Start from the property, not from a template
Generic cost-per-square-metre tables are a poor guide, because they know nothing about the property in front of you. The renovation planner starts from what BuyerWingman has established: the measured area rather than the advertised one, the property type, the year built, and the condition indicated by the documents and photographs.
Where the technical report identifies damp, an ageing roof or an electrical installation at the end of its life, that is part of the starting point rather than something you must remember to add.
Categories, ranges and contingency
Work is broken into the categories a real project has, so nothing quietly disappears into a single lump sum:
- Kitchen, bathrooms and interior finishes
- Electrical, plumbing and heating or cooling installations
- Roof, façade, windows and external works
- Structural and remedial work identified in the documents
- Terraces, garden and outdoor areas
- Professional fees, permissions and the costs around the works themselves
Three numbers, not one
Every category carries a low, an expected and a high figure. A single number invites false confidence; a range describes the actual state of knowledge before quotations exist. A contingency sits on top, because a property built in 1978 will produce at least one surprise when the walls are opened.
Where a category cannot responsibly be estimated — because the condition is unknown, or because no document says anything about it — it is shown as not assessed rather than as zero. A zero in a budget is a promise; an honest gap is information.
Your numbers take priority
The plan is a working document, not a fixed output. Add your own line items, edit any category, and override a figure with a real builder's quotation whenever you get one. Overrides are marked as yours, so you can always see which parts of the budget rest on a genuine quote and which are still assessed.
The plan is saved for the property, so it is exactly as you left it when you return — and it belongs to that property alone, with nothing carried over from another.
Connected to the deal
A renovation budget in isolation is only half a decision. Here it flows into the rest of the property picture. The assessed cost feeds the acquisition guidance, so unresolved works have a visible effect on the price you should be paying. It feeds the deal and mortgage view, so the total project cost — purchase, costs, works, contingency — is what you are financing rather than the purchase price alone. And it feeds the flip analysis, where the same budget determines whether the resale case survives contact with reality.
Because everything reads the same property, revising the budget updates the price guidance and the financing figures without you re-entering anything.
Design and cost, side by side
Design Studio shows what the property could look like; the renovation planner says what that ambition is likely to cost. Floor plan ideas show what the space could do; the budget shows what moving that wall belongs to. Seeing them against each other is usually the moment a project becomes real — either the numbers work or the scope changes.
An estimate to plan with
This is a planning estimate, not a quotation and not a contract. Actual costs depend on local labour and material prices, the standard you build to, access, permissions and what is found once work starts. Builders' quotations remain essential. What the planner gives you is a defensible budget before you own the property — early enough to affect whether you buy it, and at what price.