To think we can renovate a 3 bed terrace house with £25k

[Woodlandwalks]

We've been approved a mortgage to buy a run down property with £25,000 extra for renovations. It's not big but has scope to extend one day but that'll be a long way off. As we have a young baby I don't want to live in it whilst all the work is going on so the idea is that baby and I will move in with in laws and hubby will stay in the house to do a lot of the work himself for a few weeks / months before Baby and I move in.

We want to:
Redo the electrics throughout the house.
Laminate all floors (3 bedrooms, 1 living room and 1 dining room)
Put in a completely new kitchen and bathroom (both are only about 6.5 square feet so they are tiny and don't need to be fancy because the idea is that's where we'll extend one day so just a basic kitchen and bathroom for now)
Replaster all the walls and paint.
Put a log burner in the chimney (chimney already fully functional)
We can't do the plastering or the electrics by ourselves but my husband could do the vast majority of the rest with a little help from family.

Does £25,000 sound a reasonable budget or are we being too ambitious
Husband says it's plenty but I don't know and he has a tendancy to be overly optimistic and I'm the one who manages our finances day to day so would feel better to have more opinions on it.

[Flamingolingo]

I’m not convinced, I’m sorry. But then I’m mid renovation. Our house is pretty big, so will naturally cost more, but our spend is more like £100k, and we have probably had tradespeople here intensively for 6 months. We’ve actually had people in and out of the house for 9 months, but there have been quieter periods within that. So unless your DH is going to give up work, I’d expect it could take up to a year of evening/weekend work for one person.

Our log burner cost £4k, one bathroom just finished at £5.5k including labour, we have spent at least £10k on plumbing and heating (including all new radiators, water tank and plumbing). We had some structural work done which you won’t, but that was £20k, then another £20k on a new kitchen (not massively high spec, it’s a DIY kitchen, but by the time you have units, sink, appliances, worktops, flooring, and fitting it all adds up). We had all new electrics which probably cost us about £7k, and new carpets at £3k (in the sale). We have plastered some areas and had lining paper put into others, but almost all work done has been charged at time spent rather than a quote, so I know exactly what the work has cost. The standard hourly rate for most things here is around £25/hour, but some things like plumbing/heating are much much more.

But the thing I’m most worried about for you is that life with a small baby is hard and the time this is going to take is extreme. I’m not trying to be negative, but renovation is hard work emotionally. This is the second we have done and it’s relentless, the mess, the dust, the choosing of things, the expenditure. We are down to our last £20k with one bathroom still to do and a bunch of decorating left, which feels a little nerve wracking to be honest.

[Porridgeoat]

I’ve done several projects. Personally I’d aim to get the essentials done. Get the bedrooms, hallways, lounge all wired, plastered, floored and finished so you have areas that you will be complete happy with. Leave the bathroom and kitchen and save your cash. The contrast between the finished and the unfinished rooms will be liveable. Means you’ll be at the in-laws for a shorter time

[Porridgeoat]

I can’t see why you’d do the kitchen or bathroom if planning to extend using these areas.

[GnomeDePlume]

When planning the electrical work dont scimp on sockets. Put more in than you think you will want. They are easy to include at the start but a pain (and expensive) to add later.

Think about where doors may go if/when you extend so make sure that cabling or pipework dont go across a space where you may have a door in future eg under a window. This was good advice from our CH plumber on one of our renovation projects. The lady who bought it added a conservatory and leaving the space under the window clear of cabling and pipework made that addition very straightforward.

Plan, plan, plan (then plan a bit more). Measure twice, cut once. It's the overall effect that matters - All thoughts which have saved us time and money in the end.

[DuringDinnerMints]

Your biggest expense will be the kitchen. We did ours for about £1k though. We bought the units flat packed from Wickes, the worktop online and paid a joiner to cut and fit it. We also had a butcher's block free standing unit from IKEA for extra work surface. A kitchen doesn't need to cost a fortune if it's only for a few years.

[Roselilly36]

Optimistic budget, what contingency fund do you have available? I have never known anyone’s project come in under or on budget. If DH is doing all the work alone, it will take months, how soon were you wanting to be in? It’s really hard when you are doing a project you won’t see much of DH. When we moved we didn’t have that much work to do, I was living elsewhere with a toddler & newborn it was really hard work to be honest.

[Griselda1]

I'd a major renovation a few years back and it was surprising items like, grout, tile trim etc which cost a lot. If I'd it to do again I wouldn't tile anywhere as it becomes outdated so quickly. Spreadsheet every cost and detail everything.

[LadyofMisrule]

Make sure you have a risk budget, though. Is your house listed? If so it may cost more for particular features. Do you need scaffolding? If so, make sure you do all the tasks that need work up high at the same time so you only do it once. Get your schedule of works clear so that you aren't undoing any of the tasks you have completed with rework. Group and prioritise the significant tasks and identify the things that could wait if money runs short.

