Thinking of selling your 3-bedroom house? You’re probably wondering if a quick renovation could add thousands to your asking price.
It’s a common strategy, but is it the right one for you?
We get it. A fresh kitchen or modern bathroom can make your property more attractive to buyers. Estate agents love to talk about “kerb appeal” and “wow factor”. And yes, the right improvements can help your home stand out in a crowded market.
But what’s the true cost- not just in pounds and pence, but in time and stress? And will you actually see a return on your investment?
We’ve broken down the estimated 2026 costs to help you decide whether renovation is worth it, or if there’s a smarter way forward.
The Big Picture: What’s the Total Cost to Renovate a 3-Bed House?
Let’s cut to the chase.
The cost to renovate an average 3-bedroom house in the UK varies wildly depending on what you’re planning.
Here’s what you’re looking at in 2026:
Cosmetic Update: (Decorating, new flooring, minor fixes): £15,000 – £25,000
Mid-Range Renovation: (New kitchen, new bathroom, decorating, windows): £45,000 – £75,000
Full “Back-to-Brick” Renovation: (Structural changes, rewiring, new heating, everything new): £75,000 – £120,000+
These figures are based on an average UK 3-bedroom house of approximately 90 square metres. But here’s the thing: costs can vary significantly based on where you live. London prices? Add 30-40% to these estimates. Up North? You might save 10-20%.
Material quality matters too. That bargain kitchen from a DIY warehouse won’t cost the same as bespoke units from a high-street showroom.
And labour costs? They’ve shot up in recent years. Good tradespeople are booked solid, and they know their worth.
A Room-by-Room Cost Breakdown
Want to know exactly where your money goes? Here’s what individual rooms and jobs typically cost:
Kitchen (The Heart of the Home)
- Budget Option (New cupboard doors, worktop, basic appliances): £5,000 – £8,000
- Mid-Range (All new units, integrated appliances, tiling, flooring): £12,000 – £20,000
- High-End (Bespoke design, stone worktops, premium appliances): £25,000+
The kitchen is often the first room buyers look at. But before you splash out on that dream kitchen, remember: you’re not designing it for yourself anymore. You’re designing it for a buyer who might rip it all out anyway.
Bathroom
- Budget Option (New suite, taps, basic tiling): £4,000 – £6,000
- Mid-Range (Full refit, shower enclosure, heated towel rail, flooring): £7,000 – £12,000
- High-End (Wet room, designer fittings, extensive tiling): £15,000+
A dated bathroom with an avocado suite from the 1970s? Yes, that needs updating. But a perfectly functional white bathroom from 2010? The upgrade might not be worth it.
Essential Systems (The ‘Invisible’ Costs)
Here’s where things get expensive- and these aren’t even the glamorous upgrades that buyers notice. These won’t add value to your home, but without them, they’ll reduce the property value:
- Full Electrical Rewire: Depends on the size of the property and the work that needs to be done. It could be anywhere from £3,500 – £12,000. We have a full article here that covers this topic in detail
- New Central Heating System (Boiler & Radiators): Anywhere from £6,000 – £28,000 depending on property size and scale of job. We dive into this in granular detail in this blog post.
Other Major Jobs
- New Windows (whole house): £8,000 – £25,000+ depending on how many windows and choice of materials. Full guide on costs available here.
- Decorating (painting per room): £400 – £450 for one medium-sized room (walls, skirting and ceilings)
- Roofing: Anywhere from £5k to £25k – Read this complete guide here for more specifics
The Hidden Costs: What the Initial Quotes Don’t Tell You
Here’s where it gets interesting.
And by interesting, we mean expensive.
The Contingency Fund Nobody Mentions
No renovation project runs perfectly. Ever.
The industry standard is to add 15-20% to your total budget for unforeseen issues. That means for a £50,000 project, you need an extra £7,500 – £10,000 sitting in reserve.
Why? Because once you start pulling up floorboards or knocking through walls, you discover the fun surprises. Damp. Asbestos. Dodgy wiring from the 1960s. A load-bearing wall where there shouldn’t be one.
