How to save money/not make costly mistakes on a 3 bed renovation, tips?

[mrswee]

we have just purchased a 3 bed upper villa flat (in a block of four flats.)

It has 70's decor. Some 80's. not been touched since the early 80's.

We have £10,000 to do it and 10 weeks before we have to move in. We have a toddler and I am 5 months pregnant so we need at least the essentials done and all the dusty dirty stuff and kitchen in before we move in.

Jobs- in order of difficulty (I think)
Livingroom wall and ceiling are wood panelled, as is all of the kitchen and all of the hall. Living room has a hideous stone fireplace all along one wall - all must be removed and re plastered, we consider this potentially the biggest job.

re wired, new combi boiler and radiators

Kitchen out and new in.

all floors need old carpets removed and replaced with wood except kitchen and bathroom which will be vinyl.

3 bedrooms stripped and re papered and painted.

We have a redgistered gas fitter friend who will do a good heavily discounted job.

We have a good alround handy man who we will employ for plumbing and help with bigger jobs DH can't do on his own

We have a good plasterer but not discounted.

Ikea kitchen, we've done one already so experianced with this.

Budget is tight but we want to do it properly

So any tips on how save money else where not to make stupid costly mistakes?

how to save on materials and where to buy, ie not B&Q?

essential tools for the jobs you wouldnt do without

How to keep trac of the budget and manage/plan

anything else you can think of?

thanks, we have done most of these jobs before but not on this scale and not all at once!!

When I renovated / extended, the one job I regretted doing myself was painting. Seeing the professionals paint it's worth paying the extra to get it done by them, much faster especially if you have to seal new plaster and you get your house / flat back quicker. Also, you don't have to buy all the bits pieces to paint (if you have not already got them).

I would leave moving in as long as you can - it does tend to slow down the renovation. Even when most of the big jobs are done - dust gets everywhere.

In terms of management, the best tip I have is to call each trade the week before they are booked onsite to see if they are ready. Trades people's schedules can be quite fluid - they fit jobs in as and when sometimes, which may influence your timescale - ie their previous job is running late. This way you might be able to tweak your plans - so things are as time efficient as possible.

Good luck with all the work.

10k is very tight. I do this for a living and source a lot of materials online plus have builders who do me favours and I couldn't do it for that tbh and am experienced. The ripping out and replastering will be about a fifth at least. I would then get the electrics and heating sorted put in as many sockets and rads as you need don't cut corners as at a later date adding more will mess up the decor. I think the kitchen will be at least half if you don't have appliances already so if the current one is liveable I would use that and save save save! I think the plastering heating and electrics would be 10k. Maybe decorate one room nicely so you can live in that while you do the rest.Do flooring at teh very end when all the painting and dirty work is done.

Agree with may a professional paint job makes a huge difference and gives a real 'new' look to a development.

i can't see you doing all that for 10k! sorry to rain on your parade but with the baby due get the electric, heating and kitchen in (if you can for the budget) and live with the carpets and 70s decor until you can do it properly. Alternatively cover all the walls in cream/white paint if it properly makes it easier to live in. good luck!

we did a similar amount of work for under 10k, but on nothing like that tight a time scale.

we lived in the house whilst everything apart from bathroom was done. time scale: about 6 years though not all spent on the job!

essential tools

Mitre saw (a reasonably good one) - real time saver especially if you are doing wood flooring
Tile saw - if you are doing tile splashback/ tile bathroom
and power drill/screwdriver

Planning is going to be essential to get this right. possibly reduce what you want to do to bathroom and kitchen only and do the rest after moving in??

we wasted lots of time by not having the right tool/item in the house and by not having decisions made in advance...

we also had one of those stone fireplaces - DH loved taking a hammer to it!

Where are you based? Do you have workers lined up as I know a very good team of people who are v reasonably priced. Pm me if you need details.

OK so 10k is all we have and we have to do this work for that.

Kitchen- ikea, kitchen is small and I have done a plan the kitchen comes in at under 1k.
getting huge favour from gas man friend- heating 1.8k

We can do some of the rewiring ourselves and get it signed at the end but still expect this to be not cheap. will have to get someone in to replace the fuse box first.

expecting to spend around 1k on flooring max. We will be getting flooring from wickes comes in around £800 plus under lay.

plastering will depend on what is under the panelling. The panelling has to go, it isnt an option to keep, it's a fire risk and also a massive job to sand, fire treat and paint not to mention also expensive and then we'd be faced with removing it in the future at huge expense/dust/ mucking up all the decor we've done.

sh77 we are in Edinburgh. don't think we can afford labour though.

link to property so you can see for yourself. It's not the most amazing house but it's what we can afford and in an area we like. Worst house in the best street ect.
www.mcewanfraserlegal.co.uk/property-1723

looking at the living room -

there was some of that panelling when my folks moved into their current house - it was an arse as they'd used large splodges of glue that was impossible to remove without damaging plaster. That took time.

the other problem with it is you can't be sure what you've got there until it all comes out....i expect you'll find removing those panelled alcoves leaves you with wiring to sort out (as part of your re-wire) and obviously the gas fire you'll need Mr Gassafe to remove/ replace.

just clocked the panelled ceiling. O M G!

having seen it the difficult bits to do living there: living room, kitchen, re-wire, plumbing.

