Renovating a house in the UK in 2026 costs anywhere from £600 to well over £3,000 per square metre, depending on what you’re doing and how thoroughly you’re doing it. Those numbers sound impossibly wide until you understand what drives them — and once you do, budgeting becomes far more reliable.
This guide breaks down costs by specification level, by room, and by the line items most people forget to include. Figures reflect 2026 UK market rates and apply to England and Wales unless noted otherwise.
The Three Specification Levels — and What They Cost
The single most important variable in any renovation budget is not the size of the house: it is the specification level. Across the UK industry, renovation work broadly falls into three bands.
| Specification Level | What It Covers | Typical Cost Range (£/m²) | Example: 80m² terrace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light refurbishment (cosmetic) | Redecoration, new flooring, replacing kitchen and bathroom fittings in existing positions, no structural work | £600–£1,200/m² | £48,000–£96,000 |
| Full refurbishment | All of the above plus rewire, new heating system, replumbing, new windows, some wall reconfigurations | £1,200–£2,000/m² | £96,000–£160,000 |
| Structural / extension | New openings, RSJ beams, extensions, loft conversions, major drainage alteration, or basement work | £2,000–£3,500+/m² | £160,000–£280,000+ |
These are total project costs including materials, labour, and the trade packages below. They do not include professional fees (architect, structural engineer, Building Control) or VAT, which are addressed separately.
Most properties purchased as renovation projects fall into the full-refurbishment band. Light refurbishment applies to well-maintained homes that just need freshening up; structural work applies when the layout is being changed or the building extended.
What Drives the Cost Up (or Down)
Location
London and the South East carry a 20–40% labour premium over the rest of England. A job quoted at £150,000 in the Midlands will typically run £180,000–£200,000 for equivalent work in inner London. Scotland has broadly similar rates to northern England.
Services — Electrics, Plumbing, Heating
A full rewire on a three-bedroom house costs £6,000–£12,000 in 2026. A complete replumb (copper or plastic pipework throughout, new unvented cylinder or combi boiler) adds another £5,000–£10,000. These two items alone account for a significant portion of the full-refurbishment uplift over light-refurbishment costs. If the previous owner had the services done recently, your budget looks very different.
Structural Alterations
Removing a load-bearing wall to create an open-plan kitchen-diner is probably the most common structural intervention in UK renovation. The steel beam itself (RSJ supply and install, including propping, padstones, and making good) costs £2,000–£5,000 per opening. Structural engineer calculations add £300–£600 per beam. Multiple openings stack up quickly.
Existing Condition
Older properties — pre-1950s in particular — almost always reveal problems once strip-out begins: wet rot in floor joists, asbestos in textured ceilings, lead pipework, inadequate foundations under extensions, rising damp. Budget a 15% contingency rather than the 10% commonly recommended for newer properties.
Specification of Finishes
A mid-range kitchen (supply-only) costs £8,000–£15,000. A high-specification kitchen from a bespoke joiner costs £25,000–£60,000 and up. The same principle applies to bathroom suites (£800 vs £4,000 just for sanitaryware), flooring (vinyl plank at £25/m² vs engineered oak at £80/m²), and lighting. Finishes affect the budget enormously but do not change the structural, services, or labour costs.
Cost by Room
The figures below are for a typical mid-specification finish. They represent supply and fit, not supply only.
| Room | Low | Mid | High | What Drives the Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen (incl. electrics, plumbing, fitting) | £12,000 | £22,000 | £50,000+ | Units, worktop material, appliances |
| Bathroom (full replacement) | £5,000 | £9,000 | £20,000+ | Sanitaryware spec, tiling, underfloor heating |
| En-suite (new build-out) | £4,000 | £7,500 | £15,000+ | Plumbing runs, size |
| Living room (cosmetic refurb) | £2,500 | £5,000 | £12,000+ | Flooring, fireplace, alcove joinery |
| Bedroom (cosmetic refurb) | £1,500 | £3,000 | £7,000+ | Wardrobes, flooring |
| Rewire (whole house, 3-bed) | £6,000 | £9,000 | £12,000 | Number of circuits, consumer unit type |
| Replumb + boiler replacement | £5,000 | £8,000 | £12,000 | Boiler type (combi vs system), cylinder |
| New windows (whole house, 8–10 units) | £6,000 | £12,000 | £25,000+ | uPVC vs timber vs aluminium |
| Plastering (whole house) | £3,500 | £6,500 | £9,000 | Existing wall condition |
| Decoration (whole house, 3-bed) | £3,000 | £5,500 | £9,000 | Number of rooms, finish level |
These figures can be used individually for partial renovations. For a whole-house refurbishment, do not simply add them up: there are sequencing efficiencies when trades work across the whole property simultaneously rather than room by room.
