A new study from Roofing Megastore has revealed how many followers and views you would need on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to finance renovation projects around the home.
The research reveals you would need to rack up 3,052,173,913 views on TikTok, 12,208,696 views on YouTube or have 1,404,000 followers on Instagram to finance a full house renovation, which on average costs £70,200.
According to industry estimates, it’s possible to earn £0.02 to £0.03 per 1,000 views on TikTok. On YouTube, the average YouTube creator receives £5.75 per 1,000 views, and on Instagram, once influencers have at least 5k followers, they can start earning around £250 per sponsored post. To establish the average cost for a range of renovation projects, researchers gained quotes from trade experts, and by combining these industry insights, the team at Roofing Megastore calculated the number of social engagements that budding social media stars would need to finance various projects around the home.
Renovation inspiration
Many people turn to social media to find inspiration for their next home or interiors project, from Pinterest to YouTube, and the world’s most-followed home renovation accounts can rack up hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views across social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
For those with a big enough following, the benefits can be huge, with brand deals, ad revenue, gifted products or services, and sponsored posts giving renovators the opportunity to finance their latest projects, just from their social influence.
The research shows a full renovation would cost around £70,000 for a three-bed house (for all labour and materials) and that would include:
Renovation element | Total average cost (£) | No. of TikTok views you’d need to finance | No. of YouTube views you’d need to finance | No. of Instagram followers you’d need to finance |
Kitchen renovation | £11,500 | 500,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 230,000 |
Bifold doors out to garden | £5,550 | 241,304,348 | 965,217 | 111,000 |
Full bathroom renovation | £5,500 | 239,130,435 | 956,522 | 110,000 |
Replaster walls & ceilings (re-skim existing) | £12,000 | 521,739,130 | 2,086,957 | 240,000 |
New windows throughout (UPVC) | £3,500 | 152,173,913 | 608,696 | 70,000 |
Full electrical rewire | £5,750 | 250,000,000 | 1,000,000 | 115,000 |
Internal painting throughtout | £2,600 | 113,043,478 | 452,174 | 52,000 |
Painting all internal doors | £350 | 15,217,391 | 60,870 | 7,000 |
Replacing skirting boards (per room) | £1,925 | 83,695,652 | 334,783 | 38,500 |
Engineered wooden flooring install | £5,850 | 254,347,826 | 1,017,391 | 117,000 |
New central heating – new radiators and boiler | £3,500 | 152,173,913 | 608,696 | 70,000 |
New roof | £6,750 | 293,478,261 | 1,173,913 | 135,000 |
New decking in garden | £2,600 | 113,043,478 | 452,174 | 52,000 |
Laying a patio | £1,950 | 84,782,609 | 339,130 | 39,000 |
New lawn | £875 | 38,043,478 | 152,174 | 17,500 |
So, to completely fund a full house renovation from your online social media activity, you’d need to acquire over 3 billion views on TikTok, 12.2 million views on YouTube or have over 1.4 million followers on Instagram.
The renovation projects that require the biggest social following to finance
Ranking as the most expensive part of a renovation is a loft conversion, costing on average £45,000 to complete. To cover the cost, you’d need just under 1 million (900,000) Instagram followers or a whopping 1.9 billion views on TikTok. To finance the project via YouTube, you would need 7.8 million views, meaning you would need to have built up a hefty following over time to finance a new loft entirely from online activity.
For an extension you’d need 750,000 Instagram followers, a garage conversion requires 290,000 followers on Instagram, and to replaster your walls and ceilings you need to get to 240,000 Instagram followers.
Exterior rendering, underfloor heating, and a new roof all also rank in the top ten most expensive renovation projects, requiring between 135,000 and 218,000 Instagram followers or up to 1.9 million views on YouTube to fully finance each project.
