Renovate our old house - is this budget feasible?

[FlipFlops4Me]

We have about £145k available at the outside. The house is a three bed, mid-terrace.

We need to re-wire, re-plaster and re-decorate throughout (including paintwork).

I need the bath taking out and a disability shower put in, together with re-tiling bathroom. I also need a stair lift putting in.

Downstairs we need a loo putting in the utility, then the kitchen needs stripping out - I want the sink moved, the radiator re-sited and all new units/sink etc. I'll need a new dishwasher and fridge/freezer but I love my cooker and it will stay no matter how much it might jar with the rest of the kitchen decor.

Ideally I'd like hardwood floors throughout but will do upstairs in something cheaper if I need to.

I want to take down all the curtains and put up vertical blinds throughout.

Finally I need a new front door and frame, a new bathroom window and new front bedroom windows.

The house is late Victorian and nothing is level.

We have two dogs and my dh is brain damaged and disabled. We have to stay here although we can move completely upstairs while the work is done downstairs and then swap over, ifysim

Is the budget feasible? I honestly have no idea. I know a really good builder who has done some work for us in the past, and a lot for our neighbours. My plan was to ask him to deal with it all, and I just choose colours, worktops, units etc.

The main issue is that if you get a builder to do it, you will have to project manage it, which means making all the fiddly decisions about what order to do stuff in and where things go etc. This is a really big job in itself. I would try to find a large builders firm who can do the project management too.

It will also probably be cheaper and much quicker if you can move out for a few months.

Or buy a bungalow.

We can't move out into temporary accommodation; we have two dogs. And we are doing the work so we can stay in the house we've been in for 38 years and love. It's a warm, kindly house and we have such good neighbours and friends, and my sister lives up the road a ways.

I know a general builder who runs a medium sized firm who is very very good; I'm sure he project manages but when I call him (once the money comes in) I'll tell him that the price includes him running the deal and keeping me out of it.

My dh is brain damaged and I can't move him; he has enough trouble knowing where he is in the house we've lived in for so many years. I can't move him out, and then back. Likewise I can't find temporary that is suitable for a wheelchair and two dogs... we have to stay.

Thank you for your advice though and I'll take it on board.

Really I just wanted to know if the budget is feasible for the work required. I know us staying will make it cost more but that's just got to be sucked up.

Have you talked to the other adaptations team?

I should imagine this could be part funded, although it will ge a far slower process

What is the other adaptations team please? So far no-one has given us anything except a loo raiser, a chair raiser and a perching stool.

In that case I would get it done in small managable chunks over the next couple of years. That way you get a break from the stress and you and your husband and the dogs can adjust to the changes. Also gives you the opportunity to see how he copes with the building work.

Get the upstairs bathroom done and a stair lift put in and if that goes ok then have the upstairs rewired and replastered and redecorated.

Then move upstairs and get the downstairs sorted as one large job.

It also means that you can save up more in the meantime if you need to.

If you measure up your bathroom and put a new post on here then you will get lots of suggestions of how to lay it out and what things to buy.

Plastering is very messy so the rooms need to be pretty much empty for plastering.

New bathroom budget £10-15,000. I would budget £800 per room for plastering and around £6000-8000 for a house rewire so maybe £4000 for just upstairs? No idea how much a stair lift is. Prices will be more if you are in the south.

For the rewire I would get a double socket in each corner of each room as a minimum and then think about appliances and lighting. Maybe light switches near beds would be useful?

Your budget should be enough to get most of the work done but old houses can throw up weird issues. Which is another reason why doing it in stages might be better.

The people that gave you those equipment bits!! They should be able to offer a fair amount of help

Thank you all for your advice. When the money comes through I'll ask the builder to prioritise repairs after he's inspected, and we'll do things in that order. If there's money left we'll work our way down the nice to haves list until we run out of money. Then we'll save up. Thankfully I've lived in this house a long time and the builder has worked on it before; we're both aware of its strengths (the floorboards, joists, beams etc are all sound) and limitations (all the measurements everywhere are wonky).

I'll cope with the stress (very luckily I'm built that way) and if I make life as simple and pleasant as possible for dh he'll be OK. The dogs will cope if I do - they look to me for behavioural cues. My wonderful cleaner has agreed to keep coming and throughout and has said she will do anything that's needed even if it's not cleaning related. As long as I hold up we'll all get through it.

That should be doable depends on the condition, pipes, water courses and electrics but you don’t for example need to spend £10k + on a bathroom.

I agree - I only want the disability shower, some re-tiling and some additional flooring in the bathroom. I don't want to change the loo or sink, or re-site anything.

I shall get Howdens in to do a free kitchen plan and then when I speak to the builder I can show him the plan (and I already know the units I want etc).

I'm quite happy to have hardwood floors downstairs but switch to cheaper for upstairs for instance - and I can get blinds room by room out of household money rather than the reno budget.

When I really think about it there are cheaper options all along the line - go to a cheaper online store for the fridge freezer and dishwasher (both of mine are in their late teens) rather than getting them in with the kitchen re-fit etc

If I prioritise carefully, in accordance with the builders advice, then when I hit budget limit we'll just have to call a halt and live with what we've got until we can get the next bit done.

It should be doable on your budget. We spent similar totally renovating a 4 bed recently-and that was totally replacing bathrooms.

What I WOULD suggest though, is do your bedroom first, so that when the big messy downstairs work is going on, you have a haven to escape to. We really regretted not taking that piece of advice!

That's a good idea. The bedroom is big enough for a couple of armchairs and a telly, and a small dining table and chairs would happily fit on the landing, so we can easily move upstairs completely if I use the boxroom as a makeshift kitchen and put the microwave, airfryer, toaster and soupmaker up there. Also my cleaner has a mini roaster that she's happy to lend me.

Feeling a lot more comfortable about it all now. Thank you.

We are in the middle of a house renovation.

This budget is more than feasible

Thank you! Much appreciated.

Just a make a note on the point a PP made about support from OT for the adaptions.

This would be via something called a disabled Facilities Grant. Whilst there would be no doubt that your DH would need the disability related adaptations the actual grant is means tested. Given what you have said about having £145K it would be very likely that you wouldn’t qualify.

It would still be worth referring DH to the adult social care OTs and they make sure you aren’t entitled to anything. They can also give advice on what to consider when doing the adaptations and any equipment that may be needed afterwards.

We are also in the middle of a house renovation, and also building an extension. Your budget would be fine based on our current experience, but it can vary a lot based on location, the builders you use and raw costs at time.

Given your circumstances, it would be much easier to move then having the stress of living on a building site. You could sell your current home and although you’ll need to do some modifications for a shower room and a stair lift, it won’t be as drastic and it probably won’t cost as much.

I'll get in touch with the therapists but I agree that with the sort of money we are prepared to spend, it would be unfair of us to take a grant that should go to a disabled person in financial need.

We won't move. Both of us agree that under no circs (beyond getting carried out feet first) are we prepared to leave this house so building site it shall be. Mind you, we'll be taking advantage of every offer to have a meal at our friends' houses that is made!