How much to put this house up to date?

[Rainbowhairdontcare]

I think the house is worth it (just because of the sheer size) but DH thinks it needs tons of money and isn't ready to move in.

Link?

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/53009348?utm_source=v1:5bWFDybfWx7C7AGpeagt7mP3PgcqjuqJ&utm_medium=api

As long as there's no structural problems, you can live with a dated look until you raise the money to redo it. If you buy a small but beautiful house, it will always be small (or a trade off with extension vs garden). But if you buy a big dated house, it will always be big, but not always out of fashion. All houses need upkeep anyway. It's not like if you buy a beautiful house, you'll be set for life. When you live in it, you'll be able to see what you want to do and prioritise it. We live in a big ugly house and I love making it beautiful bit by bit. And this way, it's exactly to our tastes. Also, big ugly houses have a much larger profit margin than small beautiful houses

It depends what you want to achieve. It is liveable, but it’s whether you want to live in it if your ripping absolutely everything out.

I full renovated mine, probably from a similar condition, though an older kitchen. It needed a full rewire as well. I spent somewhere in the region of 25k-30k inc carpets and furniture. I didn’t live in it whilst the work was being done, and really wouldn’t have wanted to.

I did most the work myself, but for that amount I did/had done:
Full rewire (electrician did this)
Replastered everywhere
5 walls out (one needing an RSJ), 2 stud walls in
Chimney out in the bedroom
New architraves, door frames, skirting boards and doors
New fire place in the lounge
Kitchen refit
Bathroom refit
Added in a utility room
4 new windows
Redecorate all rooms
New carpet in all rooms
Furnished everywhere (although I did already have maybe 50% of the furniture I think)

Depends how much you want to do to it and the condition of the building and widows and doors.

Would you be just decorating, new kitchen, bathrooms, carpets etc, or would you be considering doing building works to change the layout?

Posted before I meant to.

My sister and her partner are doing basically the same and living in it whilst it’s being done, so they’re just picking away at it job at a time, it’s messy but manageable.
It took me 18 months doing it myself around full time work with a 10 year old. Whereas my sister is paying people to do theirs, but it will span over a longer period as the cost will add up more so than mine.

It's liveable for sure.

Whether it's likeable to live in is a different question.

You'd do worse than to buy an industrial size vat of white paint and start with that, then move on to the other bits over time (the weird wall between bed and door, new bathroom etc)

Is it cheap for that part of Cornwall?

It is within price for that area I would say. I would eventually knock down walls for an open plan kitchen/diner with a massive island

bloody hell thats cheap. I don't understand why it isn't ready to move in. clearly its liveable. The kitchen is fine . The bathrooms is useable. Its in decent nick. It is very outdated, but its certainly habitable. I agree though that it needs some time and effort thrown in - the bathroom would be my first move, but its not THAT bad. Does it need major works that aren't visible on photos ie wiring, structural, new windows?

I’d probably budget 50k or maybe 40k as Id expect labour costs in Cornwall are probably on the cheap side. That will be cheaper if you’re happy to roll your own sleeves up. I don’t think it would touch the dodgy lean to, though.

No structural fixing that we can tell, but until survey is done we can't be 100% sure

I forgot to say, mine was a 3 bed, so bound to be at least a bit cheaper.

We bought a big, beautiful Edwardian 4 bed house earlier this year, neglected for over 50 years.

It was the only way we could ever afford a house like that, and I was overwhelmed by the scale of work that needs doing. We have been living in constant dust and chaos, floorboards up everywhere, chaos BUT it is so worth it. I LOVE our house and it will be amazing!

It's going to take ages, but we'll do bits as we can afford it.

We've just finished our front room.. before and after pics attached 😊

Dave - I love your lounge. That looks like a proper Christmas room. Not sure on budget as I’ve only done up smaller properties but I think I would be allowing around £30k. It depends on your taste. A friend doing up an Arts & Crafts 3 bed, with no structural issues, has spent £25k on the kitchen alone.

wow davethecat your lounge looks fabulous

About 50k but it's totally livable in and bargain (no idea about the area)

That house has a great deal of potential.

Would you need all the bedrooms? I’d be tempted to change the smallest bedroom into a lively bathroom and make the bathroom into a bedroom.

There is one bedroom that could certainly have the addition of an en-suite

But you could possible do the bathroom first

Then have the large bedroom as a lounge whilst you tackle downstairs

Surely it all depends how much you're going to spend on kitchen/bathrooms?

I'd spend:

Kitchen £10k
Bathroom £5k (each)
Garden £10k

Plus all the redecorating and carpeting. Maybe £50k total.

Thank you!

Just wanted to highlight to OP that the work is worth it!

The rest of the house is a total state but one step at a time!

A few month's ago it was looking like this 😬

That's what I think Dave.

Yes we need all rooms... We have a baby grand and other instruments and those need their own room too

As the house hasn’t been touched, it might not just be a case of kitchen, bathroom and decorating but it might need a rewire or new pipes or the windows replaced/refurbished. Not to mention anything that the survey might throw up like chimney stacks, roof, guttering etc. Those are the things that really add up.

The only way you'll know really is to go and view it with a builder and get some quotes.
On the face of it it looks mostly cosmetic, but with a house of that age there will likely be other problems too, it will probably need the electrics updating, new heating and boiler, and plastering throughout for example. These are the things that add up and it's nearly always a lot more than you think.

We had a re-wire, roof repairs and new boiler. We also had the old Victorian lead pipes that were running through the house replaced, and we have had to have the water and heating re-connected upstairs as it was originally in 2 flats and no one had lived upstairs for ages.

We've had insulation laid under the floor in the front room too as it would have been too draughty otherwise.

There is tons to be done..feel we have only scratched the surface.

I would highly recommend you have a full building survey done, and as a pp said above, take a builder along with you to get some quotes in.

As long as it's water tight and warm, you can pretty much get away with living in a wreck..we are!

I was going to say about £80-100k

You’ll want some budget for the garden, some for that weird lean to conservatory plastic ceiling thing and you’ll find there will be things you haven’t budgeted for

Any blown panes of glass
Old consumer unit needing updating
Boiler etc etc