Buying a house that needs a new roof - advice please!

Figureitout1 · 2019-06-12T15:02:57+00:00

Buying a 2bed cottage that needs a new roof sharpish as water leaking through - is it more cost effective and easier to put dormer in at the same time? We are aware that roof will be around £10k mark but wondering if it’ll be more cost effective to do dormer conversion that we were thinking to do in a couple of years at the same time. Due to leaking some of the wood trusses also need replacing. Also a neighbour has raised his roof for more headroom in the attic - is this something that would be worth doing (as in just a bit more extra money wise or is it extortionate?) If you have any experience of this I’d appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance for all your replies.

Neighneigh · 12/06/2019 16:06

You ought to speak to your local planning team at the council, I suspect raising roofs and putting in dormers needs approval? Maybe not but you need to know for sure before you commit to anything

Original poster

Figureitout1 · 12/06/2019 16:23

Thanks for your reply - so as it stands the cottage is fine for us size wise which is why the dormer was something we thought we’d do in a 1 or 2. Spoke to planners and they said in theory because quite a few neighbours have been permitted to raise roof and add dormer on front and rear of the property we shouldn’t have any issues (key words “in theory” though 🙂).

Just looking to find if anyone has advice about whether to replace roof now and do the dormer in the future or do it all in one (and be very broke at the end of it 😂). To me it doesn’t make sense to replace roof then top it all up in a year or 2 but OH says we should wait so we can use the cash for new bathroom/kitchen etc

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BlueSkiesLies · 12/06/2019 17:08

It will be cheaper to do it all in one go than two separate jobs

SoupDragon · 12/06/2019 17:12

I think it makes sense to do it all at once too - only one set of scaffolding hire for a start.

StarJumpsandaHalf · 12/06/2019 17:35

Scaffolding costs a bomb and while you have men and materials on site, it makes perfect sense to do all the work and add value to the property at the same time. So long as the bathroom and kitchen work, they can wait instead.

Original poster

Figureitout1 · 12/06/2019 18:05

Thanks for the replies! Anyone have any ballpark figures of what to expect price wise?
(Sorry for the typos by the way)
I think the main thing is that we needed to reconfigure the downstairs layout for stairs and that means the kitchen layout has to change. I’ve said to OH that since the downstairs is enough for us at the moment we should just do the conversion at the same time as the roof and leave it as a shell until we have the money to rejig the downstairs layout for stairs - am I crazy? OH thinks it’s lunacy 🙈😂😂

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SinkGirl · 12/06/2019 18:07

I would definitely do it in two stages if I were you. Roof and dormer while doing the roof, then later when you can afford it move things around.

Exqueezeme · 12/06/2019 18:10

In my experience it's crazy money. We have planning to raise the roof on our small bungalow and the prices range between 86-110k. Far more than the quoted potential added value sadly.

Original poster

Figureitout1 · 12/06/2019 18:16

Thanks sinkgirl that’s what I’m saying but OH has this idea that we will have paid for space that we’re not using 🤦🏽‍♀️
exqueezeme (love the name by the way) definitely can’t afford that so will probably be a big standard dormer with a lowish ceiling at this rate! The house value would go up as it’s in a pretty desirable area but we just can’t afford that and it’s not the forever home so can’t really justify it either - but just wow at 100k 😂 - are you going ahead with it?

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Exqueezeme · 12/06/2019 18:27

Nope
... I've cried buckets but it's just too rich for us. A neighbour did similar 6 years ago for 40k. The architect said around 50k.. but the reality is we just can't get anyone to quote around that. I've tried 8/9 different companies and also priced it all individually. No use

Sofasurfingsally · 12/06/2019 18:27

Adding usable loft space will add value. Best to do it now, otherwise you won't. Bathrooms are cheaper and far easier and can wait.

Exqueezeme · 12/06/2019 18:28

Valuer said it would add around 40k

SoupDragon · 12/06/2019 18:30

OH has this idea that we will have paid for space that we’re not using

Well, he's right but the alternative is to pay for a roof and then pay to have half of it ripped off again having had to pay two lots of scaffold hire.

GetYourOwnLife · 12/06/2019 18:47

It's cheaper to do the dormer from the start than putting on the roof on a bungalow and having to restrip it again for the conversion in a couple of years.

Original poster

Figureitout1 · 12/06/2019 20:14

Ha thank you all! Feeling pretty smug as all your responses basically confirm what I’ve been saying to OH 🙂

Anyone have any ballpark figures for having just the dormer put in? We are in Scotland, Tayside/Fife Area if that makes a difference 🙂

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Original poster

Figureitout1 · 12/06/2019 20:19

Ha thank you all! Feeling pretty smug as all your responses basically confirm what I’ve been saying to OH 🙂

Anyone have any ballpark figures for having the dormer without the roof raise put in? We are in Scotland, 🙂

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Original poster

Figureitout1 · 12/06/2019 20:37

How annoying for you exqueezeme have you tried asking the neighbour for the details of the contractor he used?
Most annoying for us is that a similar house with a raised roof is currently on the market for 150k more than ours so we’d definitely make the money back but we just won’t have that kind of cash for years 😭

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Original poster

Figureitout1 · 12/06/2019 20:38

Sorry no idea why it posted twice!

How annoying for you exqueezeme have you tried asking the neighbour for the details of the contractor he used?
Most annoying for us is that a similar house with a raised roof is currently on the market for 150k more than ours so we’d definitely make the money back but we just won’t have that kind of cash for years 😭

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Original poster

Figureitout1 · 12/06/2019 20:38

Sorry no idea why it posted twice!

How annoying for you exqueezeme have you tried asking the neighbour for the details of the contractor he used?
Most annoying for us is that a similar house with a raised roof is currently on the market for 150k more than ours so we’d definitely make the money back but we just won’t have that kind of cash for years 😭

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Original poster

Figureitout1 · 12/06/2019 20:40

Sorry no idea why it double posted!

How annoying for you exqueezeme have you tried asking the neighbour for the details of the contractor he used?
Most annoying for us is that a similar house with a raised roof is currently on the market for 150k more than ours so we’d definitely make the money back but we just won’t have that kind of cash for years 😭

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PickAChew · 12/06/2019 20:48

We had to replace our roof, for the same reason, only our roof already had a dormer in that had been enlarged about 12 years previously. It was one of the worst places for leaking - the ceiling in that room was heavily water stained.

So I'd say get it all done in one go, because as well as being cheaper in one go, it'llhave less chance of losing integrity.

PickAChew · 12/06/2019 20:49

We had to replace our roof, for the same reason, only our roof already had a dormer in that had been enlarged about 12 years previously. It was one of the worst places for leaking - the ceiling in that room was heavily water stained.

So I'd say get it all done in one go, because as well as being cheaper in one go, it'llhave less chance of losing integrity.

Exqueezeme · 12/06/2019 22:05

The neighbour's guy never came back with a quote this time... I've called him 3 times but he just says it'll be next week but I've waited 9 weeks now.
My sister near Edinburgh did a dormer for 45k