Period property full house renovation - who wants to place a bet?

[Labraradabrador]

meeting with builders this week to discuss budgets, and I promise to update once we get the quotes. Trying to mentally prepare myself- what would you expect this to cost:

Grade 2 listed 6 bed detached stone house in the SouthWest, approx. 4,000 sqft. We have received planning permission, and have had full structural review by an engineer that confirms everything in good shape (as much as possible to tell). We have not yet had electrics fully tested - we think they were updated early 90s, but not sure and this is a bit of an unknown.

on the list:

• full decorative refurb of whole house (remove carpets and refinish underlying wood floors, remove wallpaper, paint, new doorknobs, light fixtures, etc.)
• new cast iron radiators in most rooms - this might get reduced depending on budget
• add wall lighting to two rooms (so presumably also replastering)
• Full refit of kitchen and 3 bathrooms - aiming for higher level of finish without going bonkers on brand name fittings
• some minor internal changes - combining a couple of small rooms and removing a staircase, moving location of one bathroom.
• open up 2 fireplaces and install log burners
• some windows could use a light refurb - debating whether to get fancy secondary glazing that will fit the existing frames, but depends on budgets.

so how much will this hurt? Obviously we had discussed budgets before we bought, but in the 2 years since everything has gone bonkers. I’m also not sure how much I trust the architect’s budget sense anyways.

would also warmly welcome any recommendations on suppliers if anyone has refurbed a period property recently.

excited but terrified to hear responses…

Brace yourself. This poster didn’t like it when I said similar!

Although transpires the £80k for the full reno actually on another thread the poster says it won’t be enough and her partner is doing lots of the work himself

I’m well impressed at the £80k renovation and would love to see a price breakdown. A basic bathroom suite is 350 or so. Basic kitchen is probably 7 with appliances. Do most of it yourself, you probably could if nothing unexpected crops up.

So for us with £120k the breakdown is as follows:

structural work £20k
kitchen (DIY kitchens plus fitting, appliances, quartz worktops) £20k
Carpets (upstairs) £4k
Sanding and renovation of parquet £3k
Bathrooms x2 plus 2x WC £10k
2x wood burners £7k
full rewire £8k
plumbing and heating (including install of CH but not fancy rads for thermal and cost reasons, and new mains water connection) £8k
decoration (stripping woodchip, lining paper, painting and prep, plus small bit of plastering) £20k
The remaining £20k will have gone on curtains, new furniture for some rooms, refitting of the windows (original wood).

the external costs were
patio - £15k
external painting £15k

Bathrooms x2 plus 2x WC £10k

I spent £9k on one bathroom. And from friends, family and neighbours… £7k-£10k for one total overhaul of a bathroom is around to be expected.

how long ago and where was this? And I take it not groehl and roka etc?

My dd fully renovated her 3 bed terraced cottage outskirts of London last year. Back to brick internally, néw windows but roof and brickwork fine.

With a diy kitchen costing 5k, 2 bathrooms of good quality but not crazy, total internal area

Final cost was

120k

£600-£1mil I would wager. Prices right now are obscene

The trouble is that you will be presented with cheaper options constantly but you’ll look around and think “We’ve spent so much already it would be a shame to stint on this.”

We went with plastic light switches and regret that tiny saving, metal ones are so much nicer. And every time I turn on a light, I get reminded.

So really I think you’ll hit 350k easily. Do come back once it’s done and tell us!

Much depends on the potential value of the property. If, once refurbished, it's knocking £2m or more then higher end fittings. If it's never likely to realise more than £850,000 then the budget needs to be kept down. It will depend what the market will bear and what the market will expect. Unless the op is planning tonstay for 25 to 30 years without doing more than redecorating during that time. In which case any potential purchaser will not pay a premium regardless of whether the kitchen is the equivalent of John Lewis of Hungerford or Wickes.

Pumping £500k into a property ultimately worth c£850 would be pure madness, unless she bought it for ten bob in the first place.

I'm stunned that they're letting you knock through rooms and move stairs..

Looking at our costs to renovate the back of our house before prices went stupid, I think you're looking down the barrel of 3-400.

I've done 2 edwardian 5-7 beds for under £100k including entire replaster rewire and replumb but neither were listed and we do a lot ourselves so I would estimate an entire project will be around £250k at current prices but I'd expect the quote to be under £200k initially. Looking forward to hearing the reality and time estimates would be interesting too.

I don't think people realise just how big 6000 sq ft is. Refurb costs average around £750 per sqm so with a house of 550 sqm you are looking at around £420k for cosmetic refurb, upwards of £500k for something more extensive involving replastering, wiring and minor structural work.

Internal refurbishment (including minor structural works, e.g. new door openings)
Up to £500 – Cosmetic ¦ £500-£1,000 – New wiring/plumbing and back to brick ¦ £1,000-£1,400 – including layout changes and minor structural work

Op’s house is approx 4000sqft (as per her first post)

I am also surprised you are removing a staircase from a listed property. They may be servants stairs but the are integral to the history of the building.
I would also suggest you think carefully about removing an Aga or such like as they are radiant heat. Depending on the age this appliance may be keeping the old place dry. Personally you can spend as much as you like but to 'modernise' a period house seems daft to me. For context I owned a 7000 sqft old rectory and it had had the guts knocked out of it to appeal to the London market. I also sat on our local planning committee.

What did you do yourselves? Any tips for what you can get a good finish on yourself?

historicengland.org.uk/advice/your-home/making-changes-your-property/types-of-work/change-the-internal-layout/

I am very skeptical surprised that the Op has got approval for removing a staircase in a listed property

I'm not skeptical. Why would someone bother not telling the truth about that?

OP said that the removals are to later additions and the page you linked to says this:

Later extensions may also alter the original plan and could change the character of the house. Sometimes there is a good case for returning to the original layout,

In our case, we hired a heritage consultant to help with planning and listed building consent, and one of the reasons was that the house had been listed inclusive of some 70s alterations that were almost criminal. We knew we would want to get rid of them and the consultant was extremely good at knowing how to maximise our odds on being allowed to do so and while there was some initial push back, we were ultimately successful.

I'm not skeptical. Why would someone bother not telling the truth about that?

new to mumsnet?

because the amount of times…

With a staircase removal?

£275k plus around 30% for "unforeseen problems". I have done similar projects!

I'm not new to MN, no. And I realise people lie on here all the time. I could point to about ten current threads that are clearly exactly that, but it's a super odd detail to bother lying about. It would be much more likely that if it weren't the case, the OP would be complaining about not being allowed to remove the staircase. And, yes, ours had been constructed as external stairs to an addition that had been banged on over an attached garage and then enclosed into another addition. We were given permission to remove it.

super odd

agreed. It would be odd. But what I’ve seen over the years on mumsnet!

And this external staircase you had removed was part of the original fabric of the building?