Reno costs for 1100 sq foot house (no extensions, no loft conversion)

[cupcakesarelife]

Hi all, just seeking general costing info. Sorry if this is a bit long...

Me and DH (no kids yet) really like a house. It's pretty much what we're looking for in terms of space and the 1100 sq foot ish we have been looking for.

It's 3 double bedrooms + upstairs study, 2 bathrooms (1 family size, one small with toilet and shower), 2 receptions rooms and a small kitchen + garage (for one care) that can be converted into another reception room.

The house needs a re-wire. I don't think we'll need to do any re-plumbing but would do if needed. Because it's an old house (1920s) and the vendor is an elderly man who has lived there for 30 years+ and hasn't really updated it at all, we anticipate there may be some unknown problems (so will want to keep some money to the side for this). The house foundations seem in good condition, but walls probably need re-plastering and flooring needs laying throughout (there is horrible dirty and worn carpet throughout).

we don't think we will want to covert the loft or extend the kitchen into the garden (if we do, it'll be in the future, like 10+ years), but right now we will want to join the small kitchen and dining room into one large open space (back of the house). We think this will certainly need a structural engineer to put a steel beam/frame in for a supporting wall.

We are happy to do the work above, and will probably work and save up. We have some savings to start the works.

I have no idea about garage conversion costs but we wanted to make this space another office/study and gym (we both work a lot from home these days).

we don't know if we need an architect for any of the above yet.

I'm just wondering if anyone is happy to share their home reno experiences and costs? we just wanted to get an idea of what people have paid for for different works they've had done and lessons they learnt along the way.

thank you.

Do you want to do all the work before you move in? Can you do any work yourselves or will it all be done by builders? And where are you in the country as south east is much more expensive.

If it is a live out renovation then I would guess around £100,000. They will find other issues because it is an old house.

Wall paper stripping and plastering could be be £1000 a room. New floors could be similar again, depending on what you choose. Full house rewire will be £7-10,000. New kitchen £20 -£40,000. Structural work £20,000

Are the windows ok? Does the loft need insulating? What's the boiler like? Is the roof ok? Do the bathrooms need redoing?

If there is scope for internal insulation on the walls it would be an extremely good time to put it in and will save you lots in energy in the future.

4 bed house in Scotland, full reno and I mean FULL but no change to the footprint of the house £150k and still going….NOTHING’S cheap these days…if you do it right you’ll make your money back but it’ll be a while till you’ll see a potential profit

@Geneticsbunny thanks so much for responding! We are London based - South East. I am a bit concerned about the costs, but I think we'd want to live in the house and do the work at the same time. So, live and sleep in mainly one room and cook off a portable gas cooker lol. We'd done this before in life 😅

We would want to do whatever work we can do ourselves - removing all wallpaper will be a pain but we will do it, taking out all carpets and removing all the kitchen and bathroom units (hoping to sell them, who knows if someone will take them!).

Plastering will need a professional. Structural engineer for knocking down a supportive wall to open up the kitchen and dining room.

I have no idea about flooring. Is this something we can do ourselves do you think? I don't mind the challenge but also worried it will look 💩

Oh wow, is a full house rewire will be £7-10,000???? Why did I think it would be £3-5k?? Will have to shop around for that.

I'm definitely hoping to put in the internal insulation, not just for energy bills, but also for general comfort. The EPC cert says it's about £14,000 (not that I trust it). I have no idea if it should be in every single room in the house (inc bathroom and kitchen) or just downstairs rooms? hmmm what about bedrooms?

@Lifebeganat50 your house sounds like it will look amazing in the end! Admittedly, I am worried about the expenses spiralling. Are you using an architect by any chance? I'm not sure if I should or shouldn't, and whether I can project control the reno myself. I'm quite an assertive person so that would come in handy, but not sure that's even enough for this type of project 😮

One key thing is, we don't expect to do all the work quickly at all. We are hoping most of the house or at least the parts we need to live (one reception room, kitchen, one bedroom and smallest bathroom - basically the equivalent of a one bedroom flat) are functional within a year. We think we can manage as we have lived in pretty poor housing in the past when we were younger and low income :( it toughened us out at least!

I would guess £100k absolute minimum for a builder grade finish, if you are going for high end kitchens and bathrooms could be a lot more.

thanks for responding! what is a high-end kitchen because I really don't know? I haven't even got to that yet... I have to figure out materials. All I know is that I would like a tiled floor, quartz kitchen tops, induction hob for 6 pots (rather than 4), a kitchen island because i've always wanted one lol, and a medium sized fridge-freezer for lots of food. me and the husband love to cook! i have no idea where to start with a high-end bathroom. I've never had one before. because it's a bathroom, we think we'll be fine with a normal one. just a nice bath (the victorian style ones), normal toilet and sink, again, tiled floors.

