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Thinking of giving your property – or even just a few rooms – a bit of a makeover?
A renovation can seriously improve the value of your home or, if you’re a landlord, make your investment property more attractive to potential renters.
But you’re probably wondering how much a renovation will set you back.
Here’s your guide to how much it costs to renovate a home in Australia, as well as what you can expect to pay for each room.
How much does a total house renovation cost in Australia?
For a complete home renovation, costs range from $20,000 to over $500,000.
As you can see, this is a fairly broad range. The price of an entire home renovation varies quite significantly, with several factors to consider:
- The type of renovation and scope of work. You may only be undertaking small home improvement projects like repainting walls and replacing fixtures and fittings. Or, you might be adding an extension or totally remodelling your entire house – where you change the interior design, floor plan and/or purpose of each room and possibly even the overall space.
- How much of your home you’re renovating. Some homeowners opt to redo their kitchen and bathroom first and move on to other areas further down the track, whereas others may do the entire house in one go – which obviously increases the up-front price. The size of your home can also affect costs.
- The materials, fixtures and fittings you choose. High-end and custom-made options will cost more than basic or off-the-shelf ones. Plus, some renovators choose to salvage and reuse certain materials, which both reduces costs and makes the reno more environmentally friendly.
- Building costs. These can vary between builders and also depend on factors like demand, material and labour costs, and even your location (the average cost of building actually varies between Australian states – Victoria, for example, is typically more expensive than Queensland)
What are the average home renovation costs per room?
If you’re going bit-by-bit or are only looking to update a small portion of your home, below, you’ll find the average renovation costs per room.
Kitchen renovation costs
On average, kitchen renovations cost around $20,000 to more than $50,000.
Typical kitchen renovations include new appliances, new fixtures, new tiling and splashback, new cabinetry and a new benchtop. They may even involve totally overhauling the layout – which can require demolition and reconfiguring electricity and plumbing.
This is why kitchens are often the most expensive rooms to renovate, purely because there’s a lot of work and materials involved.
Bathroom renovation costs
A bathroom renovation can cost from $5,000 for a more basic reno to upwards of $30,000 for a full remodel.
Bathrooms are also notoriously costly, but obviously not in the realm of a kitchen reno. This is because, like kitchens, there are lots of new items and materials to purchase (bath, shower, toilet, tiles, fixtures and fittings), and bathrooms have the additional need for specialised contractors, like plumbers and waterproofers.
Living room renovation costs
Living room renovations usually start from $10,000 if only a small amount of work is required – think repainting or switching out old light fittings.
But they can easily cost upwards of $20,000 if there’s more serious construction work involved, such as knocking out a wall to create an open plan or installing new flooring.
Bedroom renovation costs
Bedrooms have a fairly standard structure and are often smaller than other areas of the house, which is why it can cost as little as $2,000 to renovate one – as long as you’re just repainting it or redoing the floors.
However, if you’re inserting an additional feature like storage, a walk-in wardrobe or an ensuite, expect to pay more – perhaps upwards of $30,000.
Tips for saving money on your home renovation project
Looking to make your project a little more cost-effective? Here are our top tips.
Create a renovation budget
Your first step should be to knock up a budget. Create a spreadsheet, plug in all the rooms you want to work on, and then create a list of the tasks you want to achieve – like getting a new toilet or repainting the entire house.
Chat with a number of builders about your plans and get quotes from each one. Regardless of the builder you choose, add a buffer of about 10-20% to account for unforeseen expenses – because they almost always come up.
And even if you’re tempted to splash out on the most expensive options available, try to stick to your budget as closely as possible to ensure costs remain manageable.
Go slow
If you’re planning to renovate your entire home, but your budget doesn’t quite stretch to every room in the house, you can break up the project into stages.
By going one room at a time, you can spread out costs across multiple months (or even years) and give yourself time to save up for each stage.
Buy affordable and off-the-shelf
A custom-made stone bathtub sure sounds tempting. But it’s guaranteed to be expensive.
Instead, choose off-the-shelf products where possible. You can buy everything from light fittings and tiles to storage solutions and entire kitchens, and because they’re generic, they’re usually cheaper.
The same goes for materials. While premium options like granite, marble and solid wood definitely look great, you could opt for more economical mid-range alternatives like slate, quartz and timber veneer.
DIY where possible
Where it’s feasible and safe, see what parts of your home you can do yourself. You might be able to get away with tasks like painting, putting up hooks and shelves, switching out tapware and decorating without the need for tradespeople.
That being said, several parts of the home should be done by tradies or other professionals. Attempting to do them yourself might result in damage and having to redo the work anyway. These include structural renovations (like knocking out a wall), tiling, landscaping and installing window fittings.
Note that you won’t be able to DIY any electrical or plumbing work – by law, these must be done by licenced electricians or plumbers.
