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Original poster

Can we do this for £25k

34 replies

Gingersay · 08/01/2022 17:29

I have seen the perfect house in the area I've wanted to buy in for the past 20 years, the space is perfect. However it's a repo and needs the whole inside done the house is a 90s build so should be fine structurally.
After fees deposit etc we would have around £25k, could we put in new kitchen, bathroom and ensuite decorate and flooring for this. I think we can but DH doesn't. Any advice before I get too excited?
We are in Central Scotland so no London prices.

OP posts:
ImFree2doasiwant · 08/01/2022 17:32

Yes I'd say so. Assuming there aren't 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms! You can do the painting etc yourself? You could spend a LOT more but don't have to

cloudtree · 08/01/2022 17:33

It would entirely depend on the quality you want and on the size of the property

Totalwasteofpaper · 08/01/2022 17:34

Hmmm… how much would you do yourselves?
Is the plaster blown?

Cost of materials is wayyyyy up and whole it depends on finish/quality you want… I think £25k is tight.
But if you can save monthly on top you can do more work as you go.

I have done a bedroom/living room nicely for £500 by doing decorating (painting and wallpapering) myself and getting the carpet as end of roll (ie heavily discounted)

whyohwhyohwhyohwhywhy · 08/01/2022 17:37

Yes I reckon so, might not be a really high quality finish but not everyone is fussed by that sort of jazz

refraction · 08/01/2022 17:37

We have just refurbished our house for about 20k. We have done most of the work ourselves though. 3 bed 1930s semi.

refraction · 08/01/2022 17:38

Kitchen was 5k from DIY kitchens. Wren etc are over priced for the same quality.

cloudtree · 08/01/2022 17:41

If it’s 30 years old and a temp job it will possibly also need a rewire which could be costly and which is incredibly disruptive and will then mean you need walls replastering etc

Original poster
Gingersay · 08/01/2022 17:58

It's a 3 bedroom detached with livingroom/diner, kitchen and converted garage sitting room so not a massive house.

OP posts:
Original poster
Gingersay · 08/01/2022 17:59

Electrics not a problem my FIL is electrician.

OP posts:
snowone · 08/01/2022 18:04

It depends on the quality of finish that you want, the size of the rooms, the appliances, flooring etc etc. We live in the NW and have just spent 12k on bathroom, en-suite and downstairs loo.....just on materials. We have budgeted 20k for our kitchen including fitting.

TheLeadbetterLife · 08/01/2022 18:04

It would be tight, but if you went for inexpensive but decent materials (some second hand ideally - loads of kitchens and bathrooms on eBay) and did a lot of DIY, you could just about do it. We did.

ItsDinah · 08/01/2022 18:12

Does the heating work? Do any of the windows need replaced? How good are you at DIY and how much time would you have to do it? Average cost for replacing a kitchen is around £10,000 and for a bathroom around £5,000 but the costs vary enormously. It's always tempting to have the excuse for brand new kitchen, bathroom, flooring, decor, but Repos often have a lot of basic things that need redone and eat up a lot of funds.

mistletoeandwine2021 · 08/01/2022 18:16

wow I would be impressed if you can, but judged on what others are saying seems possible, depends I guess on size of kitchen and what kind of flooring you want, will walls need replastering or just painting, if windows and frames are sound and no damp a possibly I guess - good luck!

comfortablyfrumpy · 08/01/2022 18:40

You might be able to find a kitchen second hand on ebay or marketplace. I have seen some really good ones going for a fraction of what they cost. One of my family members did this and got what would have been a very expensive kitchen for under £2k and had units left over.

Oceantide · 08/01/2022 18:45

Is it liveable? DH and I have a house from the 90s in ok condition, needs full redecoration and new kitchen and bathrooms. We are doing a lot ourselves as DH is handy with tools and I am fine with painting. If you can live in it I would go for it.

Costly things to look out for which you can’t necessarily do yourselves; electrics, new boiler, new windows/doors.

