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Original poster

Offer accepted on a house - renovation tips please

27 replies

milge · 10/10/2006 20:12

I have had an offer accepted on a house which is in a complete state. It is structurally sound, but needs lots of tarting up/TLC. It has been rented for 8 out of its 10 year life. Its a 4 bed detached with 2 ensuites and a family bathroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, utility and study.
How much do you think I will need to budget for the following:

Painting it all
curtains
carpets/laminate
3 bathrooms/ensuites
new kitchen
Decking/patio to the garden.

We are not a practical family, have no members who are good at DIY or are tradesmen, so I feel a bit at risk of being ripped off.
Anyone done something similar??

OP posts:
GhoulsToo · 10/10/2006 20:15

I'm doing all that - although ours wasn't a wreck just not our style but its doing my fruit in cos I'm soooooooooooooooooooo indecisive

so sorry can't help!

lulumama · 10/10/2006 20:15

more than you think!

add half as much again to any estimates, and double the length of time it will take....

often find once start something, another 3 problems arise

eg our house - v old, neglected, needed the works...took down paper of ceiling in kitchen - entire ceiling caved in!!

hey ho!

good luck!!! it will be worth it!!!!

shop around , use recommended tradesmen, its better to wait and pay a bit more to get a good job, than have some cowboy do it on the cheap and mess it up!!!

hairymclary · 10/10/2006 20:19

easily £10k if not more

hairymclary · 10/10/2006 20:21

ahh yes i forgot about labour. probably more

EnormousChangesAtTheLastMinute · 10/10/2006 20:25

depends where you are - we did big renovation which cost a fortune but we are in london. my mum lives in the north east and her kitchen cost about half of ours... but rough estimate (i'm no expert) 10k-15k depending on geography! good luck!

foxinsocks · 10/10/2006 20:26

depends where you are

we are having similar done and it will cost a blooming fortune

would also suggest you look at the wiring in case in needs rewiring to bring the wiring up to date (ours does!)

we found getting the bathroom done was one of the biggest expenses (we haven't done it yet but just on quotes) - getting a suite is fine, getting someone to fit it and potentially move stuff around costs a fortune it seems

TwigTwoolett · 10/10/2006 20:27

Painting it all - 3K
curtains - 1 - 2K
carpets/laminate - up to 500 per room
3 bathrooms/ensuites - 1.5 - 3K each
new kitchen - 10K
Decking/patio to the garden. 2K

hairymclary · 10/10/2006 20:30

do you not have any friends who could help out at all?
I mean, you can get a new kitchen for around 2-3k and if you can fit it yourself you'd save a fortune.

buktus · 10/10/2006 20:30

we have jus had quotes back for our kitchen between 15k and 22k you can expect to pay at least £1000 for each bathroom, we have the same house as yours by looking at your thread our carpets cost £2000 cash, we didnt bother with curtains we hust bought blinds which were £500, i painted it myself but on average depending on where you live a tradesman will charge between £100 - £150 a day for labour

foxinsocks · 10/10/2006 20:33

I think you'd be lucky to get away with £1k for the bathroom - you could probably spend that on a nice suite and the tiles before you've even had them fitted

To do everything in a bathroom - so whole new suite, new tiles, new plastering, potentially moving a bath or toilet - in London, you're looking at anywhere between £5k and £8k.

Original poster
milge · 10/10/2006 20:35

I have got £15K to get it all done - I know that wouldn't strech further that someon's bathroom, if you were doing it all as a high spec job, but i am thinking B&Q kitchen rather than Mark Wilkinson and Wickes bathroom rather than Ripples.
All of my friends are esoteric and impractical so I will need to pay for everything to be done. Don't want to bodge it and then pay more for putting my errors right.

OP posts:
Original poster
milge · 10/10/2006 20:35

Its not London, btw, but Wiltshire

OP posts:
buktus · 10/10/2006 20:37

wiltshire too, so i wouldnt expect to pay £5k, i had a quote from b and q but it was still £10k, beware there fitting costs are extremly high prob better off getting the kitchen and getting a seperate fitter

hairymclary · 10/10/2006 20:40

i agree milge, you can get a whole bathroom suite in b&q for less than £300
its the labour that costs a lot, although I am sure that if you went to somewhere like b&q and were ordering 3 bathrooms plus fitting they would be able to do you a deal.

otherwise ask around, at school/nursery/doctors! anywhere. you'll soon find out who to avoid

foxinsocks · 10/10/2006 20:42

we looked at a £450 suite in B&Q. When I asked about them coming to fit it (and do the tiles), she told me the minimum cost it would come to would be £4500!!!

I agree - I would buy the suites yourself and then look for an independent fitter (hopefully you can find someone by word of mouth!)

hairymclary · 10/10/2006 20:46

that's outrageous!

