Realistic budget full renovation + side extension and loft conversion London

[3bedterrace]

Hi! We are looking to upsize and a couple of 3 bed terraced houses in the perfect location are now on the market. We have never entertained the idea of starting a project and are very wary of rise in cost of labour and materials, yet are wondering: how much would a full renovation + extension cost on average in South West London these days please?

Are there any fully renovated houses available on the same road though? If so, this might not be a great buy at the price, especially given the hassle & stress of the work.

The days of doing the work and ending up with it cheaper than 'done' properties are sadly gone, unless you're in the trade and can do a lot of work yourself.

This way though you do get things exactly how you want them, albeit with the upheaval of the works. Not helpful if you can't afford the work though, obviously.

I definitely don't think its currently cost effective to do the work yourself. Done up houses are currently priced the same as doing it yourself.

Thank you all for your inputs!

I was speaking to a structural engineer friend at the weekend (SE London) and he said that you need to work on the basis of £4k per sqm at the moment.

OP I've just made an offer on a house which needs a loft extension and kitchen extension and based on the costs of doing that, there is no money to be made from doing it yourself. (Sadly DP won't buy one that is already done but he is in the trade and will do a lot of work himself).

4K/sqm for the extension or everything?

I suppose house prices for houses requiring work should reflect this….

We were talking about extensions.

We are in the middle of a loft conversion in SW London. It was costing £60k BUT it is massively overrunning. We were promised 6-8weeks and it is now 13w and counting. We still dont have windows in. We have a 15month old in the house and builders are doing their best but the stress and delays whilst living in a building site is driving me insane. If you can budget in staying in rental whilst you do the work, it will much improve your sanity!

Extension I would budget 3k/sqm and renovation 1-2k/sqm depending what is involved, whether you manage trades yourself or have a contractor with pm. 2k/sqm should cover replumbing/rewiring, new boiler and radiators, replastering, good quality bathroom and kitchen fittings, repairs/replacement of windows and flooring and decorating without any/limited DIY.

@YorkshireTeaCup i Did not even know leaving inside was going to be a possibility. we were thinking of selling our flat after the works on the house are done and use a mortgage in the meantime but with current interest rates it’s going to cost the same as renting!

@NellyBarney the house is not priced 2k sqm under market value and it looks like the cost per sqm decreases as house size increases

We bought our house 5 years ago planning to do the loft and side return after our initial 5 year fix was up, but costs have doubled meaning that it would now cost £250k to get it to the standard that we’d like. There are no “done” houses like that in our area but the step up to a house with a bigger footprint (ie not extended but with the No of bedrooms/size of kitchen that we want) is about £400-500k plus stamp duty so ultimately probably worth it to stay where we are and do the work (at some point…).

The 1-2k/sqm are taken from our current renovation project. Our house has a good 5000square feet (about 480 Square meters). We were quoted 1 million for a restauration (repointing, opening fireplaces, repairs to floors where needed, replastering, loft insulation, window repairs and some replacement windows, new kitchen, bathrooms, replumbing and rewiring). We will probably come in at 1k/sqm but that's with self-managing trades and loads of DIY. We are also in a relatively cheap part of the country. But yes, house prices never fully price in the renovation cost. The premium is that you can have it to your own taste and spec.

I agree with @NellyBarney , house prices are bizarrely always high for houses that need a lot of work. What you get in return is the opportunity to choose all your own fittings, whereas with a house that’s been done up, you may end up with a kitchen/layout/bathrooms that’s ‘nice enough’ so you keep it but don’t love it.

By buying a fixer upper you could also save somewhat on stamp duty (depending what’s announced in tomorrow’s mini budget).

We’re in the middle of an extension and renovation in SW London. It’s bigger than the usual loft + side return, as we’re also doing a two-storey extension and lots of other works, so I can’t comment on specific prices for what you are after, but I would probably budget at least 300-400k to do what you want.

It’s worth also considering that you get what you pay for - the cheapest quoting builders will need to cut corners somewhere. Bad builders can make your life a misery, whether it’s shoddy work, poor communications, delays, etc. We went for a quote in the middle and our builders are very good and keeping to the schedule.

all builders who quoted the job proposed to do it cash in hand to save on vat…I mean they asked for more than 350k cash in hand!!! Do people actually do that?

Haven't read all of this yet, we're north west and just about to start on a loft conversion. We're hoping to come in around £80k, which is 2 bedrooms/shower room, new roof and full render. The cost for the loft alone has gone up £18k since we first started looking at doing the work. Probably worth checking with an architect but ours comes under permitted development so we were told that it was better to do that before adding any extensions. My plan is also to knock through the kitchen but we're starting at the top and working down. We've also had to fit central heating, the main bathroom and redo downstairs loo but that's been over the last 12 months. Just been into the same bathroom place this morning, the tiles have gone up £3 a square metre since December and we're getting the order in before they go up another £5. The radiator has gone up in price by £130, other items by £15-£20. Unsurprisingly I'm getting a different radiator!

Run a mile from these cowboys! Of course illegal, so you’d not really be in a great position if something went wrong. Which it would, because they are criminals.

Yes, around 300k I would say. I did it 2 years ago. Small 3 bed terrace. It was super expensive and I also had to pay rent while the work was being done. But worth it in the end.

Hi everyone we are about to convert and restore a dilapidated early Victorian building back to residential. The planning dept has been advised that we need to have a historic buildings survey report done by a suitably qualified archaeologist. This is not an excavation but a report along with drawings that traces the history and different phases of the building. Has anyone had to have this done and if so is it possible to let me see a copy of the report so I know what we need to ask for.Also what sort of price is it. Forewarned is forearmed I think this might hold everything up.Our property is in North Wales.Thank you so much.

@JuleD you might be better starting your own thread as you could be missed on this one x

Thanks I realise I have done this incorrectly. Only just joined.thank you.