Full reno time scale

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Hi - I’m planning to buy a house in London (Zone 2) that needs full renovation. It’s the typical 3-bed victorian house.
we think we’d spend 150-180k in renovations bur what I can’t find anywhere is how long it would usually take to complete (5 months? 8?) and if we can phase the work so we can move in as soon as possible (whilst work continue. For example, making sure they do one bedroon and bathroom first and then the rest.

Has anyone gone through something similar?

Ask your building contractor. It really depends what you mean by "full restoration" - it's a very vague term. In general, living in the property during the works will slow things down a lot.

Do you watch Grand Designs? - ok, that's dealing with new builds and extreme renovations, but it demonstrates the reality that almost all projects go over time and budget.

I agree the definition is vague but if you are thinking new plumbing/ eletrics I think a year is more realistic. I agree about going over expected time and money, materials and labour availability and the weather can derail the best managed project. 25% contingency on both seems sensible in the current climate.

Most contractors I spoke to told me 4-5 months if the property was vacant, or 1-2 months more if I was living there. The property is smaller than yours, but it's a full renovation including a kitchen-diner extension plus new terrace outside.

So much can go wrong that you should at least double whatever they tell you. Party wall issues, the weather, and a whole array of unforeseen problems can all add time and complexity (and costs).

Nearly a year on and I'm nowhere close to moving in.

Yep, double everything, time, cost and stress! Don't underestimate any of the above

I'm just back after a renovation. Major work, walls down, new bathrooms, plumbing, re wire, dry lined insulation, floors, doors, new kitchen, new staircase, and some things I can't even remember!

I wasn't there except to inspect every few days, and it took 14 weeks. Good finish though and I am delighted so far.

It's difficult we found quite long waits for some trades but has improved a lot. If you are in house could slow timescales down a lot. We have just had new kitchen and all outside of house done whilst living here and that was 3 months. They said 2 weeks and 3 weeks so double the time they say. Though male team took 4 times what they said, female team 25% more.

This sounds amazing! Are you in London? How bug was the house? Do you mind sharing your building company? And cost if not much to ask? Thanks

I'm sorry, I sound like I am teasing people. This was in South County Dublin by the sea, so no not London, but then again Dublin is sooooo expensive now it is on a par if not more expensive than UK and London!

3 bed semi, no extension so all work was indoors. Older house so rooms are big and garden is huge. It is the extensions that raise the price HUGELY! Anyway the total cost was €75,000 including white goods, bathroom fixtures, tiling, plumbing, electrics, carpentry, dry lining, plastering, painting, other labour, odds and ends, and the kitchen itself. I did have a 10k contingency and just as well as the quote was 65k, but in the end I chose fittings and a kitchen that were more expensive than the quote. Overall I think I did well, but who knows? The contractor was very good, the crew were there EVERY day, no running off to do other jobs while mine was ongoing, so that's probably why it only took 14 weeks in the end.

Bedrooms next, but I think I'll do that with a local guy just for painting and then carpet fitting. Wardrobes are ok and do the job fine. Who will see them anyway? Downstairs is centre of operations, so that's where I put the budget!

We are in London zone 2 in a terraced late Victorian house. We are planning a full refurb and side extension. I think you need £300,000 and a year!

We are not extending. Just refurbishing so I think 300k is a bit much. But thanks for commenting

We have been quoted 440k for a full Reno!! In suburbs of London. Detached house, 3,500 square foot. No extension though. This does include a new roof but not new windows.

Fair enough. I didn't factor in not doing an extension

In my experience renovation is more time consuming and expensive than an extension. Much more waste for example and trickier to get to stuff/ steel work if taking out walls. Although if do both that is clearly more. It really depends on what rennovation means. A new roof for example is expensive

DD2 is 6 months into a full renovation and they're still nowhere near moving in. They currently have no kitchen, no bathrooms and no plaster on any downstairs walls. She's incredibly worn down with it all as they thought they'd have been in 2 months ago.

Tradesmen are a law unto themselves. They're actually very seriously considering a mobile home on site now so one of them can be there full time on site to co-ordinate better and stop them sloping off site half way through the day to head onto other jobs.

I agree that the trades can be a nightmare, I am personally really sick of how messy they are but also how often they break or damage things

London, full reno, 200k (no side return). Job was essentially 4 months but snagging went on for a full further year. But we lived in it from 4. What are of London?

