by taking on some of the tasks yourself. Let me know in the comments below if you’ve managed to save money by tackling some DIY jobs in your own home, I’d love to hear your hacks for renovating your interior on a budget.
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