The honest averages
Across our last six Hobart projects, the build costs landed here: bathrooms between $28,000 and $42,000, kitchens between $45,000 and $70,000, and full-home cosmetic renovations between $1,100 and $1,600 per square metre. Those are real invoiced figures, not wishful thinking from a renovation show.
The range is wide because the house decides a lot of it. A weatherboard in West Hobart hides different surprises than a 1970s brick place in Howrah.
Where the money actually goes
On a typical kitchen project the split looks roughly like this:
- Cabinetry and joinery: 30 to 35 percent
- Benchtops and splashbacks: 12 to 15 percent
- Trades (plumber, sparky, tiler, plasterer): 25 to 30 percent
- Appliances and fixtures: 15 to 20 percent
- Contingency, the part everyone wants to skip: 10 percent
The single most common budget blowout we see is clients comparing a quote without contingency against one with it. The cheaper quote is not cheaper. It is just unfinished.
The cheaper quote is not cheaper. It is just unfinished.
The costs that surprise people
Asbestos removal in pre-1990s homes runs $3,000 to $8,000 and you do not get a choice about it. Re-wiring during a kitchen job adds $4,000 to $9,000 if the board is old. Floor levelling under new tiles, $80 to $140 per square metre, shows up on about half our bathroom jobs.
None of this is us being pessimistic. It is us pricing the house we found instead of the house in the photos.
How to keep a budget from drifting
Three habits keep projects honest. First, decide everything before demolition: every tap, tile and handle, because mid-build decisions cost double. Second, hold the 10 percent contingency and treat it as spent only when the invoice arrives. Third, put every change on paper with a price before anyone lifts a tool.
Our full-service design projects run on exactly this system, which is why our Friday cost reports are usually boring reading.
