Has anyone done a house refurb from afar?

[BigWhiteRabbit]

hello! we are hoping to move about 100 miles from where we are now but not actually move in for up to 12 months. we'd be happy to buy a 'project' ie a house that needs a complete refurb, we've done it before a few years ago. however, what I'm wondering is whether it's possible when you aren't living locally. with our current house we were checking it daily and could easily keep on top of any issues. living 100 miles away that's impossible, has anyone got any experience of this? how did you manage it? thanks in advance.

We are 3500 miles away and have made some fairly major changes so far since we bought it in October (full rewire, new doors and windows, five rooms replastered. My husbands family live close to the house and luckily for us our builder lives across the road and we trust him enough to have a key. If you can find a builder you trust who would be happy to be a key holder for other trades that need access it could work.

I wouldn't do it unless I really trusted the builder. Even then, I have found they generally need to show you things and check

I wouldn't do from afar unless no choice

I wouldn't as every refurb I've done, there has been questions/things the builders wanted me to check or choose etc pretty much every day.
I once went away for a week and the builders didnt even turn up for 4 days as they were cramming in another quick job while they thought I wouldn't notice!

Yes I did one about that distance and even though I'm experienced renovator I would not do it again. I had to use a builder I was not familiar with and despite good references and seeing his work he let me down repeatedly towards the end. I just couldn't monitor the job closely enough. I went once a week but that's just not often enough as alot can get done in a week, things that come up during a job need a decision right away and it just wasn't possible to drive over three hours each way to sort the placement of a radiator, for example.

I did but it cost a fortune in petrol. And on the days I did not travel down, lots of phonecalls. I was just under 100 miles away. You need to have the time to go down a few times a week at the very least.

Have things crystallised in your mind and do a really in depth and detailed plan. Find good sub contractors or a good main builder. There is a good cost saving in not using a main builder and I previously did a loft conversion and 3 renovations without one. I've had a main builder only once and it was no smoother than running it myself and it cost a lot more. I've done 4 renovations plus a loft conversion.

Last year from 100 miles away, I had the works below done, in the following order:

75 % rewire.
Mains wired smoke alarms added.
New windows everywhere.
All replastered except kitchen and leanto (as doing that this year.)
New inner front door. (Have porch)
New complete bathroom.
New radiators throughout.
New wood flooring throughout.
New skirting throughout.
Doors turned in every room as they opened against the space and not towards the wall. New door handles and new door hinges.
I painted 80% with my kids and then got a painter in for the stairs as was exhausted.
Some small jobs doing also.

Just got to do a new kitchen and refurb the leanto which is mainly brick built so not too bad a structure. Its like an old orangery.

@flirtygirl can I please ask roughly how much your refurb cost? I think I am going to have to do the same.