Does your tradesmen provide video updates on refurbs?

Not every refurb is a clean and a lick of paint. This one, in Sunderland, needed everything: a damp survey, a rewire, new plumbing, and a kitchen replaced top to bottom. Here's exactly where the money went, room by room.

The starting point

Signs of rising and penetrating damp in the living room and kitchen, stripped plaster down to brick, foam ceiling tiles in the porch and living room, and dated wiring and pipework that needed pulling out and starting again. The kitchen floor was down to bare boards and concrete before a single unit could go in.

[Insert before photos: stairwell, living room, kitchen, bathroom]

The scope of works

Strip out & clearance: £2,110
Roofing & UPVC repairs: £760
Electrics & plumbing: £2,510
Plastering (damp survey costed separately): £1,390
External building work: £3,880
Handyman repairs (labour & materials): £4,180
New kitchen (units, fitting & tiling): £5,175
Painting & decorating (labour & materials): £2,975
Carpet, flooring & cleaning: £1,490

Total: £23,710

Not included above: skip hire (£480 to £520 per skip) and end-of-job refuse removal (£315 to £350 per van load, priced once weighed), plus the damp survey itself, confirmed once a specialist has been out.

Why it matters

This particular landlord manages the property from thousands of miles away and never needed to set foot on site. We send video updates all the way through every refurb, not just this one, which most builders simply won't do. One quote, one point of contact, and you can see the job progressing without needing to be there.

Watch the full walkthrough: https://youtube.com/shorts/-g7RGZu9O5w?feature=share