Cost guide
It's the first question every seller asks: how much do I need to spend before I list? Here are the real Auckland numbers in 2026 — and, more usefully, where each dollar actually shows up in the sale price.
There are two ways to get a home ready for market. Rip and replace — new kitchen, new bathroom, new floors — costs tens of thousands and takes months. Refresh — repair, repaint and resurface what's already there — costs a fraction and takes weeks. For a pre-sale, refresh almost always wins, because buyers are reacting to how a home looks in photos and at the open home, not what brand the cabinets are.
For a standard three-bedroom Auckland home, here's what the common jobs run in 2026. These are indicative ranges — the free walk-through turns them into one fixed price.
| Job | Refresh approach | Indicative cost |
|---|---|---|
| Interior repaint | Walls, ceilings, trim & doors in a neutral palette | $5k–$12k |
| Exterior repaint | Weatherboard / render, joinery, front door | $7k–$15k |
| Kitchen | Spray-resurface existing cabinets & doors | from $4k |
| Bathroom | Reseal, regrout, resurface, fresh fittings | from $3.5k |
| Repairs & make-good | Cracks, leaks, sticky doors, rot | $1k–$6k |
| Home staging (5 wks) | Partial to full, via a stylist | $2k–$10k |
Add it up and a focused pre-sale makeover on a typical home lands in the $12k–$30k range — versus $80k+ and three months for a gut renovation that buyers may never notice.
Spend where buyers look. In order of bang-for-buck:
Don't over-capitalise. A brand-new $60k kitchen on a house you're selling rarely returns what it cost. Neither do structural changes, extensions, or anything bespoke to your taste. The whole art of a pre-sale makeover is restraint — freshen what shows, leave what doesn't.
A focused pre-sale makeover on a typical Auckland home runs roughly $12k–$30k — paint, a kitchen and bathroom freshen-up, repairs and staging. A full renovation costs 3–4× that and rarely returns it before a sale.
Common questions
Most sellers do well spending 1–3% of the likely sale price on a focused refresh — paint, a kitchen and bathroom freshen-up, repairs and staging. The instant estimator gives you a tailored number in about 30 seconds.
A light, well-targeted refresh almost always pays — staged, freshly painted homes sell faster and for more. A full renovation usually doesn't return its cost before a sale. Refresh, don't replace.
A whole-house makeover — including the kitchen and bathroom freshen-up — runs about four weeks. If your home just needs freshening, the 1-Week Quick Tidy (touch-up painting, an exterior wash and a clean-up) gets you listing-ready in about a week. You get a locked finish date before we start.
Answer a few quick questions and get a ballpark price and a finish date in about 30 seconds — emailed to you as a PDF. No charge, no pressure.