How much money we talkin'?

M

mpgalvin

Guest
Just got a surveyor's report, and while it's mostly cosmetic stuff, I'd be interested to know how much cosmetic stuff costs to fix these days. My first house, so be gentle. Let's assume that I'll be doing the things a slightly ratted monkey could do (sanding, varnishing, etc), but I still need to purchase all relevant tools, gadgets. Electrics, tiling, etc will be performed by experts.

All skirtings require sanding, finishing and some gaps are visible between skirtings and floors/walls that require filling. The entire space in the house is around 95m.sq. so I don't know if that helps in determing how much skirting there is. There are 3 rooms downstairs and 5 upstairs.

Bathrooms require tiling, all floors and walls, I would think. The 3 rooms are 3.5m.sq, 6.3m.sq and 2.4m.sq approx. The rooms are standard height (I don't have the measurements to hand, 7 feet?)
My surveyor has also recommended marine ply on the floors with the ceramic tiling. I have no idea what this is.

Outside, I need to seal joints in the path to avoid growth, paint the plinths, sills and reveals. I need to put top soil on and level the garden. My own measurements put the garden at around 27m.sq. There are also outside lights and doorbell to be fitted.

So without going in specifics, what is a ballpark figure for all these things, hundreds? thousands? tens of thousands?

(Apologies for length of post)
 
Hi mpgalvin,

Is this a brand new built house or a second hand house ?

If it's brand new (and it sounds like it is) I would get the builder to fix most if not all these problems except the tiling you would need to get that done yourself once you move into the house

If it's second hand then here are my estimates (and I emphasize the word estimate) these quotes should vary depending on what part of the country you are in - my experience is with Dublin prices.

1. Skirting - sanding, painting, and filling you should be able to do yourself, but it's a pain in the behind and your knees will be shot - about 50 to 75 euro for a sander plus sand paper and another 50 to 80 euro for filler, paint and brushes

2. Tiles in bathrooms should be laid on plywood and not directly to the floor boards - as it is likely that the floor will get wet then water resistance plywood (ie marine ply) should be used as a base. A tiler will probably cost between 20 and 30 euro per sq meter. (At a rough guess based on your area figures I would say you should budget around 1,000 to 1,200 for the tiler alone). You will need to buy the tiles, adhesive, grouting and trims. Tiles range from around 15 euro a sq meter to over 100 euro a sq meter (depends on how posh you want to be) - Measure everything in your bathrooms, ie walls, floor, windows, ceiling etc and bring to tile shop - most decent shops will work out the area and amount of tiles you need if you bring a good drawing and measurements; they may also be able to recommend a tiler but try and get a couple of quotes (In the last 3 bed semi I bought I budgeted around 3,000 for tiles and 1,500 for tiler - I was close - total came to 5,000!!)

3. Don't have a price on path sealant - never used it. The painting you should be able to do yourself - 200 euro for paint if even - outside light and door bell (assuming they are already wired) you can do yourself 100 euro for a light and door bell. Topsoil I don't know 10 euro per sq meter?

These are just rough guesstimates off the top of my head

Hope this helps

efm
 
Thanks for the guesstimates, efm. It is technically a new house (never been lived in), the people I'm buying it from have never lived there but they have signed off on it with the builder. I assume they had a snag list and the skirtings were way down on the list. I didn't even notice it until my surveyor pointed it out.

5k for the tiling? Oh man, I should just buy a book :)
 
buy an electric tile cutter as well as a book. the job then becomes very simple unless you have uneven concrete floors to deal with.
 
Builder

Ar the builders still on site? We bought our house last year and there is an 18mth guarnatee. We found a few small things that had been missed in the snag and they fixed them for us.

I assume it wouldn't matter that your the second owner...worth a shot before you spend your own money...
 
Re: Builder

Kiddo, nice plan. There are still builders on-site, so I guess I could just ask the foreman what he could do for me. The answer will probably be "bugger all"
 
me again

if the builders won't fix the gap in the skirting board use "decorators caulk" to fill in any gaps as its easy to paint over. When your plaster starts cracking and blistering use "pollyfilla one fill" as its much more pliable than ordinary pollyfilla....(both available in hardware stores) top tips from the plasterer the builders sent down to fix our place up..
 
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