Bathroom is tricky as it is ok as is but is probably one of the hardest bits to do whilst living there.

you'll need to know lead times on the stuff you're buying - kitchen, fireplace, flooring etc etc as you don't want them before you're ready as they'll get in the way.

the bedrooms aren't too bad and you could do them later (though obv re-wiring and plumbing will leave some damage to those wallpapers..)

The doors are a problem, a hazard and will need to be replaced

we had similar doors - total of £300 from B& Q for new all round, with dh fitting them and me painting them.

we don't have a trade account which could have made it cheaper.

we didn't do it straight away but we didn't have kids when we moved in! - easy enough to do in a lived-in house though.

I'm in Edinburgh too and have just done a refurbishment in 6 weeks - it was a real push and we didn't replumb or do the kitchen,.

I actually think your kitchen looks okay - if you primed the woodwork and then painted it a nice colour it would be more than liveable with for a year of more.

The glass doors will have to go they are dangerous for little ones.

You can do it but you will need military planning, so pasterer lined up for the day after the rewire. Do not underestimate how messy a rewire is.

Try and get fixed job costs off people rather than day rates - jobs creep and 2 days become 3. Edinburgh rates are high - decorators £100-£150, joiners £120, plasterers at least £20 an hour is my experience. For paint can recommend the Paint Shed (they have a couple of branches).

And remember, it will get worse (a lot), before it gets better!

Yes I forgot to mention the doors, they are going, the glass isnt safety glass.

we are bricking up the fire place after the fire place and fire and panelling is removed, this will be done as part of the plastering job.

We can do all joinery and decorating ourself. We have done an ikea kitchen before and are confident about doing that.
We have avery good joiner friend who we will pay to do two days with us the get the basics of the kitchen in and solid. Tiling ect can wait till next year if nes to save money.

the panelling would be ok painted in the kitchen but has to come out in the kitchen as it's a fire hazard. plus rewiring will require the panelling out anyway.

It is a total wait and see about how bad the panelling situation is! Really depends how it was put and and why it was put up.
Still the rest of the house is in good condition, walls ect look fine/flat I genuinely think they did the panelling because they like the look, the guy was a joiner and he made a good job of it. (even though it's hideous) He has lowered the ceilings where the panelling sits so hopefully a good sign that it is on a frame rather than glued.

The bathroom isn't very pretty but we are happy to live with that for a few years.

We are lucky to have good friends who are willing to come and do what they can to get this done quicker.

with the mates rates your budget sounds tight but a heck of a lot better than i thought up thread.

to help with planning i find it useful to fill in an excel sheet with a column of all the jobs that need doing. put dates along the top. you can fill in horizontal bars showing what you will do when and how different items need to be sequenced. use this to plan when you need your help to book in your friends (roughly). you can also plot on lead in and order times to show when you need to order/buy stuff on time.

once you start work use it to keep track of work done so if things are getting behind you know early and can replace or omit work. it might help you feel more organised.

tools - i second the electric screwdriver idea (consider one with 2 battery packs so you can keep a charged spare to avoid hold ups. looks like a club hammer, crowbar and bolster will be essential for the demolitions!

Yes I would've said leave the kitchen for now but it's got all the blasted panelling everywhere. panelling is such an old 70's look, with any luck they'll have gone at it seriously for one or two bits then got bored and slapped the rest on with pin nails.

I am curious about the outside though. The front looks like 1950's pebble dash and the back looks like quainty oldie flint. Is it an old building with a 50's pebble dash facade at the front.

Gosh- I've no idea how you'd do that for 10k! Scottish pound goes further maybe?
I'd have though re-wire, new rads/CH, kitchen would eat up 10K tbh.

re doors- perhaps ebay for 'reclaimed' interior doors?

Op can't possibly do it all for 10k, but maybe the wood cladding rip out (hopefully do that themselves) / replaster, and nice ikea kitchen could be done. The electrics could be done by themselves by the sounds of it - though probably not in the timescale given - I would wait and save for the other stuff.

Have you thought about keeping the doors and replacing teh glass with safety glass?
I think your budget sounds tight but if you do some now and some later you shoudl be fine.

I agree that the panelling needs to go, as a priority and an IKEA kitchen is a good way to get a nice loooking, efficient kitchen on a budget.

Interesting house, am also intrigued by the different appearances of the front and back...

i thought those old houses were the view from the house..

if you are doing a re-wire, needs to be done with an idea where kitchen sockets and switches are going - same for living room lighting,

actually i think the best advice for the first bit - the demolition work - is wear goggles and overalls - DH had two wasted days in A&E without....

but you wouldn't be that silly :)

As you're not living there I would take up and keep carpets somewhere to protect them. Do the stripping/demolition you need to do (assume you do this yourself, so no cost - but probably take kitchen out carefully as can see you reinstating it on your budget). Ime this could take a lot of time. Sort out rewiring, plumbing etc. What state is the boiler, gch in? Replaster where absolutely necessary. Replace doors. Decorate kids room(s) properly and get curtains/blind up. Sort out kitchen and bathroom as funds permit (? new kitchen doors and tiles only ?) and decorate. Decorate lounge properly (ie stripping any remaining paper) if time allows and get curtains/blind up. Redecorate your room properly if time allows and get curtains/blind up. (Am thinking strictly paint on your budget.) Do rest as time allows. Return carpets and get them professionally cleaned (as I cannot believe you can do whole job on £10k).

EdgarAllenPimms you are correct, those are the flats at the back behind the garden.

Thanks for the advice everyone.