[SchrodingersBox]

Can you refurbish rather than rip out and start again? If the plan is to knock the house about in the future it will save money and mean that you're able to do the big job sooner. The larger jobs are generally cheaper per square metre than smaller ones so have the old and the new replastered in one go will be cheaper overall than doing what you have now and then doing the extension. Some of the money you spend now on plastering and electrics will have to be redone when you extend.

For example you can buy vinyl tile stickers that you can put on top of existing tiles, paint cupboard doors and walls, replace handles. We did in this for our kitchen and spent under £500 whereas rip out and replace would have cost £20,000. It was much quicker and less disruptive. If the bath is enamel it can be cheaper to get it re-enameled rather than replace.

[Chocolate1984]

We bought a 1960s three bed that need renovated and did it for less than that. We emptied the house, ripped out the bathroom and kitchen, scraped all the wall paper off, removed all the tiles and painted ourselves. We only paid for things we couldn’t do ourself. We only needed to plaster two rooms though and I think he charged £350 as one was the bathroom.

These are the costs I remember

New boiler, 6 new radiators, moved some pipes £3600.

Rewired £2300. They did this from underneath the house and fed the wires through from underneath rather than making holes in the wall.

Bathroom £3300- we could have bought a cheaper suite.

Kitchen including fridge, freezer, oven, dishwasher, washing machine was around £8200.

Flooring was around £4500 but that depends on what you pick and your room sizes.

Paint cost £800.

[Namechangecringe]

It your husband is doing the work it might be ok but my friend has already spent more than that on their project house and it’s still a dump and didn’t include kitchens or bathrooms though they still need doing. Unexpected things like roofing issues can suddenly set you back 10k

[countrygirl99]

Don't be tempted to cut corners if you install a log burner. DH is a chimney sweep and he sees some poor quality installations that are very dangerous. Not just fire risks but there are more carbon monoxide poisoning incidents from solid fuel fires than from gas appliances.

[RedRocketGirl]

I bought my 2 bed end of terrace property in 2016 and had approx £25k for renovations.

Brother in law is a builder so he and his boss did the work on a day rate rather than for a % which was cheaper. We didn't go high end with anything and got various deals but due to discovering issues we didn't know about which included damp, the bathroom extension not being attached to the house, no lintel under the extension roof, a wall being held up by a bit of 2 by 4 and the job taking so much longer than expected I couldn't continue paying rent and the mortgage so I had to throw money at labour to get it finished.... It ended up costing me £48k in total. I had to get a £15k loan to pay the builder.

It's not impossible to get it done for £25k but you don't have much wiggle room if you discover something else that needs doing - and you always find something when you start knocking about an old house.... also your husband is going to have to do a lot of the work.... Best of luck!

[Regretsy]

About halfway through doing up a 2 bed terrace by myself. Some thoughts:

• Costs and priority of tasks can depend where you live. My log burner and installation cost 3k and I shopped around. It was a big expense for me but I live up north so winter heating costs are insane and I love it now (after some teething problems), and I think it’s probably added value to the house so worth it.
  

-As others have said if your DH is working then a few weeks/months I think is too optimistic time wise.
-I got a whole room plastered and boarded for £300, I found a guy who was starting out. He did a good job, not perfect but I told him he could leave carpet in a mess as I was removing it anyway.
-As others have said, get all the plastering done early and at the same time. It’s so messy you won’t want to live in it trust me, I had to.
-Write a list of priorities and what you can live without at the bottom. I was about to get my flooring and bathroom done before corona hit which was annoying but I could live without it as a lot of other stuff was done.
-I’ve been quoted £2000 for new bathroom refit and that’s from another guy starting out so will be the cheapest.
-it’s worth saving up jobs for specialists ie I got a joiner to do kitchen worktops and bathroom door at the same time. He also was friend of friend so got a good deal. He was brilliant.
-tiling is surprisingly easy and cheap! Some great tiles online.
I have an Instagram about my adventures in attempting to do up my house by myself and the things that have gone wrong:
herecomesthesunstreet
It’s got two tiling projects on there, and a recent story about why you shouldn’t cut mdf with a bread knife! 🩸
I think if you’re very controlling (like me!) about budget it’ll be doable, but be prepared for it to take a long time! Good luck!

[Canyonkeys]

We renovated a 3 bed house and spent around 30k. To give an idea this was roughly -

New windows (no doors) 5k
Kitchen and appliances 12k
Log burner - 2k
Flooring in all rooms - wood/carpet 4K
Plastering (kitchen and living room) 1k
New internal doors - 1k

Extras that added up were things like new toilet, sink, paint, brushes, rollers, and we included some furnishings in the cost - new light fittings, new bed, new sofa etc. They really do add up, think we spent about £100-200 on rollers, brushes and trays alone

We didn’t do any electrics/heating though which may eat up some of your budget but shop around, get at least 3 quotes for each job. For example, we were quoted 5k for a log burner and installation but saved by getting someone registered to fit it and we bought the stove ourselves online and a builder we knew did the relevant building work.

I think 25k is a good amount though just make sure you keep a spreadsheet or something and put everything on it (even low cost items) so you can keep track of where you’re at.

