The Northern Ireland Home Improvement Cost Index 2026

Kitchens

A full kitchen renovation in Northern Ireland in 2026 runs from £4,500 for a budget like-for-like refit to £35,000 and beyond for a premium renovation with a new layout. By layout, for a typical 12 sqm kitchen:

Source: NI Trades, Kitchen renovation cost in NI: 2026 price guide, last reviewed 21 June 2026. Basis: Quotes collected May to June 2026 from FMB-member kitchen fitters across Belfast, Lisburn, Bangor and the commuter belt, triangulated against Howdens NI trade-price bands, DIY Kitchens published prices and Republic of Ireland cost guides converted from euro.

Bathrooms

By bathroom type, supplied and fitted in 2026:

Source: NI Trades, Bathroom renovation cost in NI: 2026 price guide, last reviewed 21 June 2026. Basis: NI bathroom fitter and trade quotes, 2026; labour day rates £180 to £260; full per-trade breakdown on the guide page.

Extensions

Per-square-metre build costs in 2026. These are turnkey figures for ready-to-use space including kitchen fit-out, excluding VAT, professional fees and contingency:

Source: NI Trades, Single-storey extension costs in NI: 2026 price benchmarks, last reviewed 21 June 2026. Basis: NI builder and trade quotes, 2026; full trade-by-trade breakdown (groundworks £4,500 to £9,000, brickwork £6,000 to £12,000, glazing £3,500 to £12,000 and seven more line items) on the guide page.

Building Control fees: all 11 NI councils compared

What each council charges for Building Regulations approval on a typical domestic extension (up to 60 sqm), 2026. The Building Notice route consistently costs around 45 per cent more than Full Plans:

Source: NI Trades, Single-storey extension costs in NI (council fee table) and Building Regulations in NI overview, last reviewed 21 June 2026. Basis: Fees are set by each of the 11 NI councils and change with council years; typical published domestic-extension fees, 2026. Confirm the live figure with the relevant council Building Control office before applying.

Roofs

Full re-roof, supplied and fitted, 2026: budget (concrete tile or fibre-cement slate, semi-detached) £6,000 to £10,000; mid-range (clay tile or Spanish slate) £10,000 to £16,000; premium (Welsh natural slate, detached, full strip and new timbers) £16,000 to £28,000 and above. Per square metre by material:

Source: NI Trades, Roof replacement and repair cost in NI: 2026 price guide, last reviewed 21 June 2026. Basis: NI roofer quotes, 2026; repair benchmarks (slipped slates £150 to £400, ridge repointing £400 to £1,200, flat roof replacement £1,500 to £4,000) on the guide page.

Windows and doors

Whole-house replacement for a typical NI three-bed semi (8 to 10 windows plus a back door), supplied and fitted, 2026: budget uPVC £3,000 to £6,000; mid-range with A-rated glazing and a composite front door £6,000 to £10,000; premium aluminium or triple-glazed £10,000 to £18,000 and above. Per unit:

A structural NI difference worth quoting: FENSA and Certass do not operate in Northern Ireland. Replacement windows here are approved through council Building Control under the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, not installer self-certification as in England and Wales.

Source: NI Trades, Windows and doors cost in NI: 2026 price guide, last reviewed 21 June 2026. Basis: 2026 quotes from NI window installers cross-checked against published NI pricing (Hurricane Windows Belfast, Smart Homes NI) and Republic of Ireland comparison anchors converted from euro. NI fitting rates run roughly 10 to 20 per cent below the GB mainland.

Rewires

Source: NI Trades, House rewire cost in NI: 2026 price guide, last reviewed 4 July 2026. Basis: NI electrician quotes, 2026; NICEIC or NAPIT certification with an Electrical Installation Certificate on completion. Extras benchmarked on the guide page (consumer unit upgrade £400 to £700, EICR £150 to £300, making good £600 to £1,800).

Oil boilers and Northern Ireland’s heating fuel mix

Northern Ireland is the most oil-dependent heating market in the UK, which makes oil boiler costs a distinctly NI statistic that GB datasets miss:

Oil boiler replacement, turnkey, 2026:

Source: NI Trades, Oil boiler replacement cost in NI: 2026 price guide and Gas safety certificate in NI guide (fuel-mix table), last reviewed 21 June 2026. Basis: NI OFTEC installer quotes, 2026; fuel-share figures are the approximate NI household heating mix as compiled on the NI Trades gas safety guide from published NI housing and energy data. Tank-only pricing (bunded 1,200 L fitted £1,300 to £2,200) on the guide page.

Gas safety certificates (CP12)

Source: NI Trades, Gas safety certificate in Northern Ireland: 2026 cost and process guide, last reviewed 28 June 2026. Basis: NI Gas Safe and OFTEC engineer pricing, 2026. Note for accuracy: a CP12 is a legal annual requirement for landlords with gas appliances; the OFTEC oil service is strongly advised but not statutory for residential lettings.

Planning application fees: NI vs the Republic of Ireland

The single most striking fee gap on the island. An NI householder planning application costs roughly ten times its southern equivalent:

Processing time: the statutory target for an NI local application is 15 weeks; the Department for Infrastructure’s published statistics put the real average at roughly 19 to 20 weeks across the 11 councils in 2024/25 into 2025/26, with only three councils inside the target. Permission, once granted, is valid for five years under the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011.

Source: NI Trades, Planning permission in Northern Ireland: a homeowner's guide, last reviewed 21 June 2026. Basis: NI fees: Planning (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025, substituting Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Planning (Fees) Regulations (NI) 2015, via the Department for Infrastructure. ROI comparison: Citizens Information (citizensinformation.ie). Processing times: DfI Northern Ireland Planning Statistics bulletins. NI planning fees usually rise each April.

The NI grants landscape (July 2026 snapshot)

Mid-transition and frequently misreported, so dates matter. The position as of 4 July 2026:

Source: NI Trades, Home improvement and energy grants in NI, Insulation grants in NI, and Warm Homes Scheme NI guides, last reviewed 28 June 2026. Basis: Department for Communities (Warm Healthy Homes Strategy 2026-2036 and Warm Healthy Homes Fund consultation pages), NI Housing Executive grants pages, nidirect. Scheme amounts from the grants hub; fund consultation and opening dates re-verified 5 July 2026 against the Department for Communities fund page (consultation to 19 August 2026, fund expected from April 2027, Affordable Warmth due to run until March 2028). Statuses change often; the linked guides carry full citations and caveats.

Methodology, corrections and reuse

Every figure on this page is drawn directly from the sixteen researched NI Trades guides, each of which documents its own sources: written quotes gathered from Northern Ireland tradespeople in 2026, published NI installer pricing, Republic of Ireland cost guides converted from euro as cross-checks, statutory instruments for fees, and official publications from the Department for Communities, the Department for Infrastructure, the NI Housing Executive and nidirect. Ranges describe typical supplied-and-fitted prices for standard jobs; unusual access, listed buildings and conservation areas push costs above the ranges shown. Figures are reviewed on the cadence shown per section and whenever underlying fees or schemes change, usually each April for statutory fees.

Spotted an error, or have better data? We correct fast and credit the correction: email hello@nitrades.co.uk. Reuse is free under CC BY 4.0 with attribution and a link. Our editorial approach is documented at nitrades.co.uk/methodology and editorial standards.

About NI Trades: a Belfast-built tradesperson platform for Northern Ireland only. Homeowners post jobs free and vetted local trades respond direct. Last reviewed 4 July 2026.