How much cash to take on this house?

[Lexi334]

Very well aware that this is a “how long is a piece of string” type question but I’ve never done anything like this before and literally have no idea if we’re talking £50k or £150k 🙈🤣 this has the potential to be a forever family home for us but we hadn’t really thought about taking on a project.

To take on this renovation, how much cash would you want to have?

NEEDS:

• new electrics


• new boiler


• upstairs shower room striped out and replaced with 3 piece bathroom suite & tiled etc


• artex ceilings throughout that need removed


• everything replastered


• kitchen moved to “bedroom1”


• kitchen turned into a utility

• (carpets/vinyls replaced throughout)


• (painted & decorated throughout)

we can do those last 2 ourselves at just the coat of materials so don’t need those factored in really.

I know finishes etc make a huge difference - I’m just talking standard stuff here.
This house has come up in an area of our town that we love but never thought we’d be able to afford. We could offer a bit over the valuation and we’d still have some cash left over - we just have no idea if it’s anywhere near enough to start turning this into our forever family home.
The sellers are in their 90s and the house is very dated but has been immaculately maintained.

Obviously if we love it as much at our viewing I’d look into proper quotes for things to see if it’s going to be possible for us. I just want to know if I should even be taking up the sellers time if it’s not realistic for us.

@BreadInCaptivity That sounds like a really useful exercise actually, thank you! And I completely agree about the kitchen.

@ShetlandPony1 More than happy to get stuck in and do what we can ourselves. I’m definitely not scared to get my hands dirty and learn as I go! The only thing that actually got done by us in our first property was re-tiling an en-suite with an alcove shower cubicle 😅 I decided to take it on myself as a first ever attempt at tiling 😅 took me about twice the length of time that everything I’d read had said it would but I got there in the end and it looked really good 😊 I had chosen a bevelled tile though, not realising how much more awkward that made cutting them etc so I wouldn’t go for those again lol

If you're willing to get your hands dirty and do work yourself it is indeed amazing what you can learn from Youtube especially if you're willing to take your time. Also if you can afford to stay in rented while the dirtiest jobs are done that makes life much easier.

My friend recently had a very similar project . They spent £47k on new windows and doors both external and internal , new damp course, a complete rewire, new thermostats and boiler, a complete redecorate of most rooms including dealing with artex and new floorings throughout, apart from kitchen and a new bathroom - what they didn't do was touch their kitchen or lean too which are grim - and they have factored in will cost them £20k to sort out. I think you can get a lot of basics done for £50k and build on that

If the house is livable now, you are not bothered by the mess and you have £50k to spare, do the essentials - electrics and boiler. Move in, then refurbish room by room it may take 10 yrs but go for it .

Removing or even plastering over artex ceilings is a large undertaking. You can’t just plaster over it, the artex has to be filed down which will release the asbestos anyway. A friend bought a house and one day the plaster which had just been applied over untreated artex dropped off the ceiling with no warning. I’ve decided to
live with my artex ceilings. It’s not an issue.

I'm in Scotland and I guessed £80k on Scotland prices as I read through your list. So interesting to then read that you're in Scotland too. It looks like a lovely big house, so you'd be able to renovate room by room and still have space to live in and to use as work space for the reno work. We've done 2 houses now, second was with children in tow and it really slows things down. Good luck, I'd go for it, but I'm used to living amidst chaos now.

You don't need to remove Artex ceilings, skim over them. We had the worst Artex ever with huge fan shapes and we have ceilings are smooth as glass now. If they contain asbestos they will only be an issue if you disturb them so it makes sense not to!

This is the most realistic in Scotland, nothing like 130k worth of work.

From recent experience as novices…we spent £200k but that was big extension, moving stairs, sorting garden after, new flashy kitchen, full redecorate, 2 bathrooms, new radiators, curtains and flooring throughout a 3 bedroom house, in an expensive area.

so I think your plan sounds fine and it won’t be a £100k.

what helped was dh did a spreadsheet of all costs. including new furnishings, tiles, taps…stuff like that.

we lived in it. It was bearable but when they were taking down walls, ceilings etc, even though they were careful and taped rooms off, the dust is still settling 6 months later. It wasn’t easy but not impossible.

my top tip would be to put as much stuff in storage as possible.