To ask for advice from house renovation experts?

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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.

I have just completed a large scale extension and I think you would be far better off waiting for a house that suits your needs. This sounds like a complete money pit.

It'll take far longer than you anticipate, it'll cost way more, builders wont be available, and despite what you say it really is absolute hell living on a building site and there will be weeks where you wont be allowed to live there anyway.

My advice is to absolutely avoid and go for something ready made or something that needs just a spruce up. Extensions are really, really expensive at the moment.

I recently spent £30k on my house and it was just 2 new doors, moving a window slightly, new gas pipes, new boiler, new floors and having the front garden redone.

I really think you are massively under budgeting, especially if you want an extension/new kitchen. I’d be looking more in the region of £120k, then have an extra £20k for anything that the building work throws up (there is always something!)

How cheap is this house if the 4 bed next door only sold for £230k?

I agree that this house sounds like a money pit, I would personally keep looking for something that needs a bit less work.

Check the roof and the windows. Our entire extension budget went on fixing those two things.

£50-£60k I think sounds low for what you’ve proposed needs doing, plus you’d need contingency.

@CactusMactus - yes definitely will do this and obviously get the right surveys

@Queijo I've never heard of anyone I know spending anything like the amount you quote on an extension, how did you get that figure? Also as I put in my previous post the potential added value is 230k, imagine if you could get a 4 bed in the SE for 230 😂

I don't get how anyone thinks its a money pit when even if I spent £120 I'd add value of £230 🤔am I missing something? If I wanted ready made I'd just stay where I am

Well it is adding a third onto your mortgage. I think a lot of posters are worried that you seem to be hugely under-estimating the cost and it would be cheaper and easier to buy somewhere with enough space.

Completely agree - only people who have zero knowledge of actual wiring, electrics and physics or who want to drum up business would make statements of the kind that get made on here. 99% of wiring done since the 60s doesn't deteriorate (older stuff with rubber insulation was much less durable, and Aluminium wiring was a limited dead end). It's obviously worth getting wiring checked and tested, but unless something is exceptionally bad, or you need a lot more sockets etc, a full rewire is a waste of money and resources, sensible upgrades including the consumer unit if very old are much better.

Huh? I'd be paying cash for the works, not that it matters.

To be fair I did ask for views on costs and things to consider so those comments have been really helpful, if it costs a lot more then yeah I'd need to consider if its still an investment I'd want to make, but making broad brush statements that its a money pit with no basis is weird

120k wasn’t for the extension - you said it need total modernisation. If you want a decent spec kitchen you’re looking at the majority of the budget you set already.

Add in the extension then yes it’s going to be way over budget (especially if you’re in the SE!)

I think you need to do a lot more research before committing to this house.

Thanks yes this is part of my research hence asking the questions.

What does £120k cover from your perspective? By modernisation I meant kitchen, bathroom and decorating, perhaps I used the wrong term?

As already stated the garage probably will need new wall/foundations so lots of underground costs.
New wiring etc and then the hidden costs that can't be seen ( ours cost 10k+ and DH is a builder)
You don't need an architect at all, a good builder with a Structural Engineer will be able to do plans/cals etc.

Apologies for assuming you would have a mortgage. I assumed that because you said about having surveys and all cash buyers I know do not bother with them and don't tend to ask for advice if they have over 100k spare in cash.

I'm not a cash buyer but improvements would be funded by cash rather than extending the mortgage 🙂

Noted thanks, going into the loft is another possibility

If there were profit to be made I would’ve expected a professional to have snapped it up. As is I don’t think you’d necessarily lose money if you did the work to create a home for yourself but I doubt there’s be loads of money in it

Surveys usually say a re-wire is needed because anything over ?10ish years old might not be up to current standards, and they have to cover themselves. In practice we tend to look for clues - how ancient do the sockets and light switches look, does the consumer unit look relatively modern, are there any obvious howlers like plugged in cables disappearing into walls, dirty cables poorly fixed to walls etc? Is there an electric cooker properly fitted with an isolation switch and its own circuit? With the central heating, you'd expect double radiators mostly at the least. A lot of single radiators and very scraggy, over painted pipework may indicate a very old system.

Roofs and drains are easily overlooked and can be expensive to fix. Is there an existing drain cover where you want to build the extension?

Double glazing and changing internal doors are both easier and cheaper than we anticipated. However a new external door is expensive.

If you're doing a renovation and plan to live in it, do it well, accept that after doing the works you'll be at a 'net loss' for a while if you wanted to sell and just enjoy it.

Honestly we had such wild numbers thrown at us from friends and forums from as low as 60 k to as high as 200 k when we extended and renovated our home, it was much clearer when we started speaking to companies and getting quotes. We ended up working with a design company called Home Tales who were very upfront with what we could achieve with our budget. It wasn't easy but we found a lot of ways to cut costs (being able to salvage the original flooring was a lifesaver!!)

Make sure when you get the kitchen extension that the foundations are deep enough to add the first floor extension on top at a later date. If it's just going to be a single story extension the foundations won't need to be so deep.
Ask to see a builders work before you sign a contract with them. Insist on a quote not an estimate.
Always get 3 quotes for exactly the same specification. You'll need to specify exactly what you want to make a good comparison.
Try to get a recommendation for builders. Don't pay up front. Release money as you go along each month on a payment plan against work completed. Hold back the last payment until any snags are rectified.

Loft conversions are not cheap. I had one done 9 years ago and paid £48k. I got 2 large bedrooms and a shower room in the middle plus an additional flight of stairs. It was left with skimmed walls and we painted the bedrooms ourselves. Also for building regs we had to have fire alarms wired into electrics and 10 year battery back ups.

We knocked through a galley kitchen into dining room, fitted kitchen in 1960s small semi. £25k +architect +building warrant. In Scotland in 2020 pre the crazy Covid price increase. We've also had to rewire and test for asbestos ......joys....now the same work would be significantly more.
I feel your budget is unrealistic.