As anyone who’s ever renovated will tell you, it’s expensive—very expensive. Whatever which way you cut it, costs have risen dramatically over the past five years. That means your budget needs to be realistic, and you really do need a decent contingency pot.
In our case, we blew through our 20% contingency—and then some—before the builders had even started, thanks to an unexpected £25k overspend on piling foundations. We had to claw that money back fast, which meant making some tough, cost-effective design decisions. But where do you start?
Often, making savings come at the expense of finishes—the things you see and live with every day. But that doesn’t always have to be the case. There are ways to reassess parts of the build that don’t impact the final look and feel as much. It’s hard to compromise when you have a dream design in mind, but with some creative thinking and open communication with your builder or designer, it’s almost always possible to make savings—if you’re willing to let go of perfection and compromise.
As a design professional managing my own build, I found this particularly hard. But I also knew we needed to deliver this project on time and as close to budget as possible.
Here are a few of the compromises we made:
- We kept an internal structural column instead of removing it. It does interrupt the clean line of the living room wall, but has saved us £6k. And honestly, the room still looks great—it doesn’t feel like a mistake.
- We’ve opted for Crittal-style internal doors rather than actual Crittall, saving around £5k.
- A bespoke front door (£2,500) became a £250 reclamation yard find. It’ll need some work, but we’ll do it ourselves so that’s another £2k saved.
- Floor-to-ceiling bespoke joinery gave way to built-in IKEA Kallax units for my husband’s vinyl collection. We used the same solution in our last home and it worked brilliantly—another £2k saved.
- We sourced a reconditioned Morso log burner half price of brand new – £1k saved.
- Out with Plykea in with Howdens saving £4k.
- Opted for a ‘seconds’ Fisher & Paykel fridge freezer, rather than buying brand new, saving £800.
All of these changes have allowed us to still afford the features we really wanted: our long-coveted Neff Slide & Hide ovens, Caesarstone worktops, oak parquet flooring, and the log burner spec we wanted.
And once we’re moved in and using the space will we really remember these agonising compromises? Will they truly affect the property’s value in the long run? I don’t think so.