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Property/DIY

Ball-park renovation costs

17 replies

emwithme · 21/04/2015 23:51

DH and I have just bought a stone-built, Victorian (1885) house that needs total renovation. It's four bedrooms (3 doubles, 1 single), three reception rooms, kitchen, lean-to, and has a cellar under the "main body" of the house. This is its rightmove link - it has a floorplan and room sizes etc (www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-32341983.html)

It has a damp cellar (was ankle deep when we bought it, dried within a week of the rain stopping) which needs a membrane and pump fitting, wet rot to be treated, active woodworm, damp throughout (survey said that the walls needed all plaster stripping off, walls drying, and then replastering), inadequate/missing guttering (some are too shallow/full of moss, other bits are original and full of holes, there is none at all on the bay etc). The downstairs loo is green and the upstairs bathroom is pink with chicken tiles on the wall (all WHOLE tiles are the right way round though, which is unusual).

It needs a full rewire (with lots of sockets), and a replacement heating system (it has a back boiler and the super-thin 70s radiators), new windows (still single glazed) and doors. We are replacing the lean-to (2m x 4.20m) with a proper extension for a kitchen diner, extending the downstairs loo into the next room by about a metre to put in a wet room, building an internal utility room in the current "breakfast room" by removing a chimney breast and putting up a partition wall.

We've had one quote back so far (three building firms are quoting) and it's a frankly ridiculous figure that is nearly the same as we paid for the house!

Can people "in the know" give me a rough ball-park for the work - basically, we're taking everything off the walls, re-doing everything, treating timbers etc, rewire, re-do full heating and hot water system, putting the walls back on just so I know whether this quote is truly as ridiculous as it seems?

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Variousrandomthings · 21/04/2015 23:53

You need to put //this around your link to make it work

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Variousrandomthings · 21/04/2015 23:53

[[

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emwithme · 21/04/2015 23:53

Link fail! this is the rightmove ad

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Variousrandomthings · 21/04/2015 23:54

Then this after ]]

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Variousrandomthings · 22/04/2015 00:01

We've done up two houses. Heating was about 8k including boiler, electrics about 4k, bathroom 5k, kitchen 3k, windows about 500 to 1k per window depending on size, plasterer was daily rate of 160, tanking middle/small cellar 4k,

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Variousrandomthings · 22/04/2015 00:08

Google 'extension costs calculator' as there's a couple of websites that might help

Most of my friends who have paid proper kitchen or bathroom fitters have paid about 10k for a room. We did it the cheap way.

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WhatKatyDidnt · 22/04/2015 06:28

It's a lovely looking house. Given your list I'd have said £200k. I'm in London though so maybe £150k at SW prices?

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WhatKatyDidnt · 22/04/2015 06:32

If quotes are coming back way too high, the thing on your list that stands out as being £££ but not as crucial as others is the kitchen-diner extension. Could you get rid of the lean-to and knock through the rear reception and kitchen instead?

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SmellTheGlove · 22/04/2015 08:06

If you get a builder in to do the lot then you will pay more for the convenience of that instead of project managing yourself. You can get some idea of costs by googling - building sheriff is a good site, and so is mumsnet! I can give you some ideas for our renovation, but it's smaller (900sq ft) and in London suburbs. Rewiring quote come in at 3.2k, install central heating plus boiler (no CH currently but gas supply to house) 4.8k, new timber sash windows (1 bay and one single) 5.2k, removing chimney breast upstairs and downstairs with steel in loft, widening a doorway and creating partition wall 5.2k, kitchen install (not supply haven't priced that yet but approx 2k appliances 3k units)- small galley 1.8k, repairs to guttering and cleaning(not replacing) £300. Building control and engineer approx £800. Also doing new bathroom, carpeting, plastering, but haven't had those quotes yet. I'm budgeting 45k for all of it and so far all my estimates have been close enough! Plus about 8k contingency but I don't want to spend that!

