Would you take on a doer-upper at the moment?

[WarmBeerAndSandwiches]

DH and I have been searching for a house for over a year now and there is just nothing available where we live. A few years ago there were so many houses in our price range we could have bought but we are self-employed and had to wait a couple of years to have the right amount of years' worth of accounts to get a mortgage. While we were waiting we went into lockdown, prices rocketed and houses were just selling as soon as they came onto the market. That's stopped now and nothing is coming onto the market at all. On top of that, mortgage rates have risen too. It's so disheartening. The only house in the location we love that has enough space - we both work from home - needs a lot of work. The current owners don't seem to have done much to it since they bought it in 2005 and have done mad things like knock walls out so what was once a four bed house is now a two bed. But it is a beautiful house underneath. It will need a new bathroom and kitchen, decorating and flooring throughout and goodness knows what else. We're going to see it this week.

DH and I are not good at DIY so we'd have to get the work done by other people. The house is on at a good price so we'd have some money to do it but I keep reading how expensive it is to get work done these days. Realistically, how difficult is it going to be? We live in the Borders so it's not as expensive as the south but there isn't as much choice for tradesmen.

I have done up 3 houses and I would not buy a doer upper at the moment. Getting trades perople is difficult and expensive and the raw prices of things have gone up a lot.

Coming on to say what @Geneticsbunny did.
DH has a client that’s a big diy outlet and just can’t get things in.
Tradesppl like gold dust.
I wouldn’t

Not recently a homeowner, but of the age where a lot of things have needed to be redone like bathroom, kitchen, windows and it takes an absolute age to get anyone to do anything. So apart from the cost, do you have somewhere to live while you wait 12 months to scrape a couple of quotes from people after making about 15 appointments with people who don't turn up - or are you buying something that's liveable but cosmetic?

We moved last year and, because of the issues getting trades (post Brexit and then made worse by COVID my builder friend claims) we discounted anywhere that needed more than a lick of paint.

Thanks for your advice everyone, that's what I suspected. Disappointing but I'd rather know.

We're doing one now, bought just before covid hit. I'd say, only take one on if you plan and have the skills (or are willing to learn them) to do a lot yourself, and have a very realistic idea of the costs, both in materials for the work you'd be doing, and in total for anything you'll have to have done. That is, get quotes, double it, and be sure to get anything structurally doubtful checked by a surveyor and/or structural engineer.
You also have to be very patient- we reckoned 2-3 years for the big stuff, and then another 2 for the cosmetics. 3 1/2 years in, the lst 'big' job will happen this summer, the delays being due to covid restrictions on availability of labour and materials- costs have come out a bit under our 'double' estimate, though we have had a bit more done than we thought, due to some upgrading and some discoveries.
The time things take can get you down. We just got back from our first holiday since we moved here- a week away, and when we came back I really noticed all the 'not-yet-done' stuff everywhere I had gradually got used to.🙄I'm still happy we did it, but living for years with a 'potentially' lovely house rather than 'actual' one can be a bit trying.
Purely in practical terms, in the specific case you mention, I'd want to know exactly what the removal of walls may have done structurally. Sometimes walls are supporting the roof and/or other structures, sometimes not. You need to be sure.

Thanks so much @BlueMongoose for such a comprehensive post. That is really eye-opening with regard to timescales. I am not good in a chaotic environment so I was wondering if I could just grin and bear it for a few years but I definitely couldn't take years and years of it.

I would definitely have got a very comprehensive structural report if I had been willing to go ahead and buy but now I am totally put off the idea.

Good luck with your house, I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end but I admire your fortitude! Thanks again.

I'm in the process of buying one at the moment. It's £30k under the asking price for similar places in the area and the work that needs doing won't even come close to £30k in price, I'd never be able to buy in the area if I didn't do this. I'm very much going to attempt to do as much of the work myself where possible though.

We’re in the midst of one (bought just before things went barmy) and we’ve a builder slated for work in…2025. Seriously.

so no I wouldn’t. DH and I are actually pretty handy so we’ve not been sat idle but the big stuff is hard to sort.

Not all but some things are coming down in price from the peak. I went to buy 8x2’s yesterday for a roof they had gone down in price from £13.50 to £9.50 per meter, so I worked out I saved £320 just on those. Other timber I bought had also gone down.

unless you can do work yourselves or know someone well who is doing it for you then I’d give it a miss, it would be grief ☹️

Yep, about to buy one, needs a new bathroom, general decorating upstairs (some of which we can do) and the big one we will save up for is an extension for the kitchen / utility/ mud room. This is a long term plan though (6/7 years) as we need to save up, get 2 promotions between us and hope prices come down / things are most stable.
to buy a done up house is a) out of our budget and b) would not be done to the standard we want it to

I bought one in late 2021 and lucked out with brilliant tradesmen. If you have contacts great. If looking at checkatrade - ugh. But my neighbours are doing their loft and just had to wait a few months for their builder to be free. I don't think prices are going to come down any time soon.

We bought one few years ago but only because DH is in trades and does everything by himself therefore we are not reliant on waiting for trades people to be free.
I really don’t understand what is happening, why suddenly there is such a shortfall of tradesman..

We did 2 weeks ago. But it is structurally pretty sound which helps and we have some good trades people who have worked for us in the past and if they can’t do something they usually know people who can.

I’ve bought 2 second hand kitchens and a cooker which has saved loads and the people working for us are reasonably priced and the work to the central heating has just come in 1.6k under what expected so they don’t take the piss.

If we didn’t have the connections we do I don’t think I would be doing it .

