Have you ever totally done up a small three bed house?

[spotofcheerfulness]

And if so - how much did it cost you?

Ok, there will be obviously a massive amount of estimating etc, but we've seen a house that we like but can't work out if the low price will still be a bargain after we've spent a fortune doing it up!

It's a small three bed house with two small reception rooms in the South East. I think what needs doing is:

Window replacements (all over)
Some repointing
New kitchen
New carpets throughout
New bathroom
Decorating throughout.

When i put it like that it sounds insane, but have you ever had a project like this and how much did it set you back? Was it more than you expected? And how long did it take?

TIA

[scurryfunge]

We spent around £40k over 7 years doing up our last house bit by bit, pretty much what you have listed.

[spotofcheerfulness]

Thanks. Wow - 7 years! Hmm, I was kinda hoping by Christmas! Had you originally budgeted for that or did you just find out as you went along?

[notasausage]

I think we probably spent about £30k but didn't need new windows although we have now replaced 2 and a new back door. We did most of it ourselves including all the chasing out for the electrician and all the decorating. It took us 10 weeks of 2 people working evenings and weekends to get it more or less habitable. Kitchen and bathroom followed a few months later. Good luck and make sure you screw them to the floor on the price - you will find a lot more jobs that need done once you move in!!

[FromGirders]

We did a three bed flat, if that helps? One proper double bedroom, two alledgedly doubles for the kids (same size) long hall, living-room / dining room.
Laminate floor down everywhere, new kitchen, new bathroom, painted all walls, lots of new shelves in the living room, tiled all the walls in the kitchen. We did everything in six months, for under £6K. Nearly everything came from Ikea, except the bathroom things (B&Q), paint (also B&Q), the cooker and fridge came from Boots.com (you get advantage points on them, and they were cheapest for the models I wanted). Did everything ourselves except plumbing in the bathroom and fitting the gas cooker. With a three and four year old helping .
Did I mention we did it in six months?

[spotofcheerfulness]

Thanks, folks. Fromgirders I will have an 18 month old and a bump due at Christmas for my workers mates. Am thinking probably a bit optimistic to think we could buy the place and do it up before the baby comes along....

So £30-40 sounds about right. Eek!

[scurryfunge]

We took a long time because that was the house we wanted to stay in for a long time (though had to move after 7 years because of job change).

We did stuff as and when we could afford it though we knew when we bought it that there was a lot to do. There was still plenty to do when we moved - a developer bought it from us and finished off what we hadn't yet completed.

We made £100k profit on selling so I feel it was worth it.

[MrsMalcolmTucker]

We're doing:
knocking through kitchen and dining room
new kitchen
new bathroom
ripping out manky fitted cupboards and replastering
new downstairs toilet and shower

We've got a budget of £20k that we've been told is realistic. (That's for pretty low spec on the fixtures we're putting in, like kitchen, bathroom, new gas fire and flooring.)

[scurryfunge]

And the developer made another £60k on top of that after finishing it off in another 2 months.

[purepurple]

We spent about £40k over 5 years and we did the following to our 3 bed terrace.

loft conversion
rewire
new kitchen
new bathroom
conservatory
new roof
new carpets twice
redecorated twice