Could you give me a 'back of an envelope' quote on refurb

[SarfE4sticated]

Hi all, could you help me? We are thinking about making an offer on a house that would require, new kitchen, bathroom, redecorating/plastering, new floor, central heating and rewire.
We wouldn't want a state-of-the-art hand made kitchen or anything flash, but a realistic idea of cost would be handy.
Thanks everyone!

[Enterthewolves]

Where in the country are you, & what size is the house?

[BunchMunch]

I would think in London you'd be looking at about 70-80k plus. Could be a lot more as it's never straight forward (at least ime 🙄)

[SarfE4sticated]

That would be my concern too MunchBunch 🙄

@Enterthewolves I’ve linked the house in my original post - we’re in SE London. I have a nice plumber and electrician but would have to use local recommendations for other trades

[Alexalee]

Wow that is old... from recent experience of quotes on a smaller house that needed a new roof, it would have appeared no change out of 100k. That was taking back to brickwork so everything new, no fancy kitchen either

[Imicola]

Ours was about 70k, similar size and similar type of work needed, although we did some ourselves (e.g stripping wallpaper, decorating). We are in Scotland.

[SulaHula]

I'd budget 100k. I'd take the wall down between the dining room and the kitchen and go for a U shaped kitchen or an island where the wall currently is.

[Imicola]

No wait, we also added a small extension so perhaps had a bit more work to be done!

[SarfE4sticated]

Yes @SulaHula that was what I was thinking- I’d like a kitchen diner.

Thanks everyone- there would be a lot of stripping of wallpaper- I think I can see cork tiles on the wall!

[SulaHula]

I'd assume the walls need to go back to the studs so add another 10k.

[DustyDoorframes]

Two years ago, not a million miles from you, slightly smaller three bed, we did the following for 20k-
Rewire, replaster all ceilings, rebuild stairs, refinish all existing floors, new boiler, paint throughout including some spot plastering, completely redo one bathroom (back to brick, move plumbing, fancy flooring and bath).
Seems like we got a good deal!

[nachosTrafficante]

Get a builder in who has been recommended to do a rough quote. We are in a cheaper part of the country and bigger house and were looking at north of £100k. So 60 to 70 sounds about right if you don’t need a new roof.

[nachosTrafficante]

I’d also have thought a developer would have snapped it up if it was straightforward....

[Mildura]

I’d also have thought a developer would have snapped it up

Depends what it's worth done up.

Say it's worth £700k all done, but might cost £70k to get there most developers won't be interested in buying at £600k, not enough margin.

However, doing it for yourself to live in buying at £600k, spending £70k on it and ending up with a house worth £700k is absolutely fine.

[putthehamsterbackinitscage]

I'd also put a cloakroom / laundry area of the new kitchen/diner so as to provide guest / extra facilities and take out the wall between bathroom and toilet upstairs to create a bigger space ...

[SarfE4sticated]

I walked passed the house today, and on the way there saw a house in the process of a complete refurb. Huge overflowing skip, workmen milling around and in the middle of the open garage, a washing machine going through a cycle. It brought home to me the reality of living on a building site and trying to carry on a normal life surrounded with grit and dust, noise and people wrangling, and it has put me off.

[CIareIsland]

This thread has cheered me up after a massive bill - didn’t extend but did loads of knocking about to totally reconfigure and improve flow. No idea if I have added the equivalent value - but as we decided we are here for another 10 years - it’s exactly how we want it.....so I will be floating around the flow trying to get my £150K money’s worth.

[Thedogisdrivingmemad]

Why on earth would you want to change the decor in the house?!!!! Wow that is like a museum in there! grim!

[LBOCS2]

So, we are at the z6 end of the ginger line from Brockley and we've just done a rewire, new heating system, strip out and replaster and we got no change out of £35k.

With the bathroom and kitchen, the sky is really the limit. You could probably do it for another £20k. Depends how much you want to manage yourself and/or spend on fixtures and fittings.

[SarfE4sticated]

Actually @Thisdog I believe and cork tiles are having a style ‘moment’ 😂

[TheCatInAHat]

We sold our house a mile or so away from Brockley in 2017. Kfh massively overvalued our house and they had a reputation for it so don’t overpay. (No idea if 600k is realistic for that house but thought I’d mention).

[Appletreehouse]

We're in the North but have spent about £35k so far on refurb our 4 bed terrace to a very average spec and would say we have at least another £20k to spend.

So far have plastered most rooms (£1k per room) partial rewire, fitted one new bathroom, new windows (£300-500 per window), new front and patio doors (£2k), replaced internal doors, re done the driveway and front steps to house (£4k) decorated and floored about 2/3 of rooms (lots of stripping wallpaper, some new woodwork etc.), moved two internal walls, new banister/stairs.

We still have a kitchen diner to create by knocking a wall down and a new kitchen to fit (£10-12k), front of house windows to replace (£3-4k), shower room to fit (£1.5-2k) landscaping garden (£1-2k), new garage door (£800)

It adds up scarily and we've done some work ourselves.

[pinksquash13]

I found the little things you don't put in the big budget spreadsheet add up e.g. we spent a fortune on skirting, coving and architrave that we hadn't really considered. I would say 100k but do not think you've got cash to burn. Get lots of quotes for work and shop around. Good luck.

[Alicealicewhothe]

We brought a 3 bed semi detached in south east home county. For about 35k we did the following. Admittedly we had some contacts that made it much cheaper, did alot of the stripping away and removal of stuff ourselves and painting ourselves.

• full rewire with spotlights added downstairs and more plug sockets in all rooms.
• all ceilings plastered and walls plastered again
• bathroom and downstairs toliet stripped, new pipes, shower, bathtub, toilet and sink then tiling done both walls and floor
• kitchen stripped and new units put in plus tiling done
• full repaint
• new carpet in whole house
• old brick shed knocked down, garden rubbish removed including bushes and a pond, garden levelled out and returfed. Area concreted for a wooden shed. Kept existing patio.
• new internal doors hung and stair case replaced by carpenter.

Well worth the stress (didnt live in it, lived with parents for 4 months).