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…

It wasn’t tbh! The electrics were put in way back last year! I only just got the invoice 😭

Anyway you win some you lose some. Atleast we know it was done to a high quality and not worth losing a friendship over.

£375, if it is listed then everything that is a period feature will need prescriptive materials & you can bet that all the plumbing & rewiring will need doing & you will have to bring insulation up to new standards. I dread to think what size boiler you will need for a property that size.

A listed building is listed on the inside as well.

One of my neighbours managed to get LBA consent to gut their G2 listed house on the basis that none of the works undertaken shortly after it had been listed in the mid 70's had been approved. The owner who had done the bulk of the unapproved work had been a councillor.

Meanwhile I have to put up with a historically significant 7m stretch of garden wall, a double length window spanning 2 floors (because neighbours with any sense ditched theirs) and an important view of a fireplace in a room that would be much better divided into two double bedrooms.

Yes, but it is the luck of the draw which case officer you get.

The planning department in in our town moves in mysterious ways.

I reckon the builder will take a couple of weeks to come back with a full quote…

Bookmarking!

Reporting back - it is looking like 250-300k inc VAT for what I asked for plus a few bits and pieces that have been recommended in various surveys along the way. I will probably economise on radiators (recommendation for traditional looking column rads was a great suggestion) as well as the fancy secondary glazing (there are a few places where we will add, but having lived here 2 winters now, it is really very comfortable with what we have). Those savings will probably go to a few upgrades here and there vs. what was proposed, so won’t change target budget.

although about double what we had in mind when we were buying (rising material costs but also expanded scope of changes), it is a figure we are comfortable with, and will keep an additional contingency fund for any surprises.

The expectation is 4-6months (which I think is optimistic), and we will be able to remain in the house as can block off zones such that we will always have a kitchen and a bathroom and a separate entrance vs. Works.

I am sure we could do it for less, but it is worth it to me to have a knowledge and trustworthy project manager, and I would like to minimise impact on family both in terms of duration of disruption and stress. I am also sure we could spend double again if we had finer taste / attention to the little (expensive!) details.

@Labraradabrador sounds like you have a sensible well thought out approach
Wishing you luck & fingers crossed that these crazy material prices level off a bit

Good luck op. I am hoping to do something similar so have been waiting for your update. Would love to see more updates as the work progresses (if you have the time!)

What’s their availability?

The really good ones around me… no chance for another 6months for a complete reno.

I was happy to wait, and the wait was completely worth it

Just be prepared to have a large contingency fund given the date at which costs are increasing.

Hi@Labraradabrador

I am about to embark on a similar project myself now and read your post(s). Curious to find out how your renovation went and what it came to in the end. We went to tender and got about 6-7 quotes varying from 700k to 300k so we chose the lowest one as that is only the building costs and not fittings such as kitchen and glazing etc. We have already spent over 20k or more on all the other fees like architects, planning, etc and already replaced the roof for 42k last winter. We had a budget of about 400k all in so it looks like it will be more but any tips or advice would be much appreciated on what to expect and how you kept costs down without sacrificing on quality. I hope your reno went well and you're happy with the result. Like you we don't plan on doing the work ourselves. Thanks so much!