Realistic costs of renovating in London

[Msnotmiss]

We are looking at buying a 1900 square foot house in a costly road in London. It’s a heritage area although the house is 1920s. It’s a semi and is near derelict. It is currently 1800 square foot but has the potential to extend to a 3000 square foot house. Four bedrooms - 3 huge doubles but one small one. Only one bathroom and one downstairs toilet. Two sitting rooms,
large kitchen, small garage (no use for cars) to the side. Kitchen has not been touched since the 1960s. Ceiling coming down, dry rot. I have not been able to get builders to return calls - probably as it’s still speculative and they’re too busy to deal with hypothetical quotes.
Everyone says to live in a property before deciding where and how to renovate but it’s nearly derelict and we would want a second bathroom pronto!
Would love to know: how much to renovate eg redecorate, put in kitchen, update electrics and heating and maybe plumbing?
How much for all the above plus a second bathroom somewhere eg extending over the garage?
How much to do all the above plus extending the living space into the garden?
How much to do all the above AND a loft extension to go from 1800 to 3000 square foot? It’s in a pricey area in London so fear this will add to costs. I will persevere with builders but in meantime would like to know how much we have to borrow and whether this is feasible. Ballpark figures would be great too.

@Hadjab oh no, what a long time to have to live through that! Sounds absolutely awful. Not sure how you stuck it out past the first delay. Really hoping your place is lovely now and just how you wanted it!

This is what I'm worried about. I've a crawling baby and a dog, and also work from home half the week, and it sounds like hell. Im also not tough like a PP said, I'd be bemoaning the dust and dirt every day

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 honestly, we're still not fully finished yet 🙄I can't decorate and carpet the halls and landings until I've knocked through my bathroom and toilet, which should have been done last year, but I overspent in the garden. I also need to rip out the shower in the loft bathroom, as that's leaking into the hall below. The kitchen, however, is fabulous.

If you can find a place to go, do it, however, I have friends who have spent the last six months in a Travelodge, as they also couldn't find a short term let.

It is an absolute nightmare with a dog, just to warn you. There are v few rental properties anyway but add in a dog and no one wants to rent to you.

We have had to take a really shit Airbnb for 7 months at an absolutely extortionate cost - think 3x what rent would be for a similar property - as we had to move out and it was the only place we could find that allowed pets. Every day that we have to pay for this place I resent it as it's horrible, damp, mouldy and tiny but it's all we could get.

When we started the work, it wasn't that difficult to find somewhere but now it is practically impossible!

You have dry rot? The cheapest way will be to demolish and start again from scratch.

@Hadjab sounds like you are almost there now, and a fab kitchen has got to be sooo much better than camping out eating dust burgers. Hope the last bit goes smoothly!

@OneEyedRabbit that sounds awful. I've always managed to rent fine with dogs in London, but I am thinking things have probably changed a lot now. Even looking at air bnbs, we're struggling to find ones close enough to the station and nursery and willing to let us stay for months to make it work

I'm curious -- what was your decision in the end? Did you find a builder you are happy with and what did they quote?

Hey OP I would love to know how you got on! We are thinking of offering on a house that needs a medium renovation: new bathroom, skim all walls, all new flooring, extension to kitchen, units and appliances, create downstairs loo, moving a boiler - to a 30’s semi in South London.
I feel desperately naïve about what to budget (and need to have a ballpark as we’d need to use money from sale and therefore need to know what we can mortgage). Please do share any useful info 😅

A cash buyer swooped and outbid us! Probably just as well as it would have stretched us to possible breaking point. A friend recently spent a million on renovations. We do love where we currently live but were looking for a new project to mix things up a bit. But the more I looked at houses in that area, the more I see what we don’t get for our money! There is something to be said for being mortgage free in the current environment even if it means being a bit bored with our house.

I have heard that costs have eased a little though it is still difficult to track down great builders.

@Msnotmiss oh my goodness, it actually sounds like you had a lucky escape. It’s so easy to get really excited about something and agents push and push you, but it’s the biggest financial decision of your life potentially. I can’t imagine ever being at the mortgage-free 😂 so good for you. There’s always creative projects to stave off boredom. Thanks for replying.

It feels a bit hollow to be honest @sellotape12 ! The houses on the road we were looking at go for a crazy amount once extended although they’re not exactly mansions. But yes, job insecurity and interest rates rising to match our advancing years are not a brilliant combination! Hope you find what you are looking for too.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 I would strongly advise against getting carpets while the work is going on. We didn't have asbestos but lots of dust which needed a thorough and repeated hover and wipe with wet cloths, sweeping doesn't work. We have the old carpets in bedrooms and mats and rugs elsewhere

Where abouts in London is the house OP?

Ah just seen you've been outbid.. guessing Balham or Battersea?

We bought a seni-derelict house in South London 4 years ago, and I would guess we have spent less than 100k, but are doing 95% of the work ourselves, hence it is a very long term project!

We've extended rooms and gad a downstairs loo built into an old outdoor pantry, but the other big ticket items: kitchen/extension etc will take a lot longer as we have to save up again.

@sunshineplayroom It was someone else saying they were outbid, not me 😊
No the house I’m talking about is SE London, between Crystal Palace and Peckham. What I’m getting from this thread is that in four years a lot has changed with regards quotes, because raw materials are higher and there’s a construction worker shortage. You were lucky to get the reno done when you did by the sounds of things!

Yes I would agree @sellotape12 it is expensive now, outside of London we are doing a similar job for over twice the initial suggestion

So I thought I would update on this. We got two quotes back from architects and wow. September 2023 (for anyone who is reading this from the future!) we got quoted:

£300,000: to add a 3x7 meter back extension, to renovate all of downstairs, including heating and flooring, to refurbish the upstairs family bathroom, and to improve a loft extension that last done in the 80s.

£180,000: to do the above, but without the bathroom, or renovating the existing loft.

Neither includes the cost of the kitchen units themselves or kitchen appliances. Both quotes include the fees of architects, structural surveyors and council fees and they include 10% contingency. So I’m sure you could get a cheaper if you are very good at planning your own design and working with the builder direct / engineer and don’t mind project managing, but I thought this was useful to illustrate for anyone else.

It’s so much money, I’m not even sure it’s worth it now…! (London SE15)