Big budget, little reward


It's mind blowing how much the owner's give Jillian for a renovation and barely get anything for their money. Example today's episode the owners have $105,00 and all they got were hardwood flooring (looked like laminate), new small kitchen, front door with cabinets in entry way, a new full size bed and siding on the upper level. It doesn't appear to be worth $105,000.

reply

While Jillian and Hillary generally have good budgets most of the time, they also do most of their work on older homes which tend to have a lot of problems. The older the home, the more problems and the less there is to code because this changes over time as architects and engineers make better discoveries where house building is concerned. Laws and codes change to reflect this.

It also costs to renovate a kitchen and bathroom and almost EVERY owner wants one or both and in some cases they want more than one bathroom or a bathroom and a powder room done. The average cost to renovate a kitchen is $27,000 while the average cost to renovate a bathroom is $10,499 This about how much I spent to renovate my bathroom a few years ago SO I can tell you these averages are pretty bang on in terms of being correct.

And then, of course, you factor in new things needed that owners let go because they're so old they simply don't know they need replacing like a new roof or new boiler or furnace. The average cost of a new roof is $6,000. The average cost of a new boiler is $5,150 and the average cost of a new furnace is $3,835. All these things cost and add up and it's not just the item that costs, it's the labor as well. That's where they really get you. The labor.

reply