Buying a house

[shininglight16]

We're in the process of purchasing a house and are upsizing from a flat so quite excited and looking forward to it.

Just curious what you think of the price of the house and how much would you have offered for it. We're going to be getting some work done, i.e. getting a new kitchen, bathroom, renovating the conservatory, improving the garden, changing the layout a bit to make bedrooms bigger etc.

I would really appreciate it if you could give some tips looking at the floorplan and tell me what you think of the price. Is it a good buy?

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/68118770/

Thank you ladies!

@shininglight16 sounds like a good deal then and &25k off is decent!!

40-80 is probably unrealistic though sorry!! We just paid £20k for a kitchen and £50k for modest extension (up North too)

Can you share photos if you don't mind, maybe DM?

There's no point putting in a new kitchen if you're planning major work at some point in the future. That's just a waste of money.

It's definitely got a lot of potential, but it's a big project. If you don't have a way of spending 100K+ on it in the next couple of years, I'd either walk away or be prepared to live it it as it is.

Both are actually still unfinished lol sorry should have specified but happy to DM more in depth descriptions and spec/measurements of that helps?

Yes please any help/guidance is much appreciated ☺️

Sorry all, I should have been more clear as I can see that my posts are misleading.

a) basic renovation is what we intend to do first which is where we'd spend 40k. A new kitchen, a bathroom, new boiler and some electric/