Bucketsofbloodydinosaurs · 10/10/2006 21:06

Put the money in a high interest account (or at least some in a couple of cash ISAs) and do a bit at a time while you learn more about the house by living in it.
Our new house is a bit of a state and we can't afford to do big things (had to put in a new boiler almost immediately) but it's been great making it a home on a shoestring, I can afford to do some really fun styles I'd never choose if I were spending more.
A fresh coat of paint and some shelves make a big difference to a kitchen, in fact most rooms. Our kitchen units are 20yrs old but now we have been here a while I know exactly how I would redesign it when the money somehow arrives from heaven.
If you plan to live there for years, you can do things properly (like getting woodwork stripped, replastering, replacing/rehanging doors etc) over time. Don't try and get it all imacculate straight away, take it easy and concentrate on making it smell nice

Original poster
milge · 10/10/2006 21:11

Good idea Buckets. will have to carpet and put something on the windows though, as the tenants are taking the curtains and the carpets are just MINGING. No way would I put any of my furniture down on them, even after 6 steam cleans...

OP posts:
Bucketsofbloodydinosaurs · 10/10/2006 21:28

Oh yeah, our first house was inhabited by inbred rednecks with stinky dogs, we had to strip layers and layers of carpet and wallpaper just to get the smell out! You should be able to find at least one nice room-sized carpet remnant cheap at an independent carpet shop and they'll quote for fitting too.

Have you got a drill and a DIY book in order to put up curtain poles (good Xmas pressies )? Argos and Additions catalogues do lots of ready-made tab-top curtains so you don't need to faff about with hooks/rings/tracking.

Other tip is avoid a modernist minimalist look if the walls aren't smooth. I've gone for some rather camp poundshop touches to draw attention away from the really scruffy bits eg red gingham in the kitchen, mad plastic flowers and fruit, lots of pictures in cheap or 2nd hand frames. Stage dressing really to cosy it up a bit while we save up for the big jobs. The kids love it of course

UCM · 11/10/2006 08:41

DH is currently doing a job where the owners went on holiday and said can you just rip this kitchen out and fit whatever as we are selling.

The kitchen was about 7 x 10 and he has kitted it out from wickes including hob,hood etc for 1900. I was impressed at the price for this. He did say he wouldn't put those carcasses in our house though as they are a little flimsy but as he thinks mdf/chipboard are the work of the devil, I took that statement lightly. Obviously the price didn't include his labour but it might give you an idea.

Also with tiling, tiles do not have to be expensive, you just need to find a good tiler. If they are applied properly, they last for years. Tip for floor tiling, use grey or beige grout, not ivory or white as it looks horrid after a while.

There is also a very cheap company called screwfix who will deliver the next day. www.screwfix.co.uk. They will supply everything you possibly need for renovations. Their bathroom suites & kitchens are very basic, but reasonable.

DH says that if you fit an ikea kitchen, although they are cheap, the pipework may have to be altered as their sizes are different to ours. Not sure if this still applies.

noddyholder · 11/10/2006 09:01

I am in the middle of this atm including structural I say hire a team of polish buildersw and let tehm get on with it!And don't have laminate floors wood or carpet are more durable and look better Buy all materials yourselves and do loads of research online Stick to what you want and if possible don't compromise.Try and get the best quality fittings you can afford and spend l;ess on accessories which are just decoration Get quotes from a few builders

UCM · 11/10/2006 09:18

Support British builders please, only on recommendation of course, not from Yellow Pages

nogoes · 11/10/2006 09:23

Try to do what you can yourself even it it is only a bit of painting. We have a 2 up 2 down terrace cottage and our cheapest quote for what you want excluding new kitchen/carpets/laminate plus some carpentry work was £20k and these were discounted rates as dh is actually in the building industry. Needless to say we ended up doing it ourselves (dh is quite handy) but 4 years down the line we are still not finished.

liquidclocks · 11/10/2006 09:55

For the amount of work you're having done, and that you know you can't do it yourself, I would get some fixed price quotes from at least 3 diferent building firms (if you can't get recommendations then get at least 2/3 references per firm and follow them all up). Doing it this way will ensure that you know you can afford it before you begin. Also don't pay up front for anything other than materials, withold a largish sum for the final payment to act as an incentive for them not to leave bits unfinished for ages at the end and if you feel able to offer a smal percentage bonus for completing on time (and don't pay it if they go over!).

BTW, we renovated our own place and are half way through a second and only pay other people when we have to, but we have had to the procedure above seems to work although it can be a bit time consuming.

JackieNoHeadJustABloodyStump · 11/10/2006 10:00

Might be worth investing in this Sarah Beeny book which apparently gives you indicative prices for things.