Updating a 7bed detached fixer-upper

[ipsaray]

Hi we are looking at putting an offer in for a fixer upper of a house. It is sturdy, and has no structural issues. It's 7 bed house with 1 cloakroom, 2 bathrooms and a largish kitchen. It has an oil boiler with the tank outside. I have estimated about £60-£70k for all works - replumbing, rewiring, putting in a new kitchen, baths, painting, flooring and all parts and labour. Do you think the estimated amount will be enough provided obviously we don't get any nasty surprises?

I personally think it would be a bit more, unless you're looking at doing some of the renovation yourself.

We spent £40k renovating a 3 bed period semi, one wall down, kitchen was small, one bathroom, new boiler, wiring, plastering throughout, flooring, carpets, some minor damp proofing, new windows. Maybe 3k of that was on a couple of period features. And that was 8 years ago. To add, no very expensive materials, laminate flooring, kitchen was direct through the builder but IKEA prices, no granite worktop.

Definitely closer to 100k.

It's sound quite a tight budget. How big is the house in terms of m2? 300m2. 500m2. 1000m2? 7 bedroom could be a mansion.

It will also depend on what you expect for your money. Are you happy with a B&Q kitchen in the sale? You could spend 60-70k on a kitchen alone.

Do you have a breakdown for your estimate?
We probably spent

£7K per bathroom
£12k kitchen
£5k flooring
£11k rewire

We went quite cheap, eg kitchen was howdens but with our own handles and worktops etc.

Nothing like enough from experience.
Likely you'll need rewiting, re plumbing, all new rads, will you want to change the style for cast iron as they are better for heating s lage house?
Adding ensuite as a 7 bed with 2 baths doesnt work really.
You'll probably find re plastering beeds refund slightly the way, not least yo make good the destruction from witing and electrics.
Replacing skirtings and floorboards you find damaged as you go.
New sanitary wear for bathrooms and tiles
Do youxwant wooden floors down stairs
New insulation in roof
Do you need a dpc re injected
Roof repairs
New windows(timber or upvc?) in places or some windows repaired or bits re puttied or re glazed
External paintig
ilinternal decoration 7 beds is a lot
Flooring thtoughout
Light fittings
New kitchen and appliances its z forever home you might want to spend more.
How many square feet is the house
mines 300psq ft and I had to to all this and more.

We spent £70k doing our 3-bed semi.

We needed new windows/doors. Re-wire, re-plaster (because walls are a mess once you have re-wired), central heating installing, bathroom reconfigured and updated, kitchen opened up to dining room and replaced, utility and downstairs loo done and garden landscaped (did this ourselves). No extension.

I thought it would be c£30-40k! We didn’t go high end(DIY kitchen (£6k) and B&Q bathroom), I agree with PP don’t underestimate the little things, I made all the curtains and blinds, but we have large windows and the fabric was £1.5k (needed 15m of fabric and lining per window for 4 windows @£12 per m for fabric and £5 per m lining it really added up). Paint was probably £800 (you need to do a white coat first on plaster then 2-3 coats of your colour), Light fittings (£50 each), tools if you don’t have them, skip hire..

I would double your budget unless you are doing most of it yourself.

Nope, not nearly enough unless you are doing most of the work yourself. Depending on where you are, I would estimate 100-150K minimum, and even then that is doing it very cheaply (just done it!).

We took a builder round ours. We are putting in new kitchen, 2 bathrooms, resaving radiators, decorating everywhere, new flooring throughput.. new doors and new front door. 3 new windows. Also the outside, driveway is buggered, new gate etc.

Adding up to £200k for a 5 bedroom house. Take £70k off for the extension for the kitchen if you don’t have to do that.

Thinking about resale we don’t want to put v cheap stuff in a big house, we aren’t going top end but good middle range.

Is it 3500sq ft +? I’d be budgeting more along the lines of 250k unless you do a lot of work yourselves or go cheap, eg IKEA kitchen with laminate worktops etc tiles at £10 per sq metre etc In that case, maybe 100k can tart it up.

Is it listed? Any period features to retain? Asbestos? New windows needed? Definitely not enough unless you have trades yourself. Our 4 bed cost 12k rewire 6k plumbing Inc New boiler, 5k replastering, 10k new kitchen 10k new bathrooms, 15k windows and doors, 3 k tiling not including the garden, driveway, roofing. Not a listed house. Can you do the basics live in it and do it gradually. We've been here years and still have 3 unfinished rooms.

You're not in the NE are you?! We viewed a 7 bed detached yesterday, knew from pics and description it needed work (rewire etc) but there were quite a few other issues. Because of the size of house we just felt costs would really spiral. There were a few leaks that looked like they hadn't been dealt with properly, on a smaller property it wouldn't have put me off but with the scale it would push us beyond what we could afford and would want to take on.

Still haven't totally put it out of my mind as it was so big and was priced reasonably.

thank you. I should have been clearer. The downstairs of the property is actually fine. Needs a lick of paint and maybe new floors. It's the upstairs that's mainly in disarray. Not been kept up to date and needs a proper cleanup and decorating. It still does need rewiring throughout the property. But no new windows needed and kitchen is fully functional. There is one bathroom and master already has an en-suite. We won't be doing any extensions. It was originally a 5 bed but the previous owners converted the loft to get 2 more bedrooms. But it doesn't have any bathroom there. The skirting around the house is also not in a bad shape either. However there has been a leak previously in the house, so I'm very inclined to think that replumbing might be required.

@BlodwynBludd not a period or a listed property. Just previous owners have extended the loft. I have previously got my bathroom and cloakroom both done for approx £5k in total. Got the kitchen done previously for 10k but it was wrens kitchen and we got higher end. This time will probably go for howdens.

Once you get into the realms of rewiring and replumbing you will have a lot of disruption, wall damage, floors ripped up etc. You will need a significant amount of replasteting as a result. ITS a good time to consider if you want yo make modifications for the future and want yo install additional network cables for the internet as part if your rewire. Its worthwhile. I'd consider another bathroom seriously as you sound as though you are disproportionate. If your house were to be full you'd struggle (in terms of selling it in too). Flooring is expensive also.
Idxl wait and see what a survey says in detail to be sure exactly what's needed. Even the cost of sockets and switches mounts up really quickly for a big house (I only went for basic white ones).

Once you get into the realms of rewiring and replumbing you will have a lot of disruption, wall damage, floors ripped up etc.

Exactly. Everything gets ripped up and needs putting back.

However, If you managed to get a bathroom + loo done for 5k and consider a 10k kitchen high end, then I think you might as well manage on 100k.

You’re not going to get away with a lick of paint downstairs after a rewire. In an older property it will be a miracle if you don’t need full replastering after a rewire. And it’s quite tricky getting the right rewiring with an old kitchen.