Crazy to take on bungalow renovation

[Beach1983]

We have just sold, immaculate 4 bed detached house, 10 years old, the house is lovely but we crave a big garden.

the only properties we can afford with large gardens need work. We’ve seen a probate 3 bed bungalow that needs everything replacing (apart from boiler which is new) we would like to extend in the future but with current prices I don’t think we could afford it.

we would have approx £50k to renovate (new kitchen, bathroom, carpets, re plaster ceilings) am i crazy for considering this with 2 kids (they aren’t young kids). Also am I underestimating cost?

would like some positive renovation stories pls!

It will depend on the specs of kitchen and bathroom you want to fit, and whether you want to alter the layout significantly but if you are happy with the existing basic configuration, then you should get most of it done within your budget. But doing all the celings at once sounds like a nightmare. How much painting and decorating could you manage?

XingMing I am a decorator by trade so that doesn’t phase me but they would all need skimming/re-plastering subject to asbestos survey

we would have approx £50k to renovate (new kitchen, bathroom, carpets, re plaster ceilings)

That sounds doable for £50k provided you are happy with Howdens or similar, aren't moving any walls and the survey doesn't uncover anything major.

We're about to spend around £20k on a medium Howdens kitchen (inc fitting, appliances, quartz worktop, tiled splashback) & around £8-10k on a small bathroom (inc tiling, fitting, mid-range suite & taps etc from Drench).

Equally you could probably spend most of your budget on a seriously high spec kitchen with all the bells and whistles just depends what you choose really!

How much of the work will you do yourself? We have renovated bungalows a couple of times. Big advantage is that you don't wear your legs out going up and down stairs.

The last one was probate. It was 1930s, riddled with damp and woodworm. Being a bungalow at least it was only groundfloor joists which needed to be replaced. Because of the damp DH also replaced all the floor boards.

Full rewire (DH was an electrician), new kitchen, new bathroom, CH boiler fully serviced and all radiators replaced (the only bought in trade), carpeted, curtains, re-turfed garden.

Total cost was around £13k a few years ago. But this was nearly all material cost as very little labour was bought in (CH engineer).

AwkwardPaws27 we definitely wouldn’t be going for an expensive kitchen, as possibly extending kitchen in 5 years so would go cheap abs cheerful. Although we’ve had our howdens kitchen 8 years and still looks great!

im just trying to get my head around downsizing house to gain more garden, it’s so hard unless you live in it to know if it will work!

Would you need to rewire and reroof? If so, I'm not sure your budget will be enough. We're coming to the end of bungalow refurb and the wiring alone has cost over £10,000, carpets (not including kitchen or bathroom flooring) £5,000, plastering about £7,000 and asbestos removal £5,000. We've not needed to replace the kitchen units.

Skips are £350-450ish each time and if it's a bungalow that needs everything doing, insulation may be another cost to consider. What state are the windows in? Could they be refurbished or would you expect to replace? If it's the latter, you could be looking at spending £7,000 or thereabouts.

GnomeDePlume we can do a lot ourselves, but not plumbing/wiring etc. do these sort of issues show up on higher level survey? This would be nightmare if needed structural work as would eat into our budget!

Wiring would unlikely show up in a survey. Surveyors are not electricians/plumbers/gas engineers and will arse cover and be pretty vague. They’ll usually say something along the lines of due to the age of the property it is assumed the wiring could need inspecting or something else that vague.

Lastqueenofscotland2 im
pretty sure it needs re-wiring. Im
more worried about potential structural issues!

How old is the bungalow?

The woodworm came up on the survey. The damp was obvious. I cant remember what was said about electrics and plumbing as we knew we would be replacing these. I think a full structural survey would pick these up.

The woodworm sounds more expensive than it actually was. A couple of cans of gloopy stuff from screwfix, sistered joists, the whole floor replaced with chipboard flooring. Total cost was around £600.

The kitchen was from Wickes. Not the cheapest, not the most expensive but DH fitted it well so it looked good. The bathroom was from an online supplier. We always buy taps from ebay. There are a lot of good quality suppliers for these.

GnomeDePlume ok that doesn’t sound too scary, pretty sure will need re wiring but boiler replaced in last 5 years. Main concerns are there is a small plant growing up through previous extension skirting board, obviously not great but not sure what an issue this may point to? Also the floor slopes down from new part of house to old extension (believe was previously garage) so worried that’s an issue. So conflicted as on paper could be amazing but worried taking on more than we can handle 😅

The plant means light is getting through. The 1930s bungalow had bindweed in one of the front rooms!

My concern with the former garage would be whether it had a functioning damp proof course, was there a waterproof membrane in the floor?

If you decide to proceed then get a structural survey done and ask them to look specifically at any extensions or alterations.

Good luck!

Decided it’s too much of an unknown risk, if we had more money I would jump at it but I feel worried about what else could need doing . Wish I was more of a risk taker rather than playing it safe! There is literally nothing else on the market atm that fits what we want in budget but I have to listen to my gut!

I think you are wise. When we did the 1930s bungalow we were doing it up for sale not to live in. Having a couple of weeks when to get from one side of a room to another meant hurdling joists was mildly annoying rather than an impossibility.

It wasn't our first or last renovation so we had already got some experience. We tend to split potential renovations between things we could handle ourselves with some input from gas plumber and those which are builder's renovations where there is potentially going to be structural work.

Best wishes for your further house hunt.