Cottage reno works, how much would this cost me?

[BananaMamas]

EA wants DH and I to go and have a look at a 2 bed cottage which, by the looks of it, needs some reno work. It'd be below our budget so we could potentially consider it but we wouldn't have too much spare cash to do massive works. Based on pics, it'd need:

• new floors in each room, would go for something like laminate or engineered wood in all rooms and tiles in bathroom and kitchen. Total surface is about 850sq feet
• new kitchen (small-ish)
• new bathroom
• there is a shower in the bedroom (weird, I know) inside an alcove, I'd have that removed and would use the space for storage

I am sure there might be more issues but these are the ones that come to mind? Would £20K cover the cost of the above if done on a budget (i.e. Ikea kitchen, medium range floors etc)?

can anyone help?

The trouble is, you can't see the expensive renovation problems in photos. How old is it? What are the electrics/plumbing like? Once you start taking up floors in old properties, all kinds of problems can suddenly reveal themselves. A small new kitchen might cost £5k from DIY kitchens but you need to factor in labour; again for bathrooms. Is it on mains drainage? How's the roof?

As PP says, you won't really know what needs to be done from photos. Even surveyors are quite optimistic about whether something is passable, like a roof or wiring.

It also depends on how handy you are. I am not, and neither is my husband. So we have to pay for tradesmen to do everything.

Our house needed a complete rewire, new plumbing, and a new roof. Everything else was cosmetic, and it is a four bed house, but that cost us £100K 6 years ago and prices have gone up massively.

I would say that, unless you're going to do absolutely everything yourself, and get bottom of the range spec for everything, 20K probably won't be quite enough. Sorry!

TBH I don't think it would cover the kitchen.

I have watched alot of tv programmes about renovations. I have noticed with the best will in the world, nearly always costs more than budget.
So many unexpected bills. Rising damp, dry rot, pre-code electrics, insulation to code and on and on.
The toll on the couple doing up the place. Every night and weekend organising and diy-ing. Relentless, unforgiving, fun sucking and exhausting.
Have you the free time to manage the logistics? Deliveries, inspections etc etc.

I oversaw an upgrade to a town house. The only thing that happened on time was paying the labour force. Delays, rising costs, back and forth with council planning dept. Every single trip to pick up supplies cost petrol and labour time.

Think long and hard about why your EA is promoting such a 'bargain.'

If it's an old cottage built with solid walls then you need to understand and appreciate the importance of breathable materials, so no laminate floors, no modern paints, etc etc or you will end up with a lot of trapped moisture which will damage the fabric of the building. It's really important you know what you are taking on.

Thanks all. We won’t bother viewing it.

I'd still go and see it (disclaimer: old house addict who never learns). You might be lucky and it's been well-maintained by previous owners who didn't care about new kitchens but spent money on the roof/insulation, or if renovation problems are putting off buyers you might be able to negotiate hard, and gain yourself some more budget for the work.

But if there are issues with waste water, electrics, plumbing or the roof (pick one!) I'd walk away before you fall in love with it. We had to replace a failing septic tank a year after we moved in. It cost £15k.

It might be worth a look still. Agree with others about things generally costing more than expected once you get going, but as has also been said, if you’re prepared to get stuck in, you can lessen the time needed by trades. I’m not particularly skilled beyond light diy, but the renovations I’ve done, I did a lot of the clearing out and prep myself, in your case it would be ripping out the old kitchen, removing tiles etc ready for trades to get to work.

The reason I say it might be worth a look still, is that many properties that need renovations are not selling nearly so well these days, for the reasons outlined already and current renovation costs. So you may be able to get a more cheeky offer than you think accepted if it doesn’t go under offer, and then you’ll have a larger budget for works than you have at the current price. Just my 2p.

Provided it isn't a massive kitchen and the OP is a reasonable person who doesn't want the earth but just a decent, serviceable kitchen, 20K would be a lot more than enough. And the OP could buy a good 2nd hand kitchen and fit it themselves, that could cost very little. Lots of silly people change their kitchens when they are only a few years old, so there are 2nd hand bargains out there. A friend of ours got a large posh kitchen including white goods for just over 1K that way, though they had to take it out and transport it themselves. But the 20K is, I suspect, unlikely to be enough for the whole project.

Renovations to old houses have to be done with the right materials and techniques. That doesn't necessarily mean it costs more, though. Especially if you do things yourself.
e.g., Breathable (clay) paint costs more per litre than bog standard emulsion, and its sq.m coverage is less per litre. But it has a far higher solid content, so you often need one or even two coats fewer- it can actually end up costing about the same. And as wallpaper is not a great idea, and paint is cheaper than wallpaper, that's a saving right there. In an old house, plaster doesn't have to be new-house-mirror-smooth so you can often patch it to a good enough standard yourself rather than having to have it skimmed with heritage plaster.
I'd at least have a look. Then cost what seems likely to be needed (things that are merely wanted can be saved up for later if the house is what you really want and you have enough patience). Then double that estimate. If that seems doable, I might have a survey done and take it from there.

Thanks all! The thing is that we have a small DC and nowhere to stay in case of heavy works needed, bathroom replaced etc so it would also be a logistical nightmare. Will have a think!

If you were doing it yourself - probably, if you need kitchen and bathroom fitters, not a hope.

I dont think you can tell yet. Also ... "needs" a kitchen & bathroom. Does that mean water isnt coming out the taps, the toilet doesnt flush, waste pipes blocked, electrics in kitchen a death trap? Or are we talking "serviceable but basic and functional"? And can you personally live with it as is, if works uncover horrors?

It won’t be enough, prices post-covid are much higher. It will depend how much you can do yourselves but my home renovations over the last 6 years have cost about 50K which has included new kitchen (which was moved into a different part of the property), new bathroom, new utility / downstairs loo, wood burner installed, electric work, new floors etc. As it’s been done over a number of years it hasn’t felt too bad but it isn’t finished, need new velux windows and the roof needs some work too. The property will be worth about what I paid for it plus renovation costs, I’m not selling anytime soon but at least I haven’t got more money in that it is worth.
I guess it depends if you can do work over time and can see yourselves being their long enough to enjoy it / get your money back

Not very helpful but I just want to say I hate the word 'Reno'!

I sometimes see it on Facebook and it really irritates me.

What's wrong with saying renovation?

Agree with others you don’t know what’s under floors and behind walls once you start. Everything we have refurbed in our house has been work (and cost!) than anticipated.

Also the cost of materials and labour has like everything else has increased. It also depends what things you can do yourself and like someone mentioned above, second hand or budget options. Could you do the refurb slowly while you continued saving or would you want it done quickly.

We are renovating our small cottage while living in it, with small DD. It’s all fine.

Our small mid range kitchen cost £18k though inc flooring, it was a bugger to fit.

I think you need nearer to £30k for what you are proposing.

Probably not enough. We did a big house renovation last year. No extension but it did include rewiring, roof repairs and getting an unsupported wall supported. It's a big house. We spent around £180k in total.

The kitchen and bathroom together only cost about £10k of that total but that's for fittings, cupboards, sanitary ware, worktops, taps only. Labour was in addition, as were tiles, floor coverings. painting. Smaller can be more expensive - our kitchen is big but it's just straight runs of units which are cheaper than corner storage 'solutions'.

There's a whole lot of unknowns too - bathrooms and kitchens are obvious as you can see their condition, but it's the state of the wiring, roof, floors, stairs that's more important and really adds to the costs.