MamaSharkington · 08/01/2022 18:49

Honestly if it's the perfect house in the area you have always wanted to live in, then go for it. We bought top of our budget, no reno budget for a house that needed everything. We squeezed it all out of our income. It took some time (3 years to total liveability) but was totally totally worth it. It was hard work, but has been such a great choice in the long term. I say do it.

Sparkai · 08/01/2022 18:55

It really depends on what work actually needs doing surely? And how much work are going to be doing yourself?

Eg, just redecorated and new kitchen & bathroom will be more than fine, unless you're going to get fancy.

Slayduggee · 08/01/2022 18:59

I think it would be tight for a bathroom, en-suite, kitchen and flooring.

It depends on how much of the work you can do yourself or how many friends and family who you can ask favours. Do you have to do everything immediately or could you spread it out.

When you rip out the kitchen and bathroom you may need some plastering which will bump up the cost? Are you planning on moving anything in the bathroom or moving the sink, dishwasher, washing machine? If you need to move any plumbing this will pump up the cost. Although you say it doesn’t need a re-wire an 30 year old house won’t have as many sockets in it as a modern house. If you need to put in more sockets or spotlights this will bump up the cost.

I renovated my house in 2019 and my costs were

Kitchen 8k including appliances - mate fitted it for free. We ripped it out.
Bathroom - we ripped it out. My husband did the floor and the tiling - 5k (but we moved the toilet and neededed completely new plumbing)
Flooring - carpets 4K + plus fitting and £500 for LVT for kitchen/diner - husband fitted it
Decorating - I’m guessing we spend a few hundred on paint and brushes but we did it ourselves.

That doesn’t cover the cost of any electrical work as we had a complete rewire so had new socket and new lighting. Also not included is the cost of replastering the kitchen and the bathroom as we had the house completely replastered.

Original poster
Gingersay · 08/01/2022 19:19

I have electrician and plumber in the family, I would keep the bathroom and ensuite the same just new suites as both are pink.
I'm waiting on the home report that's the good thing about being in Scotland that the buyer gets this info up front.
Flooring I would just go for roll ends and replace with better when i could.
The house is not liveable as it is everything movable has been ripped out.

OP posts:
Oceantide · 08/01/2022 19:21

Has it got a sink in the kitchen still? I think that can impact the mortgage if it doesn’t.

Original poster
Gingersay · 08/01/2022 19:42

Yeah the only things left are the kitchen and sanitary wear which have all seen better days

OP posts:
home2012 · 08/01/2022 19:46

If the house and location is perfect, the go for it. The work can be done overtime. I assume it's liveable for now

refraction · 08/01/2022 21:39

You can easily make it nice for 20k if you do as much as you can yourself.

user1471538283 · 09/01/2022 09:32

Yes if you are very careful. Try and negotiate prices as much as possible.

In my favourite house the kitchen was £9k but you can do it alot cheaper than that. The four piece bathroom was £6k. Windows and doors are expensive.

onedayoranother · 09/01/2022 13:19

No. I've just redone two bathrooms and replaced a kitchen. Issues with both bathrooms once all the stuff was out. One was simply replace everything (not moving or adding anything) and it was £1000 for the bath with shower over, toilet and sink. Another £400 for tiles, floor and light. £200 for mirror and towel rail. Plus plumber £2.5k, another £2k for building work and electrics (sort out floorboards, reinforce bath area etc). Plastering... so at least £6k for that one. Other one I did move all the plumbing and used more expensive tiles so about £10k. If you are adding the en suite (not replacing an existing one) it will be £££.
Kitchen was Howdens cost £20k if you include all appliances, stone worktop, fitting and tiling. Didn't have to do floor luckily.
To paint a whole house you are looking at £5k at least. Flooring, any electrical upgrades, re plastering, anything that wasn't obvious before like damp...,
I'm sure you could do a lot of the work yourself, source cheaper kitchen, and get it done for £25k but I wanted a certain standard (I could also have paid many times more than what I did). Part of what I did was because the house was well worn and not done by professionals and it sure showed.