To ask for advice from house renovation experts?

[Speckledpasta]

Posting here for traffic. I'd really benefit from some advice.

I am looking to buy a bit of a reno project (viewing this week). It is currently empty and priced well - I know the area and have looked up sold prices to get an idea of the ceiling which is a lot higher than the asking price for the property. Its an in demand area for finished properties and an area I want to move to.

It needs complete modernisation - central heating and electrics all in good nick but cosmetically will need refurbishment including new bathroom and kitchen. I would do a kitchen extension to make a great kitchen diner to high standard and consider a future second story extension to add a bedroom. I expect the initial modernisation and kitchen extension to cost £50-60k?

I am not buying to flip but want to ensure I don't make an unsound decision - advice on the questions to ask, things to look for and considerations would be very appreciated. I'd be selling my current home and moving in but I am not bothered about living in a building site as I work away a few days a week and have the cash for getting going straight away.

Nudging for the Sunday evening scrollers attention

Not an expert but the first question anyone will ask is how big is the extension?

Does the £50-60k include the kitchen?

If it does and you want a high spec kitchen (let's say £30k) then that's £30k for the building work. Assuming £3k per m2 and VAT on top, gives you about 8m2 of an extension (ie 2x4m) which isn't enormous.

But that's assuming you live in the south and are paying for someone to do this for you. And that £30k is a reasonable kitchen for your house (which is often cited to be 10% of the property value).

A bathroom doesn't need to cost so much - just had a very small one done for £5K - and that included the two weeks labour (£2k) to go back to bare plaster, rewire and replumb. You might want something a bit fancier.

Without knowing the size and value of the property it's hard to give estimates that are likely to be useful.

Not sure how big your planned kitchen extension is but I think you are way underbudgeting there.

I'm no expert, as we are doing lots of DIY to keep costs down, and don't need to extend, but depending on the size of the house and location (London/SE vs midlands/north) I'd say £50-60k is probably low.
Full electrics and central heating replacement likely to cost at least £10-20k depending on scope/spec and if all rads need replacing and extra sockets are needed, and re plastering all the rooms after etc.
New bathroom - £5-10k depending on spec, kitchen anywhere from £5k for just replacing basic cabinets to 10-20k for normal wren type job, depending on spec.
The extension will need foundations capable of having a second floor. Drains may need to be moved etc. I would say any extension is looking at least £30k these days?
Can you take a builder with you to view who might be able to give a very rough estimate?

You’re looking at closer to £100k for an extension of that type (with foundations to support second story in future) + kitchen and bathroom renos.

How can anyone possibly say without knowing what type of a house it is. You’ll get wild guesses unless you give a bit more detail.

Terraced, semi or detached, period of build, sq. ft of house, how big will the extension be? What modernization work are you doing? Re wire, replacing bathrooms, windows, re plastering?

A wild guess would be that you won’t get much change out of £60k for the kitchen extension alone, but could be more depending on size.

You will need to share more details.

Thanks for the responses and to clarify

• second story extension wouldn't be over the kitchen, it'd be over the garage if foundations allow and if the money is there in the future, its optional
• kitchen, new bathroom and ensuite would be the immediate plan plus decorating. Unless anything else actually needed to be done at that point I'd wait a year or two to build up the cash
• it is a 3 bed detached, 70s era I think, in the SE. The 4 bed next door in good modern condition sold for c£230k more recently
• I'll have an idea of size of possible kitchen extension once I view but I'd estimate very roughly max of 5 X 4m

If it’s a 70s house, it will need a rewire. Decorating a house of that age normally means re plaster or re skim. Are the windows in good condition?

You are looking at a minimum of £100k but should budget at least £125k for the work your are planning.

Thanks that's helpful. Is it just its age that means it will need a rewire or will an electrician be able to assess if it is needed?

It’s almost a certainty that a property older than 35 years needs a rewire. Doing it before you re plaster and decorate will cost you less in the long run. Otherwise you would be ripping off the plaster and drilling holes everywhere for a rewire later. Also a kitchen extension will need ground floor plumbing moved as you’ll want to move the sink, washing machine etc.

Perhaps if you share the rightmove link, it will be easier to advise on how to go about doing this without exceeding the ceiling price of the area.

I would also take into account that most reputable builders will be booked up for the foreseeable future , especially as we’re coming into the spring/summer season, so you may not be able to get the work done for a good few months. So even if you have the cash to go straight away, make sure it’s liveable for a few months first.

Thank you that makes sense. Luckily my brother is a plumber so that bit is straightforward at least.

