Renovation budget for a 45 m² townhouse in Oslo

H

HugoYork

Property investor
Established
I can reserve more cash and reduce the specification, or keep the current design and accept a thinner safety margin. Neither option is comfortable while moisture and concealed services remain largely unknown.

The provisional budget is NOK 948,100 for renovating a 45 m² townhouse in Oslo. The work includes the kitchen, bathrooms, floors, painting, electrical inspection and moderate energy improvements, without adding an extension. I am more concerned about plumbing access, trade sequencing and hidden structural or damp problems than premium finishes.

What reserve would be sensible at this stage? I would also like to know which inspections or limited opening-up work would materially reduce the uncertainty—for example, checking moisture around a bathroom wall before committing to the final finish schedule.
 
I would initially reserve around 15% rather than allocate the whole NOK 948,100 to quoted work. Ask each contractor to list exclusions explicitly: opening walls, correcting concealed damage, electrical remedial work beyond inspection, plumbing rerouting, drying, waste removal and making good after other trades. Also request separate prices for optional finishes so those can be cut without disrupting essential work.
 
How old is the townhouse, and are the kitchen and bathrooms staying in their current positions? Those two facts could change the risk more than the floor area. Before choosing a contingency percentage, I’d want moisture readings around wet rooms, some indication of pipe routes and access, and clarity on whether any walls being altered might have a structural role.
 
I agree with the questions, but not with treating 15% as automatically sufficient. A percentage only helps once the scope is reasonably defined. If plumbing access and moisture conditions remain unknown, I’d first pay to reduce those uncertainties, then set the reserve. Otherwise a generous-looking contingency can disappear on one concealed condition while the kitchen order is already committed.
 
Build the programme backwards from the least flexible items. Confirm any permit requirements and likely timing with the relevant Oslo authority, then settle wet-room and electrical scope before ordering the kitchen or flooring. Ask contractors for a trade-by-trade sequence, material lead times, decision deadlines and responsibility for delays between trades. Keep a simplified kitchen specification and nonessential energy upgrades as planned reductions, not improvised cuts after work starts.
 
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