Renovation horror stories?

[Wantarest]

I am rather stressed at the moment. We are building an extension and it is taking what feels like ages. So far several things have been discovered that means we have to spend more money. It's difficult to determine how honest the builders are in evaluating the additional costs. We have no contingency left as so many unexpected things have been discovered. It is a 1930s property and the structural engineer has advised that certain things must be done to get to today's structural standard. There has also been delays whilst we wait on structural engineer to provide the updated drawings.

I am hating the whole thing. We foolishly bought this as a project 3 years ago and I am so regretting it. I want to tell them all to go to hell but it is not a credible option. I want to cry.

Anyone with nightmare stories that ended up being alright in the end?

I feel your pain. I'm also renovating a 1930's property - now in Month 8. I'm on medication and cry regularly, so go ahead if that is what you feel like doing - it may help. I frequently regret going down this path and am sick with worry, but once you reach a certain point there is no going back. The lack of control is the worst of it, I think.

My problem has mainly been materials not arriving despite being ordered months ago, but I also think the builders have let things slide somewhat, and the timelines keep slipping. The quality of their work is excellent, but I'm not sure I always trust what they tell me in terms of project planning and dates. Meanwhile I have a buyer for my current house so the pressure is on. In your case, are there aspects of the planned design that could be changed to save on costs?

I do a lot of contingency planning. In an extreme situation it's possible to sell a half-finished project to a specialist company or at auction. Financially it would be a poor decision, and I'm unlikely to do it, but planning for worst case scenarios keeps my brain engaged, as does working on the design aspects.

So many people say it's worth it in the end, so hopefully others will be along to provide reassurance. You might find the '2023 Reno Support Thread' of interest.

Thanks @ClematisBlue49. I appreciate you sharing this and your words of advice. The quality of the builders work is very high with our builders too and I think you hit the nail on the head - the lack of control and feeling locked in. Not many options but to persevere. We have looked at all areas to cut costs and are now down to ones that would save money now but would be a false economy down the line.

I take from your name that you are a keen gardener? I am one but can't do much because the garden needs renovating too.

I could not sleep last night with worry about the unexpected costs and the uncertainty of when can I breathe a sigh of relief that all the major structural unexpected is now dealt with.

I wish my husband and I were like some of the people you see in renovation programmes who do the work themselves. We might try our hand at painting to save money. But I think that's about as far as our skills might stretch.

Ours had extra costs. It's all come right in the end.

You can get someone in like a quantity surveyor as a second opinion. Or if you fundamentally trust the builders sit them down and say that you need to cut costs, what are must haves and what are nice to haves?

Start cutting costs where you can, we went for a cheaper kitchen and accessories, they look fine.

It will probably get better.

The reason i do most renovations/ diy myself is not to save money but because then there is no stress dealing with other people, not turning up / lying to you / doing poor work and so on. Yes it takes a lot longer ( a lot ) But to me its worth it.

when we got our first house we didnt know much about building / renovations but over the years we had become quite good at it and now id rather be doing it that pretty much anything else.

just start on something small and work your way up.

I'm not a brilliant gardener @Wantarest , but I do dream of planting that blue clematis in my new garden someday! Gardens always get neglected during a renovation, so I'm trying not to beat myself up about the overgrown lawn etc.

I'd say definitely do the painting yourself - decoration adds a lot to the costs, and once the walls are prepped, it's hard to mess it up too badly.

We did an extention (a new wing with 3 bedrooms and ensuit) ended up changing the whole house flooring to hardwood, build in bookshelves, new fireplaces, new bathrooms and repaint every single room.
Thankfully the building company was amazing and finished it before the deadline!!!! (Never heard such a thing)

But! We went way over the budget. You fix one thing and you realise 10 other needs to get fixed.
Also, some things was left to us (some builders don't take their rubbish, I didn't realised we have to paint all the skirting boards, part of my garden got destroyed in the process, etc.)
I imaged we will have this big moment when the builders says:it's done. Instead we left with the house that needed a lot of extra work. I guess we could of hired people for everything but we didn't wanted to spend even more money.

It's finally done and I love it! It was the best decision for us, but also very very difficult. Glad it's over and now I can enjoy my lovely home!

