House renovation.. do it now or shall I wait? In the north

[Jennie2015]

Hiya!
Hope everyone is well!

We FINALLY bought our first home nearly three years ago, we got it just before the COVID price hike just as the market reopened. The issue is it needs a complete renovation.. 😫 And we didn't realise just how much work needed to be done 😫
So we are hoping to -

• Put a front dormer on and also extend the rear dormer so it will have two full size dormers.

• Move the stair case as it's in a stupid position and move it to the other side of the house

• Have it re-wired

• Have the walls plastered (they are in a mess at the moment) 😫

• Upstairs and downstairs bathroom done

• New kitchen

• Patio doors

• A wall knocking down so open up the kitchen into a kitchen/diner

Aswell as new flooring etc..

The house was owned by an elderly couple and we have lived in the house as it is. I didn't realise when I bought the house just how work it needed - we were first time buyers 🙈 We are constantly saving up to have the renovation done but it seems like prices are only increasing (or from what I've heard). Would anyone recommend having the renovation done now or is it worth waiting? Has anyone got any hints/tips on how do it as "low cost" as possible?

any advice would be greatly appreciated ♥️🏡 Thank you X

I feel your pain, we are mid reno at the moment, we are doing a few rooms at a time as and when we can afford to.

We did the boiler and living areas, hallway and landing last year. So partial rewire, plastering and all new internal doors. This year are the bedrooms, porch and bathroom, next year is kitchen.

I hate living in a half finished house but I'm happy with the changes we've made so far.

In my experience, start getting quotes now. All the good builders will be booked up for eons, so even if you book someone now, chances are you won't get them until next year, by which time you will have saved up more. We are just about to start extensive works, which was booked in with builders 18 months ago. It's always worth waiting for the good ones. Happy renovating to you!

We've bought a house in a similar situation and have done as much as we can in the first go - we prioritised safety (so rewire, roof repairs, supporting beam, repositioning stairs). Rewiring means you need to replaster as it's so messy. It was already extended so didn't need to do that. We've delayed a bathroom whilst we save up.

Last time we did this (we are this crazy) we delayed the bathroom and kitchen and just got the rewiring put on top of existing tiles in the kitchen, then channelled into walls when we did the kitchen a few years later.

So do anything essential for security, safety, water-tightness. And don't do anything you'd then need to re-do. Eg replaster THEN rewire!

We got a detailed quote done, then removed some bits from it until a future date.

Are you planning on doing it bit by bit, or getting builders if for a big renovation?
Personally I’d get quotes, but hold off for a long while.
Prices may well tank, and it may be cheaper to sell at a loss and buy a better house for less than the renovation cost.
Also, the days of people just upping the mortgage at near zero rates for renovations has ended. I’d expect builders to be much less busy next year.

If you wait about a year, people will have less spare cash so there will be better availability for builders. It gives you the chance to save up and to really thoroughly plan what you are having done, right down to finishes and where the sockets are going. You could also start buying bits when you see them cheap to save some money.

The only problem with that is that prices are so volatile. One company I know of that does high-quality bathrooms can't hold to quotes for longer than a month or two because their suppliers' charges are so unpredicatble (when I spoke to him last he was facing his main supplier giving him advance warning him of two more price increases in the next few months but not how much that might come to) but was booked up for close to a year on jobs.....

^ Absolutely this. We did almost of all that stuff, as you did. We also added drains into the 'do first' list. All the stuff that's seriously disruptive in and around the house is done, last window in shortly, conservatory starts this month, but that's self-contained, shortly the garage roof, and likewise the driveway, which will be done once the building stuff has been done. Shower/bath room remains to be done, a bit of plumbing to replace old rads, otherwise it's the manageable smaller stuff now. Laying the floors will mean packing up books yet again....🙄...but at least that will only be one room at a time, not several.