Rank | Renovation element | Total average cost (£) | No. of TikTok views you’d need to finance | No. of YouTube views you’d need to finance | No. of Instagram followers you’d need to finance |
1 | Loft conversion | £45,000 | 1,956,521,739 | 7,826,087 | 900,000 |
2 | Extension | £37,500 | 1,630,434,783 | 6,521,739 | 750,000 |
3 | Garage conversion | £14,500 | 630,434,783 | 2,521,739 | 290,000 |
4 | Replaster walls & ceilings (re-skim existing) | £12,000 | 521,739,130 | 2,086,957 | 240,000 |
5 | Kitchen renovation | £11,500 | 500,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 230,000 |
6 | Rendering outside of the house | £10,882 | 473,130,435 | 1,892,522 | 217,640 |
7 | Conservatory | £9,000 | 391,304,348 | 1,565,217 | 180,000 |
8 | Underfloor heating throughout | £7,700 | 334,782,609 | 1,339,130 | 154,000 |
9 | New roof | £6,750 | 293,478,261 | 1,173,913 | 135,000 |
10 | Engineered wooden flooring installation | £5,850 | 254,347,826 | 1,017,391 | 117,000 |
The renovation projects that require the smallest social following to finance
The least expensive renovation work is tiling above kitchen work surfaces. Costing around £275 on average for both installation and materials, you would only need 5,500 followers on Instagram to finance a new look for your kitchen, or around 11,956,522 views on TikTok.
Painting internal doors, a new front door, and replacing a bath all feature in the top five, and each needs under 13,000 Instagram followers or less than 115,000 views on YouTube. Rooms such as the kitchen, bathroom, and garden appear frequently in the top 10 cheapest renovation works, suggesting these are the rooms to spruce up if you’re working to a tight budget.
Rank | Renovation element | Total average cost (£) | No. of TikTok views you’d need to finance | No. of YouTube views you’d need to finance | No. of Instagram followers you’d need to finance |
1 | Tile above kitchen work surface up to wall cupboards | £275 | 11,956,522 | 47,826 | 5,500 |
2 | Painting all internal doors | £350 | 15,217,391 | 60,870 | 7,000 |
3 | New front door | £435 | 18,913,043 | 75,652 | 8,700 |
4 | Replacing the bath | £650 | 28,260,870 | 113,043 | 13,000 |
5 | Underfloor heating fitted in kitchen | £800 | 34,782,609 | 139,130 | 16,000 |
6 | Garden shed | £850 | 36,956,522 | 147,826 | 17,000 |
7 | New lawn | £875 | 38,043,478 | 152,174 | 17,500 |
8 | Repainting kitchen cupboards | £900 | 39,130,435 | 156,522 | 18,000 |
9 | Retile bathroom – floor and walls | £1,110 | 48,260,870 | 193,043 | 22,200 |
10 | External painting | £1,300 | 56,521,739 | 226,087 | 26,000 |
Gian-Carlo Grossi, Managing Director at Roofing Megastore commented:
“The actual number of followers needed to finance various renovation projects will vary from user to user, depending on factors including follower engagement, specific brand deals, and more. Once budding social media stars have built up a big enough following, many will be offered elements of their renovation projects for free via gifted services and products.
However, the calculations in our research give a real insight into the scale of how many followers and views you’d need to make money back on your social media efforts. With so many renovators heading online for inspiration these days, many will look to post the results of their projects on social media anyway, if only to share with friends and family.
It’s clear though that there is real money to be made with a big enough following, with it being possible to make back the cost of smaller projects such as painting and tiling with just a few thousand followers. Renovating your home doesn’t come cheap, so it’s nice to know there are ways to cover the cost.
Our business exists to make it easier for people to improve and maintain the homes they’re lucky enough to own – so we wanted to highlight this opportunity so that more people can find creative ways to finance their renovations in the future.”
To see the full research, and see which renovation works would require the most social media followers to finance, visit: https://www.roofingmegastore.co.uk/tiktok-renovations.
