Renovation on a little budget

[Rubyruby2222]

I'm in the process of buying a doer upper.

I don't plan to make any structural changes.

Things that need doing immediately:

-rewiring and adding new points
-new windows and doors
-new boiler and moved it from its original location.

I will need a loan to do all of the above.

Having looked through other renovation threads on here it seems that people have a budget of £150,000 - £200,000 for their renovations, albeit often that includes extensions etc.

Has anyone done the above on a loan/interest free credit? Im hoping that there are people out there that do it, but just aren't crazy enough to admit it on MN!!

For the work you have specified there is no way you’ll need £150k - £200k -
This would be for large scale renovations and must people would just re-mortgage their house for this - as when they come to sell - they’ll get the money back and more!!

For the work you have specified - you could get it all done for £35k - £40k easily. Just get different quotes.
Re-wire - £10k (for an average size house)
Windows - £20k (depending on windows and quality)
Boiler - £5k max

I’d also have a contingency budget too for any other works required.

Op I'm so glad you've posted this. We are buying our first house, it's lovely but needs everything doing. It's the only way we can afford a 4 bed (we've got 4 DC) so far we only have enough to cover the rewire and a bit extra but we plan on doing things as and when we can afford to and prioritising things that need doing.

Exciting isn't it! Good luck!!

One bit of advice I would give,is learn to do basics yourself. Evening classes college, YouTube.My oldest DD moved just before Christmas last year, wanted my DH to do some work ie tiling. I said the best thing is for him to teach her. Heat pump heating is hugely expensive, disruptive and not very warm, difficult to retrofit. I only know one person with an electric boiler, the bills are 3 times the price of my gas. We did have solar panels installed last year,we have a south facing detached bungalow (sunniest SE UK corner,10 minutes from the sea) not overlooked by buildings or trees. We used DH tax free pension lump sum.

Rewiring and any central heating pipe work is the most disruptive so id concentrate on that first.

windows and doors can be changed one at a time as and when you need to/ can afford them.

Id move the boiler first too as you need this up and running.

The way to do renovations on a budget is to try and do as much as possible yourself,if you have family ,friends to help out even better. Labour is the biggest cost so only try and spend on that for the really specialist things you can’t manage.

materials are costly but not as much as some people on here would have you believe.

From personal experience ive found that as long as the house is warm,dry,clean then living in renovations is ok.

one tip is dont rip the house apart and then end up living in a building site, just concentrate on one room /part at a time, theres no point living in house that is worse than it needs to be.

we live in a house ( 4 years and counting) that some people on here would class as uninhabitable 🤣

Depends why you want to renovate. If you are renovating to live in it fine.

If you are renovating to sell and make a profit, it is a tough market atm - I would advise against in.

Re the renovation.

Have to figure out what your priorities are first. You may want security (good front/back doors) or energy efficiency, or if the boiler/electrics are that bad then safety may be an issue.

Some good ideas posted, but I like the idea of secondary glazing. You could use this as a temporary fix to help stop the windows leaking energy and help improve security. It should not cost too much. Then when you have saved up enough for the windows you can replace.

Doors - are they really that bad ? Unless they have all been kicked in you can remove, sand down, repaint and renovate. They would need to be in a serious state to replace. Also consider S/H doors.

Electrics is probably a good thing to do first, because a rewire may mess with the walls and you will need to redecorate plaster over the top. If you are painting go for those big tubs of trade paint. Paint light colours to get the walls to a reasonable state that will be easy to paint over in the future when you have more cash to decorate how you want. Do not do wallpaper. For flooring click LVT is easy to do and fit yourself and relatively cheap and easy to remove if necessary.

Boiler similarly you cannot do yourself (same with electrics). Learn to save up jobs for the installer, so not only get the boiler looked at, but get everything else sorted at the same time. It's cheaper rather than repeat visits. Make sure the plumbing is checked over because you don't want it leaking all over your new decorations.

Finally, don't neglect the roof. Surveys will normally give you a report, but they rarely examine in detail. Make sure it isn't leaking anywhere, go in the loft and give a good inspection to check for leaks. It's a pain if you replaster for example and then it gets leaked on.

Remember that when you move in you will also need stuff. Good news is you can get a lot of furniture cheap SH.

We haven't done what you are suggesting on a loan, but we will be taking out a loan to finance a bathroom remodel and some minor structural changes. Mainly because we spent our savings on the rewiring and plumbing 😂

If it helps, we have recently spent £4,000 on a partial rewire (all light points, adding a boat load of new sockets & extractor fans for utility/bathrooms). Took a week.

We also spent just shy of £18,000 on having the heating system upgraded. New boiler moved to garage from random upstairs cupboard, full pipe replacement, designer radiators, the works. Took about 3 weeks. #

Windows we've not done yet, but we're looking at £15-20,000 for those because they're all absolutely massive 60s style ones.

Oh, and we've got £750 earmarked for the plasterer to come next week and fill all the holes left by the electricians and plumbers 😂

I just thought it might help to get some ballpark figures, especially if you will need to borrow.

OH - most important - you can't borrow above the value of your house. So if you bought for £500,000 with a £50,000 deposit, you'll only be able to borrow that £50,000 and whatever other equity you've built in the property. We found that out the hard way!

You can definitely renovate on a budget. We had £15k in cash for renovations and/or emergency fund, which was the most savings we've ever had. We did the most pressing things first - roof repairs and damp course (£5k), then new front door (£1.3k including installation, this was a composite door made to measure as we have an awkward old cottage, but if you have a standard house with standard measurements you can get a ready made door for less).
£2.5k materials from B&Q for a whole new bathroom, labour will be around the same.
We haven't done any requiring or new windows, those can cost a few thousand.
You don't need to spend £100-200k unless the house is massive and totally uninhabitable with everything needing ripped out. For an average house it's more like £30-40k, which you can spread out over time.

Prioritise. Check out the cost of a re-wire and a new boiler as those are the priority. They should be easy to budget for. Same with Windows and doors as local companies can be reliable pricing. The issue you will get is the decorative after it is all done as those will leave a mess and that is where DIY is required.

I'm reading all the comments - they are very helpful and reassuring! Thank you!