Renovations are no walk in the park. Beyond the struggles of thinking about ideas and finding someone for the job, there’s the whole other elephant in the room – budgeting for your renovation.
Finding the right figure can feel like a headless stumble in the dark. What is the norm? How much do the different types of works roughly cost? Are the interior designer’s quotes too good to be true or overpriced? So many questions – but thankfully, we have the answers!
Introducing our Renovation Calculator - in just three simple steps, you can now calculate your ideal renovation budget – in 5 minutes or less.
Step 1: Fill In Your Home's Key Stats
Interior Designer: MET Interior
By that, we mean your house size (in sqm/sqft), property type (HDB or condo, new or resale?) and the number of rooms you wish to renovate. These items play a key part in figuring out right renovation budget range to work with.
In fact, different factors can result in vastly different budgets. Case in point? These costing trends below:
- Average renovation costs for condos ($49,000) are lesser than HDBs ($53,000)
- Resales ($74,500) cost almost twice as much to renovate compared to new homes ($42,000).
Our Renovation Calculator uses these variables to help tailor results more accurately to your needs! And upon finishing the quiz, you can even download a personalised renovation budget report to learn more about budgeting trends for homes similar to yours.
Step 2: Plot Out The Renovation Works You’d Like to Do
Not all renovation works are made equal. It’d be wise to think of the cost of your home overhaul as a sum of many parts rather than a whole.
Interior Designer: The Scientist
There are many components – painting, plumbing, wiring, etc – but the biggest works that would take the most of one’s budget is masonry (flooring and tiling), carpentry and hacking. For example, extensive carpentry works (doing 3 or more built-in cabinets, shelving) can range from $6,600 to $22,000 for a living room, while masonry work can run up to $10,000 in the same space based on our data.
The Renovation Calculator includes options for you to toggle how much works you’d like to pay for – be it light, moderate or extensive works. Each option also includes an estimated budget range to give you a rough idea of how things will add up in each room.
Interior Designer: First Dot Design
So, decide on your priorities and allocate your budget accordingly! If you’re on a tighter spend, forgo unnecessary frills like:
- fancy mixed tiles
- platform beds
- complicated carpentry designs (like circular shelving, detailings)
- bathtubs, which require more workmanship and translate to higher costs.
Interior Designer: Butler Interior
Or, learn to save up by going for some cost-cutting designs and more affordable materials! Check out some nifty money saving tricks interior designers use to lower costs.
Step 3: Account for Extra or Hidden Costs
You’ve filled up the basic details, decided on the types of works to do. By now the Renovation Calculator should be able to give you a rough (but accurate) estimate of how much your renovation alone would cost.
Just one tiny problem though – things don’t always add up the way they should! Extra works or hidden costs can throw a wrench. Be it last minute changes, unforeseen repair works or miscellaneous stuff like design fees or moving costs, its best to set aside 10 - 20% on top of your budget range for those what ifs.
Interior Designer: Dan's Workshop
Let’s not forget that the costs listed here do not include furnishings and appliances – which can usually set you back another $10,000 to $30,000. So, do remember to add up these areas in order to get the total sum needed for your home’s entire renovation.
Renovation Calculator: Budgeting Made Easy!
Moral of the story? Renovations are costly affairs. That’s why we believe that you shouldn’t pay more than what you need to for a home.
The first of its kind in Singapore, our Renovation Calculator allows homeowners to get a transparent, accurate budget range for their personal home renovations, based on data from over $20 million worth of renovation contracts.
Simply fill up the fields and watch as a personalized budget amount is generated for you – in a matter of minutes! Each result also comes with a unique budget breakdown report which provides budget trends, budget allocations and useful renovation cost hacks. All to prep you on your journey to becoming a whip-smart renovator.
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