Interior designer cost London???

[olea]

So, hubby and I would like to buy a 3-bedroom home and we've spotted a few that could suit us - the area we are searching is between New Malden and Kingston upon Thames. We have one very big problem though.

Basically we don't know whether it makes more sense to buy a home that has already been modernised and that (at least apparently) doesn't need to be refurbished or a "old shack" which needs a substantial modernisation. We'd be both tempted to buy an affordable place in need of modernisation and to hire an interior designer to completely re-design the place to our own taste but we are a bit concerned about the costs. Our budget to modernise the whole home would be approximately £150,000.00. Do you honestly think that would be enough for a 3 bedroom 1200sq ft home?

Thanks

Yes I would think it should be enough to do a refurbishment assuming no major structural work or big extensions and assuming you're not intending top end finishes and fittings everywhere. But the best way to be sure is to ask a local builder to come and view with you - or at least have a look at the online particulars for the "shack" - and give you a ballpark estimate. Sounds like you could need: rewiring, replumbing, possibly new roof, possibly some new windows depending on the condition, new flooring, some replastering (might be a lot or a little) new bathroom(s), new kitchen.

You wouldn't usually use an interior designer for a refurb though. What you'd do is look at the survey (you would want to get a full survey on the "wreck") and use that as a starting point for the repair work needed to the house, then you'd choose the design of the bathroom and kitchen (kitchen and bathroom companies can help with this) and tell the builder what to do. Ideally you would choose a building company which offers a project manager, the project manager would guide you through what needs choosing when.

Interior designers AFAIK are usually more about the decor (curtains, furniture etc) rather than dealing with building work.

Echo that it's not really an ID job if it's needing complete refurbishment.
Architect, architectural design (different qualifications/insurances) & trades/builder or depending on your involvement perhaps even trades/builder alone.
If it's all just cosmetic work ID may be fine.
I would use an architect/architectural tech/architectural designer if you are looking to do full refurb (electrics/heating/improve building fabric/change spaces)
I'm a little biased as I'm an architect but we are currently refurbishing our large 5bed/5rec house with a budget of £110k
This includes new kitchen, new electrics, new heating & HW system, new wooden sashes throughout, 3 new bathrooms, insulating lofts, flooring in 4 large rooms, new lighting, new back door, decoration throughout and building an office in the garden.
Our budget is somewhat skewed as it doesn't include professional fees as I'm doing all that myself. I have done some of the work myself too but the majority of work is being done by trades.
Even with surprises thanks to building in contingencies we are on budget at present. Our costs are also slightly better as we are in the NE albeit an expensive bit of the NE.

If you need to do a full refurb including all trades then an architect and/or project manager will be an excellent idea. However, if you also want advice on furniture, soft furnishings, floor finishes, kitchen finishes, light fittings then you may find that an interior designer will also be helpful. The right designer will be happy to work in a team (as will the right architect).

Interior designers spend all day dealing with the minutiae of interiors. Architects spend all day dealing with a bigger picture, which means that they may not have the detailed knowledge of where to find the perfect light fitting. And I suspect most wouldn't know the relative merits of silk vs cotton vs linen...you get the picture.

Don't make the mistake of getting the building work done and then thinking about the finishes - decisions on flooring and tiles for instance need to be made in the context of an overall scheme ideally.