Cost of rewire and re plumb of 4 bed v early 80s house

[Ellsiedodah]

Hi all, looking at a house from 1981. Needs total modernisation. We know previous buyers pulled out after all surveys. Sense it was around a renegotiation. Needs full rewire, replumb (definitely needs new boiler). May need new roof. Though elderly pair have been living in what seems to be a very clean, nice but v v dated home for decades so can't be that bad? Anyone any idea of costs from recent experience. This is in a smart popular town an hour south of Birmingham. Thanks

Why would it need a new roof? I only ask as I don't think mine has been touched since the 1940s at least (house was built in 1837).

Same for the rewire - it may not be up to the current regs, but those are not retrospective, and change often, so most houses don't comply.

Good points. But given it will need a whole new heating system anyway... and there will be some changing of walls etc I presume building control are going to need electrics brought up to date. Re the roof... think we'll just have to look a bit further. Thanks for raising the questions

Rewire and plumbing upgrades will mean you need new finishes, flooring etc too. Assume also kitchen and bathrooms. Plus a new roof likely to set you back more than 100k.

This is what we paid for a large 4 bed Victorian semi.

Rewire 3k
Whole new plumbing system, boiler and radiators 14k
New roof in Welsh slate 12k

We are in the west country so things tend to be a bit cheaper here.

I’d be very surprised if it needed the roof retiled after 39 years ?

We have a 1970s detached. Had building work done and electrics tested which were fine. We had the electric consumer unit updated several years ago so has a full RCD etc which seems to be the key.

I can't see why you would reword a house of that age unless it is a forever house and the existing electrics are poor a d need adding in to in which case yes it may be better to get it over and done with

Why don't you arrange to view with a decent builder and find out what it really needs? It may need a new heating system but for 1980s that is unlikely to mean all pipes replaced (I think air systems were out by then).
Updating the wiring should just mean new consumer unit and switch upgrades. You are unlucky if the roof needs more than repair.

I would be more concerned over: subsidence, flooding, land contamination, and development nearby.

If a 1980's house needs reroofing then I'd be concerned about the quality of the build of the entire house tbh. When we sold my parents house - which needed everything else doing (except windows) the original 1961 roof was absolutely solid and needed no work.

Are you assuming it will need this work or has some report said as much? an 80's house should not really need any plumbing or electrics work let alone a new roof!
New works will be completed to current regs and all signed off as such. Leave the old stuff alone unless a good reason

I've viewed two houses built in 79 recently and they still look pretty modern to me. Certainly not like the 30s/50s houses around here. I'm surprised that there's that much to modernise.

I’m equally astonished that an ‘80s house needs all that work.

We bought a 1979-built house and installed a gas heating system, did full re-wire and re-plaster of the whole house.

Maybe the re-wire wasn’t strictly necessary, but the house had had storage heaters so there would have been a lot of changing around of wires anyway. Plus we have since added an extension and we were able to provide for that in the rewire.

If the house is going to be stripped back for new heating system etc you might as well rewire while you’re doing it.

@Mamette yes I think that's where my head is at and what the job is. Can I ask what you're paying the plumber and electrician roughly and where in the country you are?

Sorry OP we are not in the U.K. so probably no use to you!

We paid €6K for rewire and €7K for the gas central heating system- but that was to install it from scratch.

We paid £4K (plus fittings) for a full rewire and £4.5k (plus rads) for a new central heating system last year. 1930s house, london borders.

We bought our 1930s house 7 years ago. It hadn't really been update inside for a long time so we had a complete rewire done (£10k) and new kitchen and bathroom (£5k each) - I shopped around and found an amazing guy who did both. The house is solid but now needs the roof done as it was last done in the 70s or 80s - have been quoted between £14k and £20 for that. Edinburgh prices though! We haven't ever replaced the boiler, although it's at least thirty years old it still works fine and is a good quality one, so I don't see the point in replacing it until we have to

Am starting to think I was ripped off for the rewire reading these other posts, the bloke was a nutter as well!

but now needs the roof done as it was last done in the 70s or 80s

But why does it need doing? That’s not an old roof. My roof is from the 1900s. It doesn’t need redoing.

@LemonsYellow it needs redoing because all the felt is rotting away, the iron nails tat were used on the slates are now rusting away one by one, it has Spanish slate which is quite thin...I don't know what to tell you We have damp patches coming in al song the front of the house, which does take the brunt of the wind and rain, and we are in Scotland. Most roofs are guaranteed for twenty years, but do at least forty I believe. I don't know what to tell you, maybe you have a magic roof? 😂 or perhaps it has been looked after better than ours!

@BigBadBoom

C'mon if @LemonsYellow tells you your roof doesn't need replacing it doesn't ok?

Stop being silly.

My rewire, incl extras for cctv and burglar alarm is a bit over £4.5k for a two bed house. I did get it specced for the new regs coming in 2021 though.

@Hothammock woah... there is no way the house would be worth this much money even all done new. But it makes me wonder if everyone's quotes here includes making good. I was going by worst case £12K new roof (going by Welsh poster but I thought you could do cheaper even in London!?), worst case £10k new heating and electrics with £7K new boiler but on credit, new kitchen £10K, new bathroom £5k, new flooring through the house budget £3500, plasterwork (making good) £1000 (4-5 days), paint/decorate allow £1000 and do the rest ourselves. What am I missing... how could it get to £100K? Interested to know where you get that figure from... bearing in mind it's not a damp laden victorian place.

@evenmoreforthemoor thanks for sharing. Is welsh slate particularly expensive? I thought you could get a new roof for less than that? Did you have to put new rafters etc? Also do your costs for electrics etc include making good or was that additional? Thanks!

@Sunflowergirl1 and @Chumleymouse good points!

@MollyButton very useful pointers thanks. They built a hell of a lot of trees on this estate... it's a lovely street with acers and firs outside every house... but I wonder if that is trying to cover up for something? It's on a hill and I know the new development that went in above the street has suffered flooding. Contamination interesting... I believe there were garages there previously.

@LemonsYellow*@InescapableDeath@bigbluebus and @Loofah01* good points. What I know is that it's just come back on the market after lots of surveys. The estate agent says 'It needs full modernisation' and offered up that electrics, plumbing, roof were all noted on the survey... but that there was nothing out of the ordinary on the survey. she suggested that the buyers pulled out because of things were taking too long. When challenged (because we'd want to move in by end of Jan) she said she couldn't go into the details which makes me think that they were trying to negotiate down on the basis of significant work..

@Mamette thanks for sharing :)

@LBOCS2 did that include the making good? Thanks for sharing!

@BigBadBoom owch... that roof cost is enormous! I guess it's all relative to where you live. And if you shopped around then c'est la vie! Thanks for sharing

@Boonlark thank you... did that include making good?

I really think you are underestimating especially for London. Sorry, just speaking from experience! A renovation of a house that size would cost around 100k if you are paying other people to do all the work.

@Hothammock it's okay.. I was looking for facts not niceties! :) so thank you. The one thing is that it's certainly not a wreck... but then I suppose sometimes a wreck is potentially easier! We're talking west country though not london (though that's where I currently live)...though I know people who live there and it sounds like prices are similar to london...

@evenmoreforthemoor