Professional Fees and Statutory Costs
These sit outside the contractor budget and are frequently forgotten at the budgeting stage.
- Structural engineer: £300–£600 per beam calculation; £600–£1,200 for an extension or loft package
- Architect or architectural designer: typically 5–10% of construction cost for a full service; drawing-only packages start at £1,500–£3,000
- Planning application fee: £258 for a householder application in England (as of 2026); more for larger works
- Building Control (full plans application): £800–£2,000 depending on local authority and project scope
- Party wall surveyor: £800–£2,500 per property affected if your neighbours require a surveyor
- Skip hire: £250–£500 per skip; a full house clearance typically requires 3–5 skips
- Asbestos survey: £300–£600 for a management survey; £500–£1,200 for a refurbishment/demolition survey (required before strip-out on pre-2000 properties)
- VAT: most building work on existing residential properties is standard-rated at 20%. Conversions of non-residential buildings to residential use attract the 5% reduced rate. New build is zero-rated. Always clarify VAT treatment with your contractor before signing.
The Contingency Question
Industry guidance for new build is 5–10% contingency. For renovation — particularly older properties — 15% is more realistic, and 20% is not overcautious if the property is pre-1930 and has not been significantly updated since.
Where does contingency go? The most common calls on it, in rough order of frequency:
- Hidden structural problems found during strip-out (rot, settlement, failed lintels)
- Services that need full replacement when a partial replacement was assumed
- Asbestos or hazardous materials requiring specialist removal
- Programme delays that extend your temporary accommodation costs
- Specification changes — upgrading tiles, adding underfloor heating, changing the kitchen layout mid-project
Contingency is not a buffer for overspending on finishes — it is genuine risk money. Keep it separate from your finishes budget.
Using a Cost-per-m² Estimate Reliably
The £/m² figures in this guide apply to the gross internal area (GIA) of the property — every floor, including hallways and landing. To use them:
- Measure the floor area of every habitable level (exclude garages unless converting)
- Multiply by the appropriate band — light, full, or structural
- Add the professional fees and statutory costs listed above
- Add 15% contingency on the construction cost
- Add VAT where applicable
A worked example: a 95m² Victorian semi undergoing full refurbishment (rewire, replumb, new boiler, new kitchen and two bathrooms, replastering, decoration, new windows, one load-bearing wall removed):
- Construction cost at £1,400/m²: £133,000
- Structural engineer (2 beams): £900
- Architect (drawings only): £2,500
- Building Control: £1,200
- Party wall surveyor (1 neighbour): £1,200
- Asbestos survey: £500
- Skips and sundries: £2,000
- Subtotal: £141,300
- Contingency at 15%: £21,000
- Total before VAT: £162,300
- VAT at 20% on labour-only portion (approx. 45%): ~£14,600
- Realistic budget: £177,000
How to Keep Costs Under Control
Fix the scope before you fix the price. The most reliable way to overspend is to change the scope mid-project. Agree your specification in detail — down to tile sizes and socket positions — before work starts. Changes on site cost roughly three times what they would have cost in the design stage.
Get three comparable quotes. Quotes are only comparable if they are priced against the same specification. Provide every contractor with the same drawings and specification document and ask for a fixed-price quote, not a day-rate estimate.
Sequence trades correctly. Poor sequencing — starting decoration before plastering is fully dry, or having the kitchen fitter on site before second-fix plumbing is complete — creates abortive work and call-out charges that erode the budget quickly. A schedule of works shared with your contractor before work starts is the single best preventive measure.
Buy materials early. Supply chain disruption has eased since 2022, but bespoke windows, certain tiles, and engineered timber flooring still carry 6–12 week lead times. Materials ordered late either delay the programme (costly) or get substituted (often disappointing). Order long-lead items as soon as design is confirmed.
Do not underestimate the cost of living elsewhere. If you cannot live in the property during works, add storage costs (£100–£200/month), temporary accommodation (£1,000–£3,000/month depending on location), and the time cost of managing the project remotely. For a 20-week renovation in London, temporary accommodation alone can add £20,000–£60,000 to the effective project cost.