I'm confident I understand the ceiling price well as I've lived here all my life, it's just the cost and approach to reno's I am less confident in

I'd second that good builders are usually booked up 6+ months ahead especially for bigger jobs.

But you'll want plans and building regs first including digs to check foundations. It took us 18 months of planning permission to finally get a potential extension over a single storey garage rejected at appeal so don't forget to factor time in.

5 x 4 m - I would think £60K+VAT fully done with electrics, so £80k plus kitchen/bathroom. The good news is that you can properly insulate your extension; getting existing building up to often involve adding another 20cm+ to the loft insulation and it's probably something you want to do early on, possibly at the same point as rewiring upstairs if you go down that route for simplicity.

This site seems obsessed with rewires. Op there is no need to rewire unless your electrics are flicking on and off, or burning etc, you can google, don’t rewire simply due to age, but do upgrade the console board.

We have done 4 houses in the last 20 years and you are massively underestimating the costs tbh building supplies have gone through the roof since covid. Ie a bag of plaster was £4.50 before covid it’s now £9.50.

The garage won’t have the right foundation for a second storey and the walls weren’t built to withstand the additional weight you are definitely going to run up costs there. Might be cheaper to go into the loft if the beams etc are up to spec.
Don’t forget to factor in architectural costs and planning checks - even if you can do it under permitted development you will need architectural advice, drainage plans etc building regs sign off.
I would rewire now then it’s done and it’s a total cow to do so might as well get the mess done while you are in a mess.
You probably could bring the rewire, plastering, kitchen without extension bathrooms etc in on that budget but it is going to be tight and need very good project management / project plan so you aren’t having to have trades do additional works or visits etc and probably quite a bit of compromise on the fitments ie standard tiles rather than stone or any fancy designer shapes etc
the shortage of builders (who are decent) means that if you are buying in labour you will be paying a premium - if they are available straight away and reasonably cheap avoid.
also however long you plan for it to take - triple it - everything takes forever when you are living in it.

I had a recent quote for a small extension, 70k plus & that was the build only.

what contingency budget would you have available? The figure quoted doesn’t sound enough tbh, renovations are pretty expensive given the price of materials.

Surprised so many people saying will deffo need a rewire. I bought a 70s house last year, had a full electrics survey done, one thing needed fixing, no rewire needed

I think you are significantly undercooking the total cost, but it all depends on the details and size.

If you are building an extension you may need some drawings done - perhaps get an architect / pm person to draw what you want and a detailed schedule of all the work items needed so you can get some itemised quotes to start the costing process

Mine was last done about a hundred years ago. The kitchen needed upgrading and clearly the fuse board, electrician said everything else was in good working order.

you don’t go and just rewire a house due to age. That’s ludicrous. Sure if it’s old and you’re ripping down walls, go for it, it’s prudent, otherwise habe an electrician check it out.

the below are signs you need a rewire, thay and a good electrician checks it and tells you so.

i see it often on here, folks post immediately, right it needs a rewire, no, no it doesn’t.

How Do You Know If Your House Needs Rewiring

• Persistent Burning Smell. ...
• Discoloured Outlets and Switches. ...
• Flickering Lights. ...
• Blown Fuses and Tripping Circuit Breaker. ...
• Outlet Problems. ...
• You Have Aluminium Wiring. ...
• You Have Experience Electrical Shocks.

I think it's going to cost double what you're thinking, at least £100k, especially as you're in the SE. Sorry!

No way it will only cost £50-60! A whole extension and fittings? You're looking more like £170k in SE. That's before architects and planning permissions too.

Impossible to say without knowing the size of the house, the purchase price and the ceiling for the area.

Have you had a full structural survey? Are you sure there are no additional issues? Are the windows sound?

Providing there's no rewiring, no significant replumbing, I guess you could do a bathroom and kitchen refit and redecoration for £60k. Bear in mind you will probably also need to install new flooring/carpet throughout and spend some money of curtains/blinds/light fittings, etc, I'm not sure your budget will stretch to an extension.

If the house has potential, can you make do until you have £100k?

@Speckledpasta I live in South Hampshire and we're just looking at quotes for a single storey rear extension. New kitchen and new utility/shower room.

So far extension quotes have been coming out at 2.5k plus vat per sqm. Kitchen we've been quoted 12.5k including fitting (is a reasonably big kitchen) and about 6k for the utility.

I live in a 74 built property and we have been told by our sparky that we don't need a complete rewire, but an uprated consumer unit.

Feel free to pm me if you want to talk it through.