What order to do up house

[Birkinbag]

I bought my house a couple of years ago and I’ve been saving up to re-do most
rooms as it’s quite an old
fashioned house.

The main jobs will be replacing the kitchen, bathroom, exterior doors and all windows.

I (hopefully!) have enough money to make a start next year - am I best off replacing the doors and windows first, or should I do the kitchen and/or bathroom first and the doors/windows last? I’m not sure what makes the most sense.

A family member just had new windows, followed by new kitchen (with a wall knocked down) followed by new doors. All seemed to go smoothly

I just had a new bathroom and they told me to replace the window first... so maybe start there?

I'd do the doors and windows first as they might damage your decorating if done last, then plumbing and electrics if needed, boiler, radiators, insulation etc. Any building work. Then I'd probably do one room at a time. That's how we did ours up anyway and my husband was a builder so I assumed he had logical reasons for choosing that order. Took an age though. In fact it only got finished once we'd divorced 😁

If the windows and doors are instrumental in making the house sound, warm, insulated and secure, then do those first. You can live with an d kitchen and bathroom, as long as they’re still functional, until you can save the money. The windows and doors however may contribute to the house deteriorating if not done in a way kitchen and bathroom won’t.

Do the windows and doors first if you can. They make a bit of mess putting them in (our fitters were amazing, but it’s just one of those things). Then do kitchen/bathroom and then decorate last

You’re best getting the windows fitted before you do any of the kitchen or bathroom works. You may cause damage to new tiling /fixtures if you did this after. You wouldn’t paint or decorate a room after new flooring had been laid.
I would also wait until the spring or summer months to start this work too - April/May time is perfect to start - you really don’t want windows being replaced (if you’re living in the property) during winter.

Use the next couple of months to start planning your ‘dream home’. Are you using tradespeople to do the work or are you qualified yourself? If the first, then I’d look to get these booked in ASAP as they will get busy and won’t have time.
If you wanted to keep costs down, you could probably do some of the work yourself - getting in the specialist TP when required. Hanging doors are easy, so is decorating. That saves the cost there. If you’re confident laying flooring, more cash saved there. You’ll need contractors for the windows, bathroom and kitchen fit out plus any other external building work.

Windows first, but I’d hold off on the doors until you’ve done more work inside. They tend to get bashed about when bringing materials/ tools in ( builders ) .

The general rule is to make the shell secure first, so roof/windows/doors/pointing & gutters etc.

I'd start with windows. Around here it's a wait of a month or two to get measured, then 3-4 months for fabrication and install. So while waiting I'd insulate the loft to more than the current standard if you haven't already - I'd make sure that the extract fan for the bathroom is up to the task (you'll need to lay the insulation around this).

I'd start with anything structural, plumbing, wiring, heating & windows

After that it'd be cosmetic apart from bathroom & kitchen so I'd start at the top and work down. Last thing you want to do is refurb downstairs and lay new carpets and then trample mess from upstairs

if you need a new roof do that first, then the exterior next, change the windows and the doors, so if any plaster goes, it’s not major.

Once outside is beautiful, any wiring or heating or plumbing get that done next.

Then I personally would start at the top of the house, boarding the loft out and a decent loft ladder, a fluorescent tube light and a couple of plug sockets.

Then the first floor, the bathroom and the bedrooms all done.

i would possibly paint the hallway/staircase/downstairs hall, but I wouldn’t carpet until the reception rooms are all painted and ready.

The kitchen is always the most expensive and I would leave that til last, put plastic sheeting over the kitchen door whilst it’s been done if possible and get the fitters to use the back door if possible, if not put plastic sheeting over all the other doors til the kitchen is done.

finally, final coat of paint in hallway and staircase, carpets/floor covering down in the whole of downstairs, shut the front door and celebrate

Good luck

This is all really helpful, thank you for the replies 😊