Order of projects

[firsttimekat]

I'll start this by saying I'm completely new to this so expect I'm asking daft questions!

We are just about to buy somewhere that needs a lot of mainly cosmetic updating. I'm feeling completely overwhelmed about what order to do things in for fear of getting it wrong and costing us more in the long run.

The whole bungalow needs new windows and flooring and decoration. Probably a new boiler. Then we want a new kitchen and bathroom(s). New lighting throughout. The current bathroom was a separate toilet and bathroom that they have knocked into one, we'd like to reinstate the wall and open up the smaller side to the master bedroom to create an en-suite. I think there is space for this but it will need careful layout consideration.

Where do you start? Windows first? Structural bits in the bathroom? Boiler? Does it matter? What bits need to be done in order and what bits could we do whenever? Would you get someone in to do it all or separate people? What should I be thinking about?

Do you have a budget? It does depend a bit on the layout of the house and which bits you can ‘compartmentalise’.

Windows first, you’ll get a better deal if doing the whole house at once.

I’d also get a quote for that boiler, but it does depend if you’re going to move the boiler (with the new kitchen) or it’s staying where it is.
Find someone to help you design that new en-suite/bathroom - post the plans on here, you’ll get a lot of advice and some of it will be brilliant.

Budget wise we will have c£30k from house move and then scope to either extend the mortgage next year when it's due or DH has just got a £20k pay rise so we should have extras coming in to put towards it/repay some borrowing. We don't have a fixed idea of how much we will need to spend but this is likely to be our forever house.

How could I forget the office! We want to convert part of the detached garage (already has electric) into an office. This could obviously be done separately but presume there would be some savings from doing it with other bits? Will need a new window/door and the old garage door part bricking up.

Layout wise the bedrooms are on one side with the bathroom and kitchen and living room on the other.

Boiler is staying put in a cupboard in the hallway.

You can do it in lots of different orders - I'd suggest you first consider how you're going to need to live in the house. Do you want to keep half the house liveable in and work on the rest? All at once? Do it slowly? How much can you do yourself? I surprised myself by being very good at tiling. I think a lot depends on when you want to finish and how much disruption you can live with vs how awful is it now! But windows first, lovely new floors last when the rest is done so you don't trash them.

I’m no expert but this is what I’d do. Make a plan for the kitchen and bathroom - do you need to move any plumbing or will you just have a new suite where the old one is? If you’ve got enough cash, rip them out (you’d need to move out). Windows, plumbing, wiring for lights (add lots of plug sockets - old houses never have enough sockets), walls moving and bricking up of door first as all these things put holes in walls. Install new kitchen and bathroom. Don’t attach the light fittings and kitchen appliances necessarily but get the wiring in the right places. Then plastering and flooring. Then decorating. Then attach light fittings. If the boiler is staying where it is I don’t think you necessarily need to worry about when it happens, but if extra pipes are needed then they need to happen before new flooring goes down.

If you’re too skint to get all this done at once, do windows in the whole house, and then knock the rest off room by room or do sections such as bedrooms that won’t be affected by the bigger projects. Kitchen will be the most expensive.

Really good point about moving out while the work is done. I sort of hoped we could minimise that, expected we'd need to be out for a bit while the bathrooms were done but would be happy to set up a bit of camp kitchen while that was done, guess that means room by room rather than doing it all at once. And doing the kitchen before the bedrooms so we don't camp in a nice finished bedroom!

Splitting the bathroom means the addition of a new toilet (next to the current one, will just be the other side of a wall) and a new sink.

That's quite a lot.. one thing to mention is once you have lived in the house even for a few weeks it will be very clear to you what is a priority & what you can bear to have to live with for a while. You may also find once you start that other things need doing (eg I took off wallpaper and ended up with 8K worth of pulling out walls, replacing with plasterboard & plastering, THEN repainting)... so your plans may not come quite to fruition

Start with your budget, think in chunks, & see what most annoys you about the house & go from there...

I would do:

• windows first
• flooring last (it will get wrecked by other things)
• redecoration ; do it yourself in interim until all of the house is done. A quick lick of white/a neutrel paint makes other people's vile taste do-able.

New boiler before/at same time as kitchen or bathroom if boiler is in there. I'd do kitchen before bathroom as I see more benefit. Bathroom sounds like a 'self contrained bit'

New lighting is fairly minor but do that & then decorate

Based on your list I would get:

• 2 general builders in
• an electrician (in case the 2 builders give you wrong info)

Also, if you speak to tradesmen about all the jobs, they will be able to indicate the order of work very easily

You might as well do what you can this year as you will have the benefit of it for longer, & then if you need to save for other bits you can de-prioritise the things that annoy you less -which you will have more of a view of once you move in

Re separate/one person: the most important thing is to find someone good and easy to work with. Here, ask your neighbours, ask the current owners, ask local friends/family. Once you find 1 good person, ask them to find you the other trades you need

I am personally a bit of a cheapskate: so non-complicated things I will get cheaper labourers in to do (eg plaster). You can save money with less skilled builders (& their work may be ok), but IME communication/stress can be a problem.

If you get someone in to do everything, they will charge around £200 per 'man' day to do things. Small jobs you might be able to get done for less later on, which is why you need to have several quotes/discussions and decide on a plan for there

Thanks lots of good things to think about.

Now to argue about the details of kitchen layout!

Get a really good kitchen fitter in to advise on layout. We had a really awkward kitchen & our dude worked wonders.