Budget

For those of you considering a build, I’ll detail the expenses of the build here. Not too much detail, I’m pretty sure nobody cares how much each individual item cost!

Out of an expected budget of ~£12.3k (inc IVA fees, insurance, tax, tools, service items etc) it finished as follows:

• Kit costs: £9193.86
• Service Items: £1,342.10 (clutch, HT leads etc)
• Tools: £687.29
• Garage preparation: £398.05 (includes ‘fixed’ tools)
• Registration plate: £255.00
• Consumables: £690.64 (includes paint for the engine, bolts etc)
• Kit extras: £2,112.31
• Van hire: £147.90
• IVA testing: £540
• Costs total: £15,392.15
• Parts sold from donor: £655
• Running total: £14,737.15

Oops!

Buy why so over budget? Hmm well I didn’t account for build insurance, the registration plate and a new headgasket. I’ve also over spent on paint on the garage and perhaps bought the odd tool or two I didn’t think I’d need. In fact, even as it progresses I think tools are a real ‘misjudgment’. I seem to spend far too much time in MachineMart!

The saving grace is of course I didn’t plan to make any money back from the donor, so that’s helped and for a long time (until December) I was projected to come in under budget. That was finally killed off by the headwork required and I also opted to get the injectors cleaned. Oh and of course adding things to the kit like detachable arches wouldn’t have helped.

I’m not disappointed about what I could have got for 15k though, as essentially I’ve ended up with a lot of tools (which I maybe wouldn’t have needed if I bought a brand new kit) and service items are a hefty fee (also not required with a new kit). This is probably beyond the thick end of what you’d want to pay for an SDV before a brand new kit starts getting tempting (15.5k) but I’d still have added £1,500 of extras to that no doubt so it’s not quite as bad. If I’d have known I’d creep up this high I think I’d have gone the extra and gotten a new kit.

Would have been much cheaper to buy something better second hand of course! Another strategy would have been to be a bit more ruthless in choosing a donor. Rather than pick a model that’s ripe for stripping, maybe pick one that’s had a lot of money invested in servicing it. Seems harsh, but the amount you’d pay extra is probably a lot less than what I spent on service items!

Guess I’ll just be skint for longer than planned!