How long did you live in a new house before refurbing?

[Boholady]

We are downsizing, and I'm wondering how long you lived in a new house before you refurbished?
We will have the luxury of being largely offspring free (youngest off to uni this year) with a modest amount of savings to do some things like a new boiler, moving radiators, general updating/decorating, etc.
How long did you live in a new house before starting any work? I have a head full of ideas but want to make sure we make the right choices and get to 'know' the new house. In the past in previous houses we had lots of young kids/no money lol

We moved house recently not so much downsizing but relocating. Though our new house is smaller (no kids) It's a new build and we love it. Yes we had to sort the garden but everything is spanking brand new and we now have very little maintenance.

18 months. Delayed by finding tradesmen and raising funds. Definitely worth waiting at least 6 months. For us 18 months was worth it as our plans at then end were much better than the plans at the start

We stayed with parents temporarily and did the bulk of urgent work before moving in

We will probably wait 3 years before the next major batch of renovations as we need to save

We're doing the 'big' stuff before we move in - heating and electricals. It's cheaper and easier because they can lift floorboards and create mess and move from room to room without having to manage furniture and living space at the same time. We're also doing the kitchen in that time. The redecoration works will be done as and when, probably a room every couple of months.

the one we are buying most of the needed now work is decoration and carpets so we are going to do the front bedroom where we will be sleeping first and sleep in the back bedroom, then back bedroom, bathroom luckily is ny replacing the carpet (yuk) with lino, then lounge and hallway, then last will be sorting out the kitchen which is the only major job, we are going to build a small extension for a dining room and refigure the kitchen which is just about usable as is

I try to do the work before I move in but I’m very good at visualisation and know how I want a house to look and function. It’s a nightmare living in a house with building work going on and it holds up the builders too.

The week after we moved in! That was when we started on ripping out the old kitchen.

Thanks everyone...opinion seems divided then between living there a while and cracking on lol
We won't be able to do anything before we move in. I think I'm just in that angsty stage as we wait to exchange so my head is finding things to worry about! Currently torn between doing it a room at a time or by job type, e.g. all plumbing work, all flooring, etc!

It's 22 years since our house was new to us, but we are finally having a new kitchen. The upheaval will be worthwhile when it's finished, but right now I'm struggling to convince myself.

It will be XingMing!

I suppose it depends on how liveable it will be without doing anything first.
We have just exchanged on a house that is dated (significantly) but well maintained.
We we be rewiring and updating heating system before we move in. Knocking a wall down means the kitchen will need to go too. But plan to replace appliances only and then have freestanding units that we will add as we find them (eBay etc).
Decorating wise, we'll need to do flooring probably before moving in since the rewire will destroy what's currently there.
But cosmetic decisions we will make later on. Also - we think we'd like to add an extension but even if we had the money now, I wouldn't be planning that sort of change until at least 6months living there because you don't really know how it will work until you've lived there.