How to judge reno cost on a house you haven't bought yet?

[MumLass]

Having recently separated we are selling our family home. I'm looking for something suitable for me and the kids. Pricewise I have seen a few that fit the bill in terms of size and outside space but they need a big revamp indoors.

I'm talking walls knocked down, new kitchen and bathroom, or perhaps a garage to convert into a bedroom and ensuite. It's hard to know my house price budget without knowing the cost. Any wise MNers been through this and willing to look at a floorplan for me and take a stab at it?

You could probably do the ensuite and redo the bathroom for £30,000, then move in and live with the rest of it for a while and do the rest of the work in a couple of years?

Might be helpful to add in general area. We're on our 3rd Reno and I would say £100k is doable if you're on top of choices and self manage the project, we're up North, £200k would be far far over here unless you went for completely high end fittings. I'm assuming it's about right down south though

@onthefence23 we are a popular town in the Home Counties where nothing is a “reasonable” price. £200k was high end for everything. I managed some of the project and sourced some of my own materials too. There are no bargains to be had anymore. In our last build, I picked up so many bargains on eBay but nothing like that anymore to be found.

I think it does make a difference then, there are still some reasonably priced suppliers etc round here and when I looked on eBay saw some decent kitchen carcasses, we've done it a few times but now working on forever home and it's definitely rocketed over the years. It was the only way I could get on the property ladder at the time and was able to save a fortune doing stuff myself. I took a course at local building college in the evenings pre kids and that gave me confidence to start. I didn't know how good I had it with prices back then

You might find that there's no easy 'converting' the conservatory to a proper extension. Often conservatories are thrown up without the proper foundations you'd need for an extension. We've previously had to knock them and start from scratch with the replacement which would add substantially to the budget.

South East here and in the middle of a similarity sounding renovation. The differences in quotes everywhere for both the fittings and the labour has been insane - some things more than treble! So we have had to carefully shop around which has been a pain.

Rough prices of ours which might help:

• replace conservatory with extension- £43 k to shell finish. Doesn't include the glass, for slim sight line pocket sliding doors and roof lights - we are looking at almost £9 k on top for the glass. The conservatory foundations weren't good enough, so the above includes the extra we have to pay the builders to take it down and break up the concrete base.
• new bathrooms with Lusso Stone or equivalent fittings and Mandarin Stone or equivalent tiles. £10k per bathroom. An extra £1.5 k for the additional plumbing and waste for the completely new bathroom.
• windows - £12k for replacement timber windows
• £4 k on electrics and partial rewiring and new consumer unit. About £2.5k extra on light fittings, sockets, switches, etc
• £3 k new invented water tank
• £2.8k to remove walls upstairs and put in one steel. And to build three new stud walls, and fit the doors and sliding picket doors. We haven't had to open up a downstairs wall but that would be a thicker steel.
• £20 k for the kitchen including fitting
• £9.5 k for wood flooring and carpeting and underpays and fitting

Ive had a lot of renovation work done as have 10 btl houses.

I'd say ensuite could be done for £2.5k as pipes easy to access. If you want any tiling and flooring then add another £2k

Family bathroom, new suite tiling and floors I'd say £5k depending on the fittings you choose.

Knocking through lounge to dining room will be expensive as you will have to then redecorate and have new flooring so possibly £7k.

Having a boiler relocated is expensive as must use a gas safe person. If it's upstairs in a bedroom and you want it moved down to the kitchen then it'll be at least £2k and that is if kitchen is directly under the bedroom. The carpets/laminate may well be ruined as person will have to cut up bits of floor boards to put pipes down through. You might be able to take carpet up first and then relay.

These are all jobs I've had done in the last 2-3 years. I've never had the conservatory opened up so no idea of the price but I can tell you building work has gone up a lot over last year.

I had to pay over £1.5 for putting in a basic downstairs cloakroom and the bathroom was directly above so easy access to water pipes and water run away.

I have found some great whole kitchen bargains on eBay though. I always buy a much bigger kitchen than I need then select units I want to put in. I buy new worktops and plinths and often handles to give it a better look.

I'm in the NW of England- usually a cheap place to have stuff done- and I'd be very surprised if I could get the work you mention done at this time for as little as the sums you suggest here.
E.g., we're having a small full-glass conservatory done, and it will be well over 25k as a shell before plastering and the floor (admittedly that estimate includes solar glass, 2 double external doors, plus the door into the house, the electrics, and a lot of opening lights). A proper extension would be a lot more even if building from scratch, and unless Building Regs will let the OP get away with using the old foundations, having to dig the old ones out would just add to that. The only saving would be presumably the doors into the space might be okay as they are.

Our architect has said about £2k per square metre for extensions.

Because I give the same maintenance person a lot of work he gives me good prices for plumbing, tiling, decorating and laminate laying etc.

Thank you wise MNers. You may have saved me from wasting time on an expensive disaster! I'm definitely put off a reno project now. Living in a building site with 2 kids would only be bearable if it was done quickly, which means not doing much of it myself. I'm in the NW by the way. I will stick to looking at 'done' properties.