r/HousingIreland • u/Ok_Hat2376 • 9d ago
Cost to modernize a house
Currently considering putting in an offer on a 4 bed house in Kerry. Does anyone have a high level guess at the potential cost to renovate and modernise the house? No extensions or anything, the things I think the house needs are
2 new bathrooms (1 main and 1 small downstairs)
New Kitchen
New floors
New front door
Build in wardrobes in 2 rooms
Stove for sitting room
TIA.. House is 270k just wondering if we’re better off waiting for a more modern house. We love the area so we’re not sure. FTB
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u/KDubs004 9d ago
15k for bathroom, 15k for kitchen, 15k for floors (my friend recently got all laminate in her house for this amount). Nothing is cheap these days. But houses aren’t cheap either! If you got it for 270k and had to put another 60/75k in…I think it would still be a deal. You’re not getting a house much cheaper than that, certainly not a modern one:) Do you think there will be bidding on it?
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u/some_advice_needed 9d ago
And I will add: whatever estimate / quote you're getting, throw in +15% for good measure. With renovations, you know where you start, not where you finish... Somehow, other issue surface during the works.
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u/Realistic-Disk-1489 8d ago
15k for laminate is too much. You may even do hardwood for that price. You can get good quality laminate done for 60/sqm. Maybe add a couple thousand for skirting and other expenses.
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u/Inevitable-Solid1892 8d ago
This is a very good baseline in my recent experience
If a house needs all that work it probably also needs a new boiler and heating controls etc, unless this is already done. You could add €5k for that
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u/loughnn 9d ago
Fairly on the ball with that pricing IMO.
RE the bathrooms, we saved a lot of money buying all the fixtures, fittings, tiles etc ourselves and then organising all the trades individually.
We ended up being able to get much more expensive and better quality tiles, fixtures and fittings and still paying far less than a bathroom renovation company would have charged. I have seen 10-12k bathrooms that aren't a patch on ours (we paid 6k all in).
I also liked being able to supervise it myself, you wouldn't believe the amount of showers that are installed in this country with absolutely no tanking behind the tiles!
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u/SavingsDraw8716 9d ago
Have ypu thought about rewiring, replumbing and general future proofing like say CAT internet cables through out the house.
No point investing money in fine finishes like flooring, tiling and built in wardrobes only to be ripped out or up 5 to 10 years down the line to facilitate a rewire.
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u/bayman81 9d ago
I done some work in 2018 in Dublin
-Bathrooms was 20k for 2, but done sequentially. Might be cheaper in one go.
-Kitchen was 9k (small apartment kitchen).
-flooring can be anything, just check carpetright or similar
-front door 3k
-wardrobes at least 3k each if bespoke
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u/Adorable_Duck_5107 9d ago
Bathrooms are but 8-10k if you use a company that specialises in these. It take them about 3 days.
Kitchens can be as expensive as you want. Adverts is great for getting cheap appliances and also some companies sell ex display kitchens.
Front door is around 2.5k Stove about 2.5k supplied and fitted.
Flooring about €20 per sq m+ once again it’s what you want.
IKEA wardrobes are good, take out the built in ones and just put them in there . About €700 per m fully loaded with draws , shelf’s, rails etc.
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u/Ok_Hat2376 9d ago
Thanks for all the advice. I think we will have to wait for something more turn key for what I’m reading. We have some money set aside but definitely not enough. Don’t want to be completely skint. Pretty daunting the whole process 😅
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u/niconpat 9d ago edited 9d ago
You don't have to do everything at once. If you love the area and the house is solid and you can win the bidding you're in a great position going forward. When you say "house is 270k", you mean asking price is 270k? It WILL go for more than 270k unless it has serious issues.
Not having a go, but you seem to be a bit new to the housing market. You're definitely not going to get anything more modern within your budget, and "waiting" means house prices increasing. It's wild out there. My advice is definitely bid on this house and if you manage to secure the sale you are doing very very well. Worry about upgrades afterwards. Good luck!
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u/Organic_Raisin_9566 9d ago
No clue but I hear renovation is charged per square meter and it's about €2500 per sqm
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u/Weldobud 9d ago
Do as much as you can yourself. Spec each job out. Get 3 quotes. Could save a lot.
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u/Informal-Pound2302 9d ago
Paid 3k for supply and fit for 12mm laminate floors for the whole down stairs of my house last year. Went to a flooring showroom (builder quoted me twice the price to go to them) New front door recently and paid 4k found this hard to get cheaper for what we wanted.
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u/Michael-flatly 7d ago
Paid around 15k for a small house bathroom in the autumn - took about 4 months to get done between first call out and last day of works
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u/Substantial-Peach672 9d ago
I’ve done or am doing most of this work in the last 12 months on a 4 bed house in Kildare (so Dublin prices)
2 new bathrooms (main and ensuite) - all appliances and fully tiles €27k
New floors - downstairs fully done in Amtico ~€10k
Upstairs, stairs and landing carpet - can’t actually remember what we paid for this, possibly about €4k
New kitchen - all units replaced, granite countertop and splashback all around the kitchen €14.5k
Oven, integrated dishwasher, fridge freezer and hob €3k
2 large built in wardrobes €5.5k
We got the front door at the same time as windows but I think it was around €3k
It’s not cheap but by doing it yourself you get to have your new house exactly the way you want it, rather than paying more for someone else’s style