It's a bit embarrassing that I don't know what high-end is 😅

Hi OP, we’re a little way into a similar project, on what sounds like a similar timeline.
We paid £6k for a full rewire that included some external wiring, but added to that is the cost of moving out from Monday to Friday while they did the bulk of inside the house (no way we could have lived through that - I saw what the house looked like half way through the week!) and the cost of anything other than basic sockets, switches and light fittings. We were lucky and they managed to do most of the work without huge amounts of damage to the walls, but make sure you find out what state they will leave the walls in. I’ve heard that some electricians don’t fill in holes/channelling. Can you find one who will have a look before you buy?
Budget is average £1k per room for good quality carpets, decent underlay for extra warmth and fitting. Third bedroom likely will be less but hallway & stairs more.
Radiators - are they in good condition, and are they big enough to properly heat the house?
Can the boiler cope if you need extra/bigger radiators?
Bathroom budget is approx £6k as it needs EVERYTHING.
Will you need to hire a skip to get rid of old carpets etc?
Do some reading up on insulation, I was all up for this until I read about condensation and older houses needing to breathe… that’s quite the rabbit hole to disappear into!!
We also need to sort at least one bay window, as at first glance the plastic ones are fine, but turns out they’ve clearly been done on the cheap and the bay windows aren’t properly supported.

Interested to hear other views on taking out the wall - we’re doing everything else first and then will do that once interest rates have gone down. I was hoping around £50k, to include moving the kitchen, but maybe too optimistic.
Hoping not to go down the full architect route as it seems some will offer a basic service where they just do drawings and offer ideas.

Sounds exciting! I love our project, so wishing you luck :)

We just finished a refurb of our house, no extension or loft conversion, in West london. Limited rewiring. The square footage impacted was maybe 1500 sq feet. All in all it cost us £200k. we did have Underfloor heating and took out two chimneys. It's hard to say but for yours i'd agree with pp at £100k minimum, but have continhency for up to £125k- £150k. Ours is not high spec at all - kitchen was c£8k, floor was £3k. But it all adds up!

For the plaster, take a look at roll-on plastering which is really easy to apply for a layperson.
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Knauf-Pro-Roll-Max-Plaster---13-5kg/p/166799

Regarding the rewiring, when my sister got a house much like yours they saved quite a bit of money by digging out new channels themselves and filling them afterwards.

Do yiu know for certain you're dealing with a load bearing wall in the kitchen?

https://www.devolkitchens.co.uk/ I would say Devol is a high end kitchen you could probably get a local joinery firm to make similar at a lower price. Builders seem to use Howdens as their go to for refurbs, still nice kitchens but not luxury bespoke.

If you are in London it could easily be closer to £150,000.

Thanks so much for responding. I've been to the property again (vendor kind enough to let us take photos to help us figure out costs).

I think the whole house will need a re-wire including the garage. Thanks for mentioning to ask if the will re-fill holes. i guess I have to ask each tradesman exactly what they will and won't be doing.

The radiators seem fine in the house, pretty good size and at least one in every room.

I'm still figuring out the boiler. It's valliant brand (i think that's the brand). He has had it regularly services but I guess i should ask someone whether it is strong" enough for the house and heating/hot water. Do you know who I ask for this info?

Yes, we'll need a skip! It's so expensive. I don't know if we should rent a van first for carpets and whatnot first and drive it to wherever it needs to go.. renting a van might work out cheaper for bits we can hold/manage. But with the kitchen redo, we'll need a skip for that (smash bricks and things like that) - not ideal to pick up ourselves and transport in a van.

With our kitchen wall that I want taken down.. it's because it sits between the dining room and kitchen, and it's not in the middle, it's much closer to one side towards the kitchen, and so the kitchen is kind of narrow while the dining room is quite large. I wanted a wall kind of between the two. The proportions dont make sense now and me and hubby and cooks so a bigger kitchen is our dream.

I'm still working out the order to do things to minimise costs and hopefully not need to re-plaster areas that were recently re-plastered etc. I think the dining/kitchen will be the one area that will be the messiest.

I am worried about plumbing. How does one ever know if the plumbing is good or whether you need to do some re-plumbing? I think that worries me the most.

Thanks for responding. I've already added up the cost (so far) to 100k GULP!! I think we will have to do the downstairs first to spread the costs. Realistically, to make it financially ok for us, this will be a 3 year project. How long have you been working on your house? It sounds like you've made it beautiful and comfortable!

I had a question about roof/loft insulation.

The EPC cert says the roof "Pitched, insulated at rafters" and the rating is Poor.

Does anyone know how much roof insulation costs, generally?

Thank you!

Loft insulation is cheap if you are happy to do it yourself. You can buy rolls from b and q usually 2 for 3 in winter.

You want to top it up to at least 300mm

https://www.diy.com/building-supplies/insulation/insulation-rolls.cat

It is a dirty job so you will want, goggles, overalls and a mask.

I would start with weatherproofing stuff first, so roof, guttering, windows, repointing, re rendering, lowering external ground level to make sure there isn't damp. Then all the full house disruptive stuff, so rewire, replumb, underfloor heating? Internal insulation even if only upstairs to prevent damp issues. Then replaster and decorating can be done a room at a time.