Suddenly, your “quick kitchen refresh” becomes a full rewire. Your bathroom refit reveals rotten joists that need replacing.
VAT: The 20% Surprise
Many quotes from smaller tradespeople don’t include VAT.
They’ll give you a price, you’ll budget for it, then bang- add 20% to the final bill. On a £30,000 renovation, that’s an extra £6,000 you weren’t expecting.
Always, always ask: “Is that including VAT?”
Professional Fees
For anything beyond a simple decoration job, you might need professional help.
- Architect: For plans and drawings, especially for extensions. Fees can be 5-12% of the construction cost.
- Structural Engineer: If you’re removing walls or adding extensions, you’ll need one. Expect to pay £500 – £2,000 for calculations and reports.
If you’re redecoration plans involve removing a load bearing wall, then do check out this article to get the cost range for that.
The Cost of Time & Stress
A kitchen refit takes 2-4 weeks. A full property renovation? You’re looking at 3-6 months or longer.
This isn’t passive income. It’s a part-time job you didn’t apply for, filled with dust, delays, and decisions. Your stress levels? Through the roof you’re trying to repair.
The Big Question: Will You Actually Make a Profit?
This is the crucial bit.
Spending £20,000 on renovations does not automatically add £20,000 to your house value.
Sorry to burst that bubble.
The Reality of Return on Investment
Here’s what improvements typically add to your property value:
- New kitchen: Adds approximately 5-10% to property value
- New bathroom: Adds approximately 3-5% to property value
- Loft conversion: Can add up to 20% (but costs £30,000 – £60,000)
Let’s do the maths on an average UK house worth £280,000:
A 5% increase from a new kitchen = £14,000 added value.
Cost of that new kitchen = £15,000.
Your profit? Minus £1,000.
And that’s before counting your time, stress, and those hidden costs. If your home is already a property in poor condition, the costs to bring it up to scratch can easily spiral, wiping out any potential profit.
Best case scenario? You break even. More likely? You lose money.
That doesn’t mean it can’t be profitable. It can. But you need to carefully do the maths, ensuring you spend as little as possible on the renovation.
A simple test you can use is what I call the ‘photo test’. The way it works is, you ask yourself, “will this renovation make a notable positive difference to how the photos will look on RightMove?”
If the answer is no, then don’t fix it unless it’s something absolutely essential like a leaky roof or a broken boiler.
If the answer is yes, then try to gauge how much by.
Go on Rightmove and Zoopla to look at other similar properties in your area, that have been renovated, to see how much they were listed for, vs how much your property would sell for now without renovations. Look at the difference between the two prices and ask yourself, “Can I renovate for less than this difference to make a profit margin?”
If there is a margin of profit, ask yourself, “Is the hassle/disruption of the renovations worth this margin?”
If it is, then go ahead. You’ve run the numbers and it makes sense.
Weighing Up Your Options
You’ve got two paths ahead of you. Renovate or don’t renovate.
The right choice depends on your circumstances.
If you have no plan to sell, and your renovation plans are purely for your own personal enjoyment of the property over many years, then it might make sense.
But, then there’s the business brain: If you invest in renovations now, will there be a profit in the future when you do sell? Only the maths has the answer to this one.
But, if you are thinking of renovations because you definitely want to sell your house, then keep in mind that there is an option to sell as is, and avoid the renovation rollercoaster all together, when you sell directly to us.
A Fast, Certain Sale Without the Hassle
Imagine selling your house fast with: No renovation costs. No stress. No delays.
This is where we come in.
At Property Rescue, we specialise in exactly that. We buy homes in any condition across England and Wales.
- No Renovation Costs: We buy your house ‘as-is’. That dated kitchen? The bathroom that’s seen better days? The damp patch in the spare bedroom? Not your problem anymore.
- No Fees: Zero estate agent fees (saving you thousands). No legal fees. No survey costs. The cash offer we make is the exact amount you receive.
- Speed & Certainty: While a renovation project can take months (followed by more months trying to sell), we can provide a cash offer within hours, and complete the sale on your timeline, or in as little as 7 days.
- No Stress: No builders. No dust. No budget overruns. No living in chaos. Just a simple, straightforward process.