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emwithme · 22/04/2015 11:55

It is an absolutely gorgeous house and I knew I was going to live there from three steps in - totally a heart overruled head purchase! It's fucking giant too...I thought our current two bed flat was big and it'd fit in the front/downstairs bit of the house (the two living rooms and the hallway!). It truly is my "Forever" house.

The quote we've had in is £155k (inclusive of VAT...now there's an extra 20% I hadn't thought of before!) but that gives us a house we can move into, apparently - so curtain poles, blinds in the bay window, carpets, kitchen (using our current appliances, plus dishwasher) and fully decorated to our taste (and they're even going to put racking in the cellar so we don't disrupt the tanking/membrane), plus a new roof on the "workshop" and replacing the door. They've also said that it won't get any more than that, no matter what they find when they strip back the walls/do whatever (which is good, as I found a window the other day...we've owned the house six weeks!)

We did consider not doing the extension but I really want a separate utility room - and we have the cash now (a combination of Bank of Mum and Dad helping us buy the house meaning we've got what we had saved for a deposit, plus I had a "redundancy" payout from work in October) so I'd rather do it when (a) we're not living there and (b) we don't have kids to disrupt

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WhatKatyDidnt · 22/04/2015 12:45

I actually think that's a good quote (as long as you're happy with the quality, attitude, methods, availability etc of the builder). Sounds like the right time for you too... Get it done and enjoy your lives in your lovely home!

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Enchancia · 22/04/2015 12:56

Based on having done something similar recently, that quote sounds pretty competitive. Do factor in (which we didn't) the 'non-contractor' costs including architects fees, QS fees, costs of renting somewhere if you can't live through the work, planning / building reg fees etc. also does it include the sort of spec you want or will there be constant extras for decent fittings etc. allow a contingency of 10% (we were told this and thought it excessive - until we burned through it in first 2 weeks...). Good luck!

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Variousrandomthings · 22/04/2015 14:42

I live in a nice part of the midlands. I think it's too expensive. What's the breakdown of the 155k?

Can you get a plumber to quote for the plumbing and putting new loo/shower in. Get a tiler to quote for doing the kitchen/utility/loo, ask different builders how much a straight forward small extension would be? Ask a damproofing company to quote for the pump in the cellar and rot. Ask an electrician to quote for the electrics.

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noddyholder · 22/04/2015 14:45

I renovate houses and am in the SE I think i would expect to pay about 80-100k but I have been doing years and use same builders etc. I think 155 is a lot if things are much cheaper and looking at the price of the house they are! It looks great!

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emwithme · 24/04/2015 21:16

Second quote is in.

Doesn't include any kitchen fittings, carpets and says "we recommend you also allow 10% for contingencies".

It's £178k (and some change).

Third quote expected tomorrow.

Apparently, half the issue is because the wet rot is so widespread (according to the surveys) we pretty much need a new downstairs floor - and that's a fucking huge area. The other issue is that a lot of the "routine" maintenance (along the level of clearing/repairing gutters) hasn't been done in about 10 years, since the "husband" died, so that's made the TOP of the house damp too.

Oh well. I just need to keep thinking: It'll be lovely when it's finished and NEVER buy a house with my heart again.

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Sunnyshores · 24/04/2015 22:52

I was going to say you'll get no change from £100k and then I saw your second post about it being made 'move-inable' for £155k, I would have thought maybe £10-20k high. BUT choosing the right builder is so important and Id pay extra for that security.

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MeganFaye18 · 06/05/2015 14:32

We had a new wall in our family home (semi-detached) - luckily before the builder started work he suggested getting party wall insurance in case something went wrong.
I don't have masses of experience, but if you are planning a large renovation project then I'd definitely invest in some decent insurance!
Personally we went through recommendations from the builder for our insurance company, but I'm sure you will have to compare them on the internet - my sister in law used...www.renovationinsurancebrokers.co.uk/ for her house renovation in Surrey...so maybe going direct to the insurer is cheaper than using a compare the market style - anyway good luck!

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