Good luck, it’s hard work but totally worth it!

[newbathroomforme]

We’ve just had a quote for a log burner fully functioning chimney putting to one side the cost of the stove because prices vary hugely we were quoted £1300 and that’s a multi fuel liner going up two floors you are meant to use a qualified fitter. We currently spending just over £12k+ on a small bathroom but thats totally gutting it it we’re back to the brick work insulating the walls and turning into a wet room we’ve chosen high end fittings etc. my husband is doing some of the work. We had a electric cable put in for a new range cooler a few years ago that cost £500 and £200 to disconnect the old cooker reconnect to a new gas point on the other side of the kitchen DH had done the pipe work. My DH can plumb (he’s not a qualified plumber) but his company works in the construction industry so he’s very very handy he can wire up plug sockets lights etc and do a pretty good job plastering say 1m x 1m but he couldnt plaster a whole wall flat or a ceiling. There are lots of unexpected costs we’ve just bought the fittings for two sash windows including weights £400 and we’re getting them trade price. We’re having wall mounted taps in our bathroom the bit that goes behind the wall cost £150 on top of the cost of the taps. It’s when you add up the little bits like this that you probably haven’t thought about or budgeted for that cost start to rise. If you’re hoping this is your life long home then IMO it’s worth buying the best you can afford and maybe taking longer to do it because your saving up the money to do it. But if your hoping that in 5 years you will be moving I probably wouldnt spend so much.
How old is your house? Ours in parts is at the very least 600 years old it’s not uncommon for us to do something that looks quite quite simple and unearth something more complicated and expensive.

[Silentplikebath]

Is your husband able to do most of the work himself? Does he have the time and expertise? There’s nothing worse than living with botched or half done DIY. Be prepared to get professionals in when necessary and to spend a lot more money.

[Curiosity101]

@MorrisZapp

My thinking for £5k is just when you add everything up:

• units
• worktops
• appliances
• sink and taps
• tiles / splash backs, adhesive and grout
• paint
• floor
• lighting
• window coverings
• plumbing adjustments
• getting people in to help do bits and pieces when you don't have enough time to renovate a whole 3 bed house on top of working full time and a baby 😅

[TheNoodlesIncident]

When we did our previous house the worst thing was getting cracking on Job A, only to find part way through that Job B and then C needed doing in order to proceed. Plus as PPs have pointed out, there are often issues that don't show up on surveys that have to be put right. You should have a contingency fund available for the unexpected.

With ours, we started sorting a few floorboards in the dining room that looked dodgy. When we lifted them we discovered that there had been a leak somewhere in the past and the joists were affected. Looking at the whole of the joists, the ends abutting the kitchen party wall also looked damp. Because the kitchen had a solid floor which was wicking up damp (bypassing the primitive DPC to the exterior walls). So we had to lift the lino, then the quarry tiles, then a 30cm layer of concrete, then spoil down to the solid rock the houses were built on. Kitchen was only 8.5 x 5.5 feet, so very tiny indeed, but the volume of soil dug out of that floor was immense. It took many many barrowloads wheeled out to a skip on the road to get rid of it. Then DH took a day off work to buy joists, joist hangers, floorboards and a new drill to put in a suspended floor.

Obviously we would have had to do this job at some point, but it started through some suspiciously marked floorboards in another room. And the whole house had loads of jobs like that, some we anticipated and some we had not, as we didn't realise what other numpties before us had done...

In short, expect it to take longer and cost more than you think.

[FizzyGreenWater]

Also, laminate in every room? If there are even half decent floorboards think about hiring a sander instead maybe? Biased though as I think laminate especially in bedrooms is horrible and cheap looking by comparison, costs to do and THE DUST!

[IdblowJonSnow]

Definitely get the replastering done before you move in or you'll never do it with kids there. It's such a mucky dusty job.
Agree its doable but optimistic.

[namesnames]

It's doable.

There are some great tutorials on Youtube, I would plaster everywhere at the same time.

[EwwSprouts]

Assuming you are outside London given your DH's job? Budget sounds doable to me so long as you don't go for an expensive kitchen. My last kitchen was from www.magnet.co.uk/sale/ Gloss doors, slow closers etc still looked good after 5 years (we moved then) and we bought appliances elsewhere.

Lots of useful threads on Property.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/2818031-how-much-did-it-cost-you-to-do-your-kitchen

[PrimalLass]

Yes you can do it. Especially if you get a second-hand kitchen. Even new though an Ikea one isn't expensive and is good quality.

[GnomeDePlume]

I would say doable. We renovated 2 two bedroom bungalows a few years back and each time cost came in at around £13-£14k to include rewire, CH, full replumbing, kitchen, bathroom.

DH was a Part P electrician so only trade bought in was for gas plumbing. DH no longer Part P but still a 'competent person' so can do rewire then get signed off by Building Control which costs around £150.

When we built our extension brickwork and roof were done by a builder. DH did all other work. We used plasterboard and skimmed over the joints. The result is not perfect. We will get it properly skimmed one day but for now it is fine.