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#001

How much does it cost to refurbish a 4 bedroom HMO in 2023?

For the first blog on the More Than Bricks website I wanted to write something with a bit of value, something you the reader can take some good knowledge from, or at the very least a decent comparison for one of your projects....

We have recently finished the full refurbishment of this HMO, an existing property in our portfolio, purchased in 2015 as a tired 5 bed. In 2015 we carried out a very light refurbishment which literally included a bit of paint, some new furniture & not much else..... back then you could get away with painting a grey feature wall, building a couple of Ikea flat packs and calling it a refurbished professional HMO!

What can I say, we were building the business on evenings & weekends and had no budget - I wouldn't change a thing!

At the beginning of this year Hayley & I started planning ahead and thinking about which house needed reinvestment next - don't think you can run a HMO portfolio without pumping some cash back in every year - and Lumley Road got the nod. It was decided from the outset that we would convert from a 5 bedroom house, with two compromised first floor bedrooms to a more spacious 4 bed whilst moving one of the house bathrooms.

Some before pictures - lovely wasn't it! This was the house in the portfolio we weren't proud of and didn't represent our business - change was needed!

In June the rip out commenced with a pretty tight programme of works and the aim to be fully refurbished & relet within 12 weeks (just in time for a planned holiday in Greece!).

The works consisted of a complete reconfigure of the first floor, knocking together two bedrooms and moving a bathroom with a horrendous Saniflow pump - along with a full rewire, new boiler & plumbing, another replacement shower room and new kitchen.

All in all the refurb went well, no major hiccups or surprises although it did need some military planning at the back end to ensure trades were there at the right time, in the right place (download your free copy of "how to refurbish a property properly" in the More Than Bricks shop!).

It cost £35k to complete this project - some caveats to this figure though; we reconfigured the first floor but none of the other floors: we did renew another basement bathroom & kitchen, however they were in the same positions: we did board & skim the new walls but the rest were plaster patched: and finally, I have decent relationships with our tradespeople, so rates are reasonable due to ongoing repeat work. See the cost breakdown to give a clearer understanding of where the £35k went...

Thanks for reading this inaugural More Than Bricks blog post!

Finally I'll leave you with some of the professional shots taken once the house was finished & staged, along with the promo video....