Having doubts about a house that needs lots of work

[Honey1975]

We had an offer accepted on a house but as we are yet to sell ours, they have put it back on the market.
The house is very dated and would need decorating throughout.
We would also want to convert the garage to create a children's room which is our main reason for moving. We also want to do what the neighbour has done and convert the conservatory to make the kitchen bigger.

We'd budgeted to do this work and because it needs a lot doing the offer we had accepted was pretty good for the potential size of the house.

I'm now having major doubts though at the thought of doing all that work. Neither dh or I are that way inclined & I have a health condition which limits how much physical stuff I could do without having a flare up.

I'm thinking we should keep looking and maybe try and find something that's a bit more 'done' putting the improvements budget we had towards a more expensive house. Trouble is there's hardly anything for sale in this area that fits the bill and this other house is round the corner from where we are now and we would like to stay in this location.

We're going round in circles trying to figure out what to do for the best. Any advice welcome please.

[CorporeSarnie]

Have you taken any builders around it to get a gauge of how difficult or expensive the work is liable to be? I.e. whether your budget is reasonable for the scale of the jobs you want doing. We lost a house that was right location but had a lot needing doing for similar reasons, including our house not yet on market, and are still slightly kicking ourselves, yet relieved at not having to do a ton of disruptive work. Could you live with the décor medium term, like a year or two?

[Honey1975]

Yes we have taken a builder round. He gave us an estimate and said there wouldn't be anything too major involved but it would take 10-12 weeks. Foundations are already in place for extended kitchen.
I am worried though that our budget is based on this estimate & I'm sure it's likely to end up costing more isn't it?

[Coughingchildren5]

It will always end up costing more. And you are right to seriously consider the impact on your health because it also always takes longer and is a lot of hard work and disruption!
However, I think you need to be realistic about how you want to compromise.
What is more important? Space and location (this house) or less disruption now (another house). Remember all houses need maintenance and work. Just because another house doesn't need decorating or work now, doesn't mean you won't still end up tackling the same things over the next 10 years. And at the end of that time will you be in the house you want or will you be on the move again?

[CountMagnus]

Converting the garage won't be very disruptive, so it would be the kitchen extension that would be the disruptive bit. If you can't keep the existing kitchen running whilst the works are going on your builder should be able to set you up with a temporary kitchen to keep you going.

The plus of this house is that you'll get the kitchen and the space you want. The downside is a short period of disruption. But you should allow at least a 10% contingency within your budget for unforeseen costs.

[HeddaGarbled]

As the house is back on the market, I would keep looking while you wait for yours to sell. Then, when you do get a buyer, if you haven't found anything else you like better and that one is still available, you'll have to make the decision then.

We've done a garage conversion and had our kitchen gutted and refitted (not at the same time). The kitchen took about a week, the garage nearly 3 weeks. We had professionals do everything except the decorating (just painting) afterwards which we did ourselves. Neither went over budget as we had agreed the price with the builders/fitters beforehand and there were no unforeseen extra expenses.