We are hoping to renovate our project house (new electrics, heating system) and do a two storey rear extension. We’ve pulled out as much equity from the house as we can, and are on a fixed no early repayment mortgage for 2 years, so the money we have now is all the money we will be able to access for the next 2 years.
We got quotes from numerous builders and now have the detailed fixed cost quote from our preferred builders. It’s right at the top of our budget, with little money left for glazing, flooring, bathrooms, boiler (we will use our existing kitchen for now so no costs there).
What would you do?
Option A: Swing the cost of the full work by putting purchases on a 0% credit card to be paid off when we remortgage in 2 years. This would cover the cost of flooring and glazing etc. This is the most nerve wracking option especially with the cost of living rising and would mean a very tight 2+ years to come. But the house would be done, and in the most cost effective way, as we wouldn’t have to ‘re-do’ anything, as we would if we did the work in 2 or 3 stages (bathrooms need to be moved in the extensions etc)
Option B:
Do the rear extension, but save the refurb of the rest of the house until 2 years time (we’d get a bigger footprint, which would be great as things are quite cramped at the moment! But this would mean living with very old rickety plumbing / heating system and electrics for 2 years and I’m worried the house won’t cope. Plumbing and electrics have not been touched for 30+ years and definitely need to be updated).
Option C:
Do the refurb of the existing house, and leave the rear extension work until we can afford it. Sorting the plumbing and electrics first is probably the way to go, but this would mean finishing a bathroom that will later need to be moved. This is the most affordable option right now, but it doesn’t gain us more space so my head keeps going back to ‘should we try and see if we can do it all at once?’