Renovating a house I don't live near

[daisiesdahlias]

Husband and I are planning to move to a new area. We've found a house in perfect location with great outside space but it's not habitable yet. Needs insulation, rewiring, and some work on the central heating.

We'll need to get professionals to do this before we can move in and finish it ourselves. The problem is it's the other end of the country, 8+ hours driving or a flight. Is it possible to organise the work to make it habitable without living nearby? Going over to set the workmen up, then coming home while they get on with it? Not done a project long distance before, has anyone else?

You could get a project manager or a contractor. You can organise everything and leave the keys with them and they’ll get on with it.

It's possible but...

We're mid-renovation of a house we have never lived in. We're renting about 1.5 miles away from it. We will move into it once it's done. The building company is project managing it day-to-day. However, there have been queries that have come up that have needed us on site. Some of those were pre-arranged in advance so walking around deciding where all the electrical sockets would go and meeting the kitchen designer and plumber there to sort out those details. Once we got a call asking us to get there asap as they'd found something that had stopped work and needed a decision made. That we really did need to see in person, for something else that came up with the roof the builder took a video and we then talked on the phone. We've also found it helpful to be available to talk to the neighbours in person, especially when it involved a shared chimney stack.

The other thing to check is insurance cover. You usually need specialist insurance for unoccupied houses (most normal policies have a 30 day limit) and those undergoing big building work. Our policy specifies we have to visit to check on it at least every seven days.

We’ve been in this situation and to a lesser extent still are. The insurance is a good point to be aware of. I’d recommend going to a broker to find a good policy for unoccupied properties. Mine allows 30 days between visits but it took some searching and it wasn’t cheap.

I had to do this (inherited a renovator at home when living 200 miles away). It was hard work, and we had a contractor project managing the thing. I went up every other weekend but still ended up with not enough sockets, a delay on a new gas fire because the old one was condemned. He picked the new fire surround and I hate it etc. I don’t think I’d do it again, although this was before the days of video calls which might have made it easier.

We did it, 6 hrs drive away. Get a good builder/ contractor from local recommendation. Make sure everything is planned, specified before any work is carried out. Plan visits while the work is ongoing, this is essential, stay in B/Bs. We rented a holiday let for odd days, over the winter.
Our insurance company has a 60 day gap between visits.

I am renovating a house 150 miles from me which takes almost 2 hours to reach. I got a local booklet with trades in. From home worked out order of jobs. Ripping out old kitchen I did myself. Tiling kitchen floor first job. DH will go up and do it in one long day. Grout on separate day. I'll get kitchen fitters in for quote. I'll arrange them to quote on day hd is grouting. I've had kitchen taken up to house and unloaded all ready for fitting. I'll go up and stay for 2 or 3 days for fitters to complete kitchen. Whilst they do that I will rip off bedroom carpets and strip off about 8 layers of bedroom wallpaper. I'll prep bedroom walls. I'll get quoted from decorators for papering bedrooms and painting woodwork on stairs. I'm having new doors so will find person to fit them and go up on day to let them in to fit. I'll order carpet to arrive same time whilst I'm up there. And so on.

I have a friend that lived in London (for work) and decided to relocate to Birmingham - house they purchased was a probate property and the previous owners purchased it in the 1950s and minimal work has been done since - they hired a project manager to oversee the day to day works and driving up on every other weekend/month to attend and speak to the relevant professionals/ PM.
It was a hefty project too - once the builders had started gutting the place, more problems were uncovered and the budget was exceeded by £50k!!!
I would say it is doable if you have the right team who you can trust to get on with the work (and not rip you off) and plan for adequate time to travel to the property.