We were in a similar position as in if we wanted to stay in the area we are in it was a house needing work or we just could not afford the step up. We have been in it 4 years and was liveable just needed totally modernising but Covid got in the way. Our builder is great, our price has not increased at all from when originally quoted (bit of luck there that no nasties been found) and we have been fine getting all the materials, but we do live in the South East so probably easier and have been realistic in what is available and made a few adaptations. I know a lot of people who are doing work at the moment. My main advice if you go for it is get a good builder and be prepared to wait for them. Ours is brilliant (done many many houses of friends) and was worth the almost year wait.

I would. Our current has been a doer upper so we have an excellent electrician, plumber and plasterer. Also able to do a lot ourselves. Sister also an architect. Materials are expensive and waiting times can be long so worth calculating how much value it will add to your property.

I would, but then I see houses as a five year project. You literally work your way round them and do one room. The time now in reality doesn’t always work that way. But I allocate five grand a year to the house and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Otherwise you have no life and whilst it is lovely to have a nice home it’s lovely to have meals out meet with friends and have holidays as well before the children get too old to want to spend them with you.

I think it depends on what needs doing.

Could you decorate, re carpet and maybe tart up the kitchen and bathrooms and then wait for a bit? I am doing that with my current house and am happy, we got it for a bargain, the rooms now look and feel ok, although there are things I’d like to do eventually I like it as it is. We moved up a slightly more rural area and compared to the trades we have used in London we’ve found people here to be brilliant.

But if the whole thing needs gutting, new boiler and electrics, new roof, massive extension etc, no I wouldn’t do it now UNLESS you get some good local knowledge/ recommendations and are prepared for it to take a while.

Don’t do it unless you know a lot about DIY and can do some yourself and already have good trades people.

We're in Gloucestershire and we bought a doer-upper last July. Planning permission was horribly delayed so the work didn't start until January of this year.

We've made all the existing electrics safe, upgraded the meters, put in and relocated a new boiler and heating, knocked out the back wall, added a main house extension. We've also created an annexe by extending some rooms to the side of the house. On a more superficial note we've decorated the kids' bedrooms.

Still to do: We are moving the kitchen to the other side of the house, and putting in an extra kitchen in the annexe. New flooring throughout. An extra toilet and sink for the annexe, and a utility and shower room in the main house.

A man cave is about to go up outside for my stepdad, this month the electrics for the extension are being done. There are various other things to do such as moving doors, rehanging doors, ripping out the old kitchen to create a study, blocking up doorways etc.

Honestly we've had no problems at all getting tradesmen in - we've had builders battling it out to do the work. We have everyone lined up for the work we have planned - we have paused temporarily as we have to sell our existing house to fund the work, but once we restart, I don't expect it to take more than another 3-6 months.

I can paint and decorate, and I can carry/lift/smash things up. But I have no other DIY skills whatsoever.

I would absolutely do it again, given the opportunity. We're going to end up with a lovely house which is much bigger than we could have otherwise afforded.

Do not do it. We are on our second doer upper and since the last one 7y ago, prices shot up 3-4 times for materials and labour. Really struggling at the moment, but have no choice, but to push through. Really regretting our decision now.

The only thing we could afford was a fixer-upper. We didn’t get the whole house done straight away. We haven’t even finished the house 6 years later when we’re selling. You can buy a fixer-upper and accept it’ll just take time as long as it’s inhabitable.

When we moved in, we put some paint on the really hideous walls and that’s about all we could do for the first year. You make the house your home with some photos and your decor. It’s fine, we had a home and we saved. There was a wait time for trades people then but it gives you time to budget and save. Then we would do a project at a time. So we saved and did the carpets upstairs. We redecorated just before the carpets were put in and so all of upstairs was done in one go, which feels like a massive accomplishment when you’ve done it.

I think you have to see houses as an ongoing thing rather than fixing them and it’s done. I know very few people who could afford to gut and renovate a whole house so most people save and do one room at a time. In the case when people have had new windows in or need to plaster, they might save for a little while to finish decorating the house.

My concern would be how much it is going to cost.
How much is new kitchen let's say. Or a bathroom? Or floors?

Maybe smb here could share how much they have spent. We are looking for a house now and I'm worried to get smth that needs a lot of work as I have a zero feeling for the cost.

We've purchased several doer-uppers over the years and have gradually learned how to do many jobs ourselves therefore saving loads in the process.

Most recently we downsized to a repossessed detached period cottage in 2018 and had a healthy budget to do the necessary work based on DIYing as much as possible. Like @3BSHKATS we see properties as five year projects, but - despite this one being considerably smaller than previous projects we've taken on - we're currently in year six and still some way to go. Whilst we did much of the structural and absolutely necessary work in the couple of years before covid struck and material prices went mad, we still found that increased costs put us back somewhat. Our initial budget was £80-100k and we've spent £120k so far (no extension to build although we've rebuilt an existing one and reconfigured everything internally), with probably a further £10k required to finish. Looking at sold prices of similar properties we should still make an ok profit. However, if we'd had to pay trades for everything it would be a different story and I'd have concerns about doing it again if the numbers didn't stack up - unless it was a long term home.

We planned to sell this spring - as we haven't settled here - and when it became apparent we'd not be finished we did consider selling as-is, but with sold prices dropping we want to maximise our potential profit so intend to keep going. We do need a sparks for a few days and not sure how hard it will be to find a decent one (the ones we used previously are booked up for months and the alternative has relocated to Scotland) but at least materials are a bit cheaper now!

We're already looking for our next house and despite saying 'never again!' each time we finish the work, I know it'll be another project as it's a great way for us personally to get a decent property and put our own stamp on it.

We found an almost ideal one but it needed so much doing before it was liveable that we couldn't justify it. We'd be paying a high rent where we are now plus a mortgage indefinitely as good tradespeople are like gold dust around here.

Disappointing because it could have been a lovely home.