Would you buy a house that needs significant work doing to it, at the moment?

[IndigoTinsel]

Basically as the title says..

Would you or not? I'm terrified about costs and builder availability. DH is super chilled about it all and I think because I read the news and mumsnet! I have a better understanding of what many people have faced with building work in the last 2 years whereas he is still thinking it is 2014 when we did up our last house quite easily and within our very modest budget. However this next project is another level....

Thinking 2 storey side extension, loft conversion and rear extension, changing staircase as current one couldnt be kept as is and moving from oil to a heat pump. Then obviously new kitchen, bathrooms and all other interior things though prepared for that to come later if we can just get in the property initially.

We wouldn't have to live in it but we would be living at a significant distance from the property albeit with the ability to be there when needed with a fair amount of flexibility and somewhere to stay nearby too and/or trusted family to go over if we could not.

We would have an initial budget of 110 to 150k and saving about 2k a month to keep on top of things going forward.

Any comments or advice is much appreciated, thanks!

I agree with @Blurp and @QuebecBagnet

Whenever I see the price of any work quoted on MN, it is always WAY over what I have paid, or would need to pay for similar jobs. Don't forget that MN is a loooooooong way from typical average across the country.

You need to get a realistic ball park figure from your local builders.

You also need to consider when you need the work done by, and if you need it all done at the same time.
Then look at what you would be paying for a house that fits what you are looking for 'ready done'. Then you can start deciding if it is worth it or not.

One of my dc has recently completed on a house that they have then gutted - wiring, windows, ceiling, knocked a wall down, new kitchen, new bathroom, new central heating, then things like new flooring and decorating of course.
Financially, it has been a really good decision. They have also managed to get it (nearly) all done in about 3 months. However, they are young, full of drive and energy, and have been able to call on friends to help with the unskilled labour, and were very on top of getting in the right trades at the right time. It 100% has been right for them, but that doesn't mean it would be right for the next person. I just don't have that drive and energy any more, for example.

Thank you all for your responses. Some important things to think about and discuss for us going forward.

I put all of this to DH earlier today and he rung some local builders and got very very ballpark quotes that have come back at 45- 60k for loft and 70-75k for double side) leaving out the rear for now as it is kind of already extended there anyway, we were just thinking about getting all work done in one go, but obviously we are aware these are complete estimates at this stage.

A few comments about why dont we buy something more suitable in the first place, believe me I would love to, but unfortunatley there is just nothing that fits that criteria. By doing this work we make a house the size we need for our family with the garden size we want too, at affordable mortgage payment levels, in the right location. To buy this already done we seem to need at least another 100k more than we have (on top of the rennovation budget) so it doesn't really work out for us. e.g this house is 400k we have a budget of 500k but need 600k to buy the 'done' house - Not exact figures! If anything came on the market that was suitable and didnt need this much work then we would be right around to view it. A lot of the time it seems we can get house but not garden size or garden size but not size of house.. which is the case here so extension is looking inevitable. DH absolutely wants some sort of project and I don't mind that but I do wish this one wasn't so massive.. but I can see how we could make it work for us if we get the money right.

@FurierTransform really interesting what youve said about the trade and being someone who can finance this sort of thing during a recession.. My dad has said the same thing about the trade and he is involved in this in a very roundabout way, and we believe we fall into this category though obviously nothing is 100% for sure in life! But our jobs are secure as one could hope for and I don't believe either of us would be unemployed for long if we were not with our exisiting companies.

Some other comments about moving in and living in the work etc. This is not an immediate concern as we are very very very fortunate and currently living rent free with family so until the house was at a habitable standard we would need to live in it but as I put in my original post we would be a significant distance from the property albeit with the option to stay closer to it when needed, with other family.

Thank you all so much again though as it really is making me think about what we may or may not be able to achieve. Guess we will see if the offer is even accepted and then if that happens, what a survey and builders quotes present us with before we get too carried away! In the mean time I will hope that this week the perfect done up house or less project-like house comes on the market, within our budget!

@Kite22 thank you for your reply, didn't see it before I had posted mine. My husband did search his most frequented forum and did tell me that the prices quoted on this thread were nothing like what he was seeing on there.. so an interesting take on things.. but I dont want to be naive either.

I like to think we are similar to your DC in that we are motivated and have the drive to do this.. time around our jobs and DC might be a hurdle but we will do our best and we have a good support system. I cant think of any other way that we can provide them the home that we want and that they deserve. It might not be this particular house but I know that we probably can't afford the done up version and we aren't afraid of hard work.. but I do still wish there was an easier way!

Caveat is we live in an expensive area, not London, but not cheap either.

initial job tendered pre Covid was £110k for a 7x 5 single storey extension, and put a new staircase into attic. Needed 2 big steels, underpinning at an additional 5k.

we also got new plumbing, a megaflo, new radiators and 2 bathrooms (not high spec)…about 35k in all.

putting back garden with new paving and turf and sorting out the drains, £18k.

with a new kitchen fitted, decorating, electrics etc it’s coming in at around £250k for the whole project. Mid end finish. We’ve done none of the work ourselves.

living on site while it was done was a trial but meant we probably headed off some expensive mistakes, could deal with stuff quickly and it kept moving.

final thought, wood is ridiculously expensive now and there’s a long lead in time for certain th8ngs, sliding glass doors being one…

the other thing to consider is do you really think it will get significantly cheaper again? (if so, why?) otherwise, a bit like the should I buy a house argument, you might as well just do it sooner rather than later.

No, I wouldn't, unless I have families in the building trade.

Some good points already made, but the ones that stand out are that you should double your budget and add 20%. Also waiting isn’t going to save you money either, inflation may flatline eventually but prices will not reduce. Housing stock will be under pressure for a while, there are not enough new ones being built. All in all, don’t wait but you need a much bigger budget.

Thanks all for your advice and thoughts. Unfortunately we didn't get it, I feel very disappointed so I guess I really did want the house despite the amount ofwork. I will remember all of this for the (hopefully soon) next time.