This is great thanks. I’m in Greenwich.
do you mind sharing the split between labor and materials? Bonus points if you can share a breakdown of the expenses :-) DM. E if it’s easier

Broadly, builders and their labour etc is roughly 50-60%, the other 40-50% is fixtures and fittings.
it massively depends on the amount of structural you need and the kind of F&F you source (we used online retail, lots of research and price beating, but didn’t go for the absolute basics- I wanted it all to look nice, but as cheap as I could possibly achieve that). F&F can be exponentially expensive 😂

We used a local builder, who was the middle of three quotes. There was a more expensive builder that would have given us a project manager, we did that ourselves. Your cash/ VAT situation will also massively change things.

all you can really do at this point is start getting quotes. We booked ours in 18 months ago, one week before start the builder had to add 6% due to rampant inflation hitting timber especially. i would expect the same Reno to cost at least 20% more now due to inflation, it’s much worse in trades and harder to find labour.

We didn’t decorate ourselves- you can save £5-10k that way but it’s really a lot to DIY.

20-25% contingency. We tried to run 10% like everyone does and it’s just not realistic. The bigger the project the more things come up and they do. have a backup funding source. - you WILL spend it. Think of it as the unknown pot. There is no way on earth you don’t use every penny of it though.

always run your own budget sheet the builders one will be riddled with errors and you have to show them where they have gone wrong.

quotes- go find the fanciest local builder and get the most thorough everything included quote in writing. Then go to three other locals. Write out the original quote line by line without prices and ask the new builders to quote for exactly what is on there. If they add anything the first person missed circle back- get 3/4 quotes all covering the exact same brief. Different builders will spot different issues and some will have great ideas you can take elsewhere.

see who does a lot on the road, ask locals for recommends. It’s a good sign if a lot of local Reno is going on- means other people have done the financials and it stacks up.

builders will always under quote on power points, light fittings, fire doors. Ask who does caulking and filling. They won’t include painting.

lastly- if you can live in the house prior to renovation for some time you will spot things you could do that will make a massive differences- that you might only discover post Reno otherwise. If this isn’t possible knock on all houses in street that are the same and ask nicely to see what they have done. For example, from living in the house for a year we realised that moving a staircase would transform the house, and so we did. Never would have considered it without seeing neighbours who did the same and much consideration and sketching layouts. You can put too much time into the thinking before hand.

it’s a lot, the stress is unbelievable but living in a house that you have specced is heaven and so worth it. Makes us happy every day.

good luck!

Last thing- the person who comes and quotes is likely to be top boss, and not on site doing the labour. However in the course of the Reno they will oversee, and you will have at least one bad fight with them about something. And countless smaller disagreements or needs to put a stop to some nonsense. Be aware that you will need to have very difficult negotiations with this top boss person, and if for whatever reason you think that would be harder with them (for me that meant men older than me, I’m much more able to stand up to younger guys) that’s worth considering when you choose contractors too.

@EverybodyJumpsuit that is excellent advice on bearable personalities you can deal with on a daily basis. Someone like that will also be good at dealing with deliveries and being reasonable with uour neighbours. Much as my project drives me up the wall the reasonable people do help. There are 2 really akward personalities that visit occasionally and when they are around I find it more annoying. Thankfully the house is now at a scale where they are not close by even when working usually but still

Having been abandoned (and fleeced) by my first contractor, who was highly recommended by professionals and with an apparently great track record, I came to the conclusion that hiring a professional independent project manager was the way forward. Given how much you will be spending on a project of this scale, the fee is well worth it, in my view. They can save you money and stress and keep things on schedule and to budget more successfully than someone like me, with no experience of construction. The added advantage is that you don't need to manage relationships with multiple individuals.

I agree, a good pm will save you their fee. I wouldn't necessarily use the architect if they offer that service. You need a hands on expert scheduling tasks and checking invoices

Absolutely agreed with every word of this post.

Does everyone find the money 'chats' very awkward esp when it's gone over budget?

Recently completed actuals.

✅Side return extension
✅Concrete pour throughout ground floor
✅UFH
✅Reconfigure ground floor
✅1st floor bathroom
✅Crittal doors

It took 5 months, we moved out for the duration.

❎No new windows
❎No external works.