We have just spend 2yrs renovating what had been a derelict, 1930's property. Overall, there haven't been any major disasters, but still costly and some very time consuming finds! We did expect things, but you can only plan for so many eventualities.

The previous owner used the garden as a tip. We dug out over 50 tyres, along with axles, windscreens, bags of rubbish and large sheets of asbestos! This was all hidden with 20yrs of overgrowth on top!

When digging up the floors- they found a room which had been an old extension- was not actually connected to the rest of the house and apparently 'floating'.

The sewer pipes went to the back of the garden, did a 180' turn, then came back to the front again. It hadn't been done correctly when they got rid of the cesspit- so they had to all be replaced

Lots of DIY, quick fix jobs found. Newspapers and clothing stuffed into door frames and holes, dangerous DIY electrical connections!

Our workmen were generally great, but as you said- you really don't know if you are being overcharged, or they are stretching a job out longer than really required. 1 lot over estimated, and we've been left with 6 tonnes of sand and 2 tonne of bagged concrete!!!

Some things I personally couldn't stand- workmen radios. Some days, we'd have 4 of them dotted around the house all blasting out till I told them no more! Despite skips and bins- I'd find crisp packets, cans, cigarette packets etc stuffed into pipes, bricks and any place the CF's could be lazy and try hiding them.

It's a good sign you're happy with the quality of work- that's what you'll be living with in the long term.
We're on year 4 of a doer-upper. And yes, it gets you down at times, even if you do a lot yourself there is the aspect of having to-do lists that never seem to get shorter- as fast as you cross something off, another job turns up yet another problem to add Things To Do to the list. E.g.- a new bay window. Wonderful. Fits perfectly, unlike the previous one did. Great job, very happy with it. But also means I had to re-render around it outside, and we had to take plaster off the sides inside, and as we had to take the inner sill off, I had to rebrick the inner leaf where the top layer of bricks was loose. Now looking at a brick surround while we wait for a slot with our wonderful plasterer. Then we have to make and fit a new sill.
We find that when a job is done and dusted, we soon forget the pain. A year later you can almost forget what it used to be like, and you certainly forget all the 'alarums and excursions' of doing it. I'm only reminded of the nitty-gritty of it by looking at photos of some of the work in progress.
Could you just start somewhere with the garden? Get a little bit done somewhere? That was our refuge when the electricians were in, starting the garden.....

We had exactly the same situation as you. The build took longer and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. The quality of the work was good but we eventually fell out with the builders too and there were so many obvious things the architect missed.

When the house was finally done, I felt no joy for it. I loved the house before we started but the renovation cost so much money and so much stress that I hate it now. If the market hadn't fallen, I would have sold it already and moved somewhere else. I've done loads of renovation projects before (as we've never been able to afford a done up house in an area we liked) and this is the first time I've felt this way. I will never love this house which is a shame!

I spent four years doing up the last house, everything needed doing including moving the bathroom upstairs and having gas piped in from the road as gas had never been connected before. Then every room needing something big carried out.

At the time I was working night shifts so a lot of days off and weekends meant getting up early for tradesmen. I absolutely hated it.

I would never do it again, I'm much older now for one and I loathe having workmen around, the noise, the mess, just can't face doing anything at current house at all.

Would seriously think of moving out and renting for several months to do everything that needs doing such is my horror at living there whilst it's all being renovated.

Builders back again today with replacing a beam that we had not anticipated would need replacing. We are really hoping this is the last of the surprises.

Yes indeed, we too had an architect that clearly did not give much attention to detail. One of the biggest headaches he has given us is the wrong sizes of the side access and internal room sizes. This caused a lot of delays and we probably would have made different decisions if he had gotten his measurements right.

I wanted this to be my forever home but for now, I have lost the degree of love I had for it at the start.

I appreciate you all sharing your experience.

I understand the loss of love @Wantarest and @AchyBreakyCold . I feel the same way at the moment, and this is a home I grew up in and loved so much that I couldn't bear to sell it when my mum passed away. I have to believe that the love will come back. I wonder if it is a physiological thing, where the stress hormones (either current or post-traumatic) suppress the positive feelings? I think any positive progress (as opposed to more setbacks) will help me to feel better, but it's a long wait.