Renovations

for both bathroom and kitchens as far as all your cabnittry (SP) benchtops etc... there is some great stuff on the mitre10 mega website. you can cut everything out and arrange them how you want and stuff. you can take that in and they'll give you a quote for everything inc toilets, dushwasher.. if you can out it in yourself (pretty easy to do) then you just have to factor painting walls etc and you should have a pretty good idea. we looked at ripping out our whole kitchen and completely redoing it and our quote was about 6k and that was for all appliences and everything

Kitchen planner

Bathroom Planner

This is what I did for a living before baby - told people how to add value and save on their renovations and not make mistakes!

Depending on the state of the kitchen/bathroom, and whether you are planning on living in it long term, letting it or whether you are buying to do-up and sell on, you can resurface as opposed to getting new kitchens & buy new cabinet handles. You'd be suprised what a difference that makes. The Mitre10 kitsets, and placemakers can be a good way to go, depends on the space. Be aware that if you spend heaps in your kitchen and bathroom, it can really show up the rest of the property, so you want to renovate consistently. Also, spend money on good appliances, don't go second hand. Appliances aren't that expensive these days, and if you sell it's one of the biggest things people look at.

Good new tapware is worth the investment - makes all the difference in a bathroom, and in old houses the taps are usually knob style instead of lever style. Levers are much more popular, not least because they offer an aging population a chance with their arthritic bones!

The resene site has EzyPaint, where you can put in photos of your house, mask it, and then use their colours to see what they are going to look like (includes heaps of kitchen surfaces as well).

The Home show is on at the moment in Auckland, so if you're up here, go along - my company runs the Property Know-How seminars (also at waikato, and canterbury coming up), they are given by a bunch of different companies, educational, free and brilliant if you are just getting into the property / renovation business so you don't make mistakes. Link to the timetable here

Would suggest the 1030am, 3pm, and 330pm seminars as a must, and really all of them would be worth going to.

We have a Project Planner, which includes software and heaps of tips and hints on renovations, checklists of things you need, and we network via the shows to get our clients $1000s in exclusive (property related, not hair coupon) discounts. We don't take kick backs, just get our network to pass on discount to our clients. I don't want to do the shameless plug here as I am not sure what the OB site rules are, but if you are interested pm me and I will send you a link to our site and you can ask me any specific questions you might have? We have contacts and reputable companies we recommend all over NZ, so drop me a line and I'll see if I can't help!

And good luck! It is hard work, but highly addictive and heaps of fun!

And totally in agreement with the above poster about appliances are really important, especially the oven...

Wow thanks everyone, that is all really really helpful!
I'll have to look at the law changes for DIY, we have contacts in pretty much all trades so hopefully they'll be keen on some perk jobs.

The advice on where to splurge and were to save is very helpful, the point on the oven is certainly taken as I am a very keen cook.

Unfortunately I'm not in Auckland so won't be able to make the show. My sister in-law in Auckland is also rennovating so I will recommend it to her though!

good hint! Thanks

I love the way my tap looks, but it is too tall and feels wobblyish.