How much does it cost to renovate an entire house? Link to potential house insude

[Rainingdogsandcats]

We've just been gazumped. Greedy Bastards. We need a very specific house so have spotted this house.

Obviously it needs complete do up inside. It's in the area that we want and similar sizes go for around £375-395 done up nicely.

How much realistically do you think?

New bathroom, kitchens, all carpets up and flooring, there's probably Minton tiles under that awful carpet in the hall as in the other local houses.

Complete decorate. Garden can take place over time but everything else needs doing straight away.

www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/68624322

Lovely house, fantastic price!

Before you decide, ask around local estate agents to see what the top price would be for a property like that completely renovated. If it's only a few £k more that the purchase price of this one, then you could be overspending on the renovations.

It's fairly neutral if you looked past all the clutter and dated furniture, carpets, curtains etc.

Definitely something you could live with and do over time rather than one huge lump, providing that the structure, electrics etc are sound. You'd probably get it done in time to not need such a large house due to DC growing up and then would be able to sell up and downsize.

Obviously the kitchen and bathrooms need work and would be a priority after heating, electrics, windows etc, but it's not like everything must be done before you could possibly move in, like a PP said, no-one ever died from having a dated bathroom.

It's odd that hardly any houses have sold recently on that road, so definitely check out the area and prices in the vicinity, also what the traffic, parking is like. But if you have a large family to accommodate, choice is limited so obviously it's making the best of what is available.

Three years ago I spent £20k on my house..not as big as yours. Ours was a pretty compact 4 bed bungalow
I got a full rewire and total repaint..white over white so that was probably quite quick was probably about £3k
Laminate flooring throughout apart from three bedrooms
New kitchen doors on units
New fascia And guttering and down pipes and large garage door painted
We had the front of the house done with white cladding and the side of the garage that the house faces..I know that was £1200
We had a new fence almost along the full length of the house..very sturdy, separate planks of wood was about £800
New concrete path..about 30 feet..again £800
New small upvc garage door about £350
New decking at back of house was £2000
A new 6 piece dining set was included in that price..wasn’t expensive about £500

It looked like a new house when all done
I know the right people so I know I can get stuff done where they don’t take your eyes out and we live in the ne which is still a cheap place to live

I’ve just replaced three misted up pieces of glass in the windows and one pane in the patio door..£570.. I know that was outside the original budget

The thought of spending £100k would horrify me

We did an entire house including re-wire, brand new plumbing, bathroom, plastering, painting etc (no new kitchen though) and it set us back £60k. Most of the work was done by ourselves though.

We're seeing it this afternoon so i'm excited . Have made some notes on important expensive things to look out for and ask about.

Good advice on this thread about the really expensive things being boiler, roof, wiring, damp, roof. Those are all things that are expensive and you’ll have to get right but they won’t make it look any nicer!

In terms of kitchen, bathrooms etc it all depends, you can get cheap sinks, baths, flooring etc or you can go full Lefroy Brooks and other expensive brands and spend more.

So these taps are £1k but these are £99. It also depends on whether you’ll need to knock down walls etc as this will cost more.

To give another example this range cooker is £380 but this Lacanche is £14k!

And you may be able to reuse some things already there - some of the floorboards might be great or they might be rotten.

It’s a lovely house, the basics are there so I think you could move in and do it up slowly if your budget dictated that. It’s got great high ceilings and what looks to be good sized rooms, so go for it if you love it when you’ve seen it.

Terrible photos though and wtf is there no floor plan?

Btw we spent about £100k doing up our house, over several years and spent money where we thought it mattered (quality carpets, curtains, appliances) and less where it didn’t (sofas which were going to be trashed because kids, light fittings we liked but weren’t expensive)

Also I have one friend who is building a full extension (kitchen, dining, two bedrooms) for about £70k but they are doing plumbing and wiring themselves and another who is ‘just’ having a kitchen extended into the side return, which is costing £150k but with top of the range everything, including full project management, architects etc. So it can vary enormously.

OP not sure if you've gone yet but I do wonder if there are problems beyond the cosmetic.

Look for wall paper in odd places (under windows especially). Keep an eye out for rising damp and on the top floor look upwards to make sure you can't see any leaks (or unexpected wall paper on the ceiling)

Good luck, its a great house

Yes, of course, please PM me. I’m local too

I have no idea of costs, just came on to say that is a beautiful house.

Ok I've been. It's bloody massive!

All windows are uPVC and 2 years old, some finishing and loose bits underneath one of the bedroom windows needs looking at. She said they never came back to finish it off.

Central heating first 2 floors but boiler servicing top floor is broken so they were told by gas chap that it would be better to have new larger boiler servicing whole house.

Electrics all up to date, plumbing all up to date, they are foster carers so being checked by ss.

Everything cosmetic needs doing, they are smokers.

Kitchen, dining room needs knocking through. Wall is solid and bloody thick, probably need 2 Raj's or a flipping big one.

Bit of damp in top bedroom from loose flashing on next doors chimney. It's dry now but I felt the plaster and it does give a bit.

Random plastering in one of the rooms is where a fireplace was taken out, looks not finished very professionally.

This family have lived here 30 years. They've loved it, they're down sizing.

6th bedroom is an exaggeration, maybe a baby's room, realistically an en suite as it was that once before.

My friend had to go pick up his DC from school but he's coming with me to look again next week.

Utility is new ish and has had a new roof a year ago.

sounds good generally.
but do consider a full structural survey.

for diy, youtube has many very useful tutorials!

Define the electrics being ‘up to date’. The kitchen looks a like it’s run or extension leads so it’s a looooong time since it’s been rewired.. definitely get an eicr to check.

Glad you liked it, it’s a very exciting prospect!

Sounds excellent. As far as you can see now, apart from replacing the boiler, it’s all cosmetic. That will be relatively expensive, as will removing the wall and installing an RSJ. So new kitchen, two bathrooms, decoration and flooring throughout on top of the two big, expensive jobs. You’re certainly not looking at some of the insane figures bandied about here.

Get a roofer to check the roof and an independent damp survey too.

I think some of the insane figures quoted on any property development thread stem from some people using far more expensive suppliers than standard high street.

Designer £20/30k kitchen instead of £5k from Ikea
Farrow & Ball paint, not Dulux
Branded high end or solid wood flooring instead of laminate or normal carpet.
Having absolutely everything done by tradespeople instead of some DIY.
High end appliances, designer radiators, light fittings, curtain poles, the list goes on.

You can easily just double/triple/quadruple the cost by choosing more expensive options, even though the standard versions are perfectly lovely and durable and absolutely fine you don't have money to burn.

It's a lovely house. I lived in one similar -they take some heating with the high ceilings! Ditto to painting -that will be one of your biggest costs as it's labour intensive, £500 a room plus paint. Carpets - mid-range £800 a room. New bathrooms £15k each. New kitchen £20k mid-range. Whoever said 50k was probably on the money.

Beside the point but ffs that people who smoke inside the house are allowed to foster children!! And what about their own kids? Huge TUT!

Sounds great OP!

Whoever said 50k was probably on the money

That was me but I’d never spend £15k on a bathroom! The wiring is fine if SS has OK’d it for fostering, they obviously haven’t got enough sockets in the kitchen but adding those is part of the update.

Yeah there were extension leads leading to lamps and such so definitely needs loads more sockets in proper places.

I will get my friend to ask them to define up to date re electrics, similarly plumbing.

I think I would want to take out the downstairs bathroom, it's very small and very grubby and old. Could just become storage or opened up into the hall maybe.

Minton tiles under the hall carpet as I suspected but would need restoring I imagine.

Kitchen is bigger than it looks. Garden isn't very nice, all slabs.

I imagine if we don't go for this, and I suspect DH will need a lot of convincing, that developers will buy it and turn it into flats. It used to be a HMO many years ago.

mommybear1 how do I pm you?

I wouldn't get too excited OP, if you don't know any tradesmen and have no DIY abilities a renovation is a bit of a nightmare and costs will likely run high. Smoke remediation is no walk in the park and is messy and costly, disposing of things is a truly vile job, all carpets etc., the wood will have absorbed it, the walls will have. You cannot paint directly over as the nicotine will bleed through and likely stain.

In a house of that age with nothing done to it in years you can likely expect damp, which will eat up a lot of budget, particularly true where prior fireplaces have been blocked in preventing adequate ventilation. Also full rewiring and the boiler, unless recently replaced will need looking at. Rewiring will involve holes in walls for access etc. Also bear in mind pulling down old wallpaper or taking tiles off the wall often pulls down plaster which means it needs redoing.

It would be gorgeous when it's done and is a nice sized good looking home but will cost a lot, take a while and be messy. If you're planning to stay in the current property while works are done don't forget to add on the cost of that.

Not saying don't buy it at all, just saying ai would abandon thoughts of restoring original tiles etc, and get a full structural survey done before mentally committing to it like this, the true costs will be known when you receive the results of that. You could ask a builder to view it with you if you can find one but tricky if you don't know anyone and also damp, ventilation, the roof etc, are specialisms.