42 Grand sounds like a reasonable figure. The more you can muster the better, obviously.
Just to break it all down for you a bit more.
First things first.
Medical
This is the show stopper for most people. Book it through the CAA and get yourself down to Gatwick. Cost.....£337 I think now they have dropped the requirement for an EEG at initial issue.
Total Cost £337
Total Hours 0
PPL
5 grand is a good price, however if you shop around and are prepared to travel (within the UK) then you can get a PPL for a bit cheaper. The trick is to look north, a long way north.
Based on Sheffield's web site there is the basic 45 hours flying (at £97). Remember that there are ground school exams (£44 a pop, with 7 to take), plus your skills test (£142) with associated aircraft hire (£194). Not forgetting your RT practical test (About £60 I think). All in £5069. Now comes the sting in the tail, the CAA will charge you £149 for initial issue. Personally I suggest setting up a direct debit to the CAA at this point, saves time :o).
Oh, and it takes about 6 weeks to process and you cannot exercise the privileges until you get the licence and sign it.
Total Cost £5,555
Total Hours 47
What you can do while you are waiting is
Night Qualification
5 hours of flying at night, including 3 hours dual plus 5 full stop landing. Netherthorpe is not lit at night so you will need to go to another school for this. It should take 3-4 nights to bag it. Should be tops about £600 for this course.No test and a £70 fee to the CAA.
Total Cost £6,225
Total Hours 52
Ground School
Now it's time to lock yourself away in a dark room for 8 months as it's time to tackle the dreaded ground school. And which school is best? well this is a debate all on its own. Who knows. Nobody has studied at them all hence all opinions will be subjective. Talk to all the schools your interested in and form your own opinion. Personally, if I had to do it all again I would go for Bristol rather than Guildhall Uni (man those notes were wordy). According to the website, looking at £1900 for both modules. Plus you need to find £55 for each exam and joy of joy there are 14 to sit. Don't forget that as part of this course, you must attend 2 sets of 2 week brush up courses before sitting the exams, so accommodation needs to be thought about. Finding some long lost straw chewing, cider drinking, west country aunt would probably be your best bet.
Total Cost £8,895
Total Hours 52
Hour Building
As stated above, your best bet is the states. If you are doing all your training in this country, there is no reason to do the hour building here. However, when you are in the states, for gawd's sake don't just drill holes in the sky. Take an JAA instructor who will get you to fly to CPL standards. Try and get into a professional mindset whilst hour building. Keep accurate plogs and fuel checks. It's a case of self discipline, but you will reap the rewards later in your training.
As for where to go for hour building, again it's subjective as people have good/bad experiences of schools. Personally, I would choose Florida as the weather's not too bad there and there are a good selection of jaa schools there to nab an instructor from. Picking a school at random, you can hire a 150 for $7200 for 100 hours. That works out at about £3968. Call it £4000 for luck. However, there are flights, accommodation, visas, check flights involved in this. To err on this side of caution this won't get you much change from £1000. So lets say 100 hours is about £5000. Any takers?
Total Cost £13,895
Total Hours 152
All starting to look a bit more impressive hours wise. Now on to the big bucks.
CPL, ME and IR
Most schools will offer a package for CPL, ME and IR training as a whole. You can chop and change between schools, but continuity of training can be key at this stage of your development. Plus, you might be able to negotiate a reduction at some school. Again, people are subjective as to which is the best school to go to, so take advice with a pinch of salt. It's a very good idea to whittle your choices down to 2 or 3 possible schools and go and visit them. The first impression when you walk through a door can give you a good idea how a school is run and whether it's for you or not.
Taking 3 schools at different geographical locations. I have no affiliation with any of these schools, but have read some good things about them. Some of these schools offer multi engine CPL's. As you will not have any complex experience at this point, it could take much longer to come up to test standard in a multi rather than a single engine which you are used to.
Airways Flight Training : Exeter
Modular CPL : £4,600 + Test Hire : £504
MEP : £2,600 + Test Hire : £335
ME/IR : £9,900
Total : £17,939
Stapleford Flight Centre : Stapleford
Modular CPL : £4,495 + Hire for test £300
Multi : £1,900 + Test and Test Hire £350
ME/IR : £9,300 + Hire for test : £500
Total : £16,575
Leeds Flying School. : Leeds
Modular CPL : £4,895 + Hire for test £390
Multi : £1,700 + Test and Test Hire £295
ME/IR : £10,950 + Hire for test : £590
Total : £18,820
For doing the sums, I will take the worst case scenario (sorry Dylan) and choose LFS. The total unfortunately, does not include CAA examiner fees, which currently stand at £637 for both the CPL and IR. And of course, you must pay for the CPL, ME and IR to be issued. If you apply for the IR at the same time as the CPL, you are given that for free. So the CAA licence fees come to £294. Ouch! Ok, adding it all up
Total Cost £34,284
Total Hours 212 (33 hours multi)
MCC
Many places do an MCC. Don't be fooled into thinking that because you've done this on a full motion B737 sim that the airlines will be tripping over themselves to recruit you. They won't. It's to teach multi crew coordination, not how to fly a jet. A good turbo prop sim will teach you everything you need to know at a fraction of the cost. For example, London guildhall have a beech sim and charge a MCC for £2250,
So, assuming you are a wizzkid and can pass everything first time in minimum hours you are looking at spending.
Total Cost £36,534
Total Hours 212 (33 hours multi)
However, we are human and chances are you will find some aspect of flying difficult and need some extra tuition. Personally, I would add a contingency of about 20% to all of the above and this is my minimum budget to play with. Anything you have left over after training I would look to invest in a flight instructors rating as this gives you your first flying job, you meet all the right people, make contacts, keep you skills current and have the privilidge of imparting some of your enthusiasm for flying on the paying punters.
And yes, I have left the cost of living out of the equation as I don't know your personal situation. If you don't have parents to fall back on for cheap digs, then I reckon a budget of £100 a week will keep you in baked beans and bus fare. This whole process can take just over a year from 0 to hero. As this will take more than a year, you also have to renew your medical at some point, another £100. Nobody said it would be cheap.
Good Luck.