Have you bought a proper wreck and done it up? Asking for daydream research purposes and nosiness

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

Our dream is to pay off the mortgage on our current house (another ten years) and then buy a shell of a property somewhere rural and take our time doing it up bed moving in. Very original of me, I know...

If you've done this, what was it like? How much did it cost? Did you do a ton of the work yourself? Was it all worth it? What's your favourite feature? You'll just have to take my word for it that I'm not a journalist

*BEFORE moving in. Clearly not a journalist, because they proof-read.

Just started, been about 6 weeks now and my god it's so much work! OH is doing 99% of it himself around working FT. It's going to be amazing when it's done but that's a long way off atm!

Pingu congratulations! We're utterly useless at DIY or indeed anything practical, but my daydream involves a squadron of cheap, incredibly efficient and perfectionist builders so we will (of course) be absolutely fine

Our first house was a rural cottage with no kitchen or bathroom when purchased. I will add it was a modest cottage of damp with a garden of overgrown brambles, nothing fancy or grand. We had to strip it back to its bare brick, remove walls, ceilings, roof, staircase and supports, rewire, plumbing everything. We did a lot ourselves and were fortunate that DH’s friends were electricians and plumbers so did those jobs, they stayed in our flat worked on the cottage and we took them to the pub for dinner and beer (we bought the materials). That saved us a lot of cash and I will be forever grateful. DH did all the stud walls, ceilings, doors etc as it’s his area of work. We fitted the staircase ourselves, tiled, levelled the floors and tiled. We had someone plaster the walls, strengthen the roof trusses, reroof. Windows we had made it fitted ourselves. It was exhausting, stressful and consumed our lives for a year. I cleared the garden and landscaped it whilst waiting on the roof etc after work and was the part I loved most along with restoring the fireplace in the bedroom with a log burner. It was worth it and after a year of hard graft and expense we spent so every happy years in our cottage. We planned to extend when Dc1 came along but a dispute with a close neighbour led to a year of misery and we decided to sell and move. The housing market and our graft enabled us to double our money in 6 years, a great investment and well worth it.

EcoCustard oh wow, I'm in awe of people like you!

@JesusInTheCabbageVan If you find cheap, incredibly efficient perfectionist tradesmen anywhere be a love and let me know!

They're all utterly useless at answering the phone or an email to attend for a quote (we need some trades for the extension) so I have very little faith in anyone turning up to actually do the job!

I did. It's nothing like the TV shows was my reflection on it!

It takes so much time and money; things never quite get finished as interest wains; guilt when spending on anything other than the house; guilt in time not engaged with the DC's.

I can remember spending a day, up on scaffolding, outside in mid November, wet, cold and very bored, peeling off stickers that were stuck on every new pane of glass that had been fitted (quartered windows).

Cursing - 'I bet a man stuck these stickers on without thinking that every one had to be removed' - cursing - 'I always get the menial bum jobs whilst DH gets the glory of skilled work' and cursing - 'they don't show this bit on bloody Changing Rooms'.

Never again! 😂

Yes but as a business. I've bought properties not fit for human habitation. I had a good team, built up over several projects (went through about five plumbers in the process). It is pretty much a full time job if you want it done quickly, which I did as they were investments. I took the worst house and turned it into a lovely home that I would be happy to live in, and sold to first or second time buyers.
Learning to do things in the right order, getting the right materials on site to schedule, and making sure the trades get on (there have been some tense moments), can be difficult. Add in the odd uncooperative or downright obstructive neighbour, unexoected and expensive building issues, and it's not always fun either.
In your situation, though, you are also talking about a change in lifestyle. It's a long term plan and you don't know where you'll be career wise, family wise or even relationship wise. But if you share a vision then it could be a great adventure!

@ArgyleIsle I had that, spraying furniture polish on the glass trying to-rub sticky labels off the panes. Thankless task

@PinguTheLion I will! They're also going to be stunningly beautiful, very polite and smell amazing - hope that's OK

@ArgyleIsle oh That sounds less fun.

Come to think of it, I had a similarly romanticised view of the baby years - sort of: 'Yes, I know there'll be one or two night wakings, but you can just sing them to sleep and pop then in the pram next to your restaurant table, lalala.'

@Livingintheclouds we share a similarly naive, unrealistic vision We both grew up in the country but have got used to city life as adults, so it probably would be more of a lifestyle change than we realise. (For the same reason, I'm quite intrigued to see what happens with all the people who fled to the countryside during lockdown, a year or two down the line when reality bites.)

@JesusInTheCabbageVan will they also drink diet coke with their tops off at regular intervals?

@PinguTheLion o yes They'll have to, or I'll damn well find another squadron who will.

A couple of years ago we bought our current house as a project. Beautiful Edwardian house that hadn’t been touched since the 70s. We had a complete overhaul: heating, plumbing, kitchen, bathrooms, stripping and relining walls and decorating, flooring throughout, some structural work/layout changes. The whole project took about a year from moving in, the first tradesperson arrived a fortnight after we moved, the last left a year to the day after our moving in date. We spent a little over £100k to achieve a mid-high end finish. We did minimal work ourselves, it was too much of an undertaking. We lived here throughout, it was messy.

[quote EcoCustard]@ArgyleIsle I had that, spraying furniture polish on the glass trying to-rub sticky labels off the panes. Thankless task[/quote]
I think nail varnish is supposed to remove glue, isn't it?

It wasnt a wreck but I completely remodelled my favourite house. I really enjoyed it except doing the bathroom. What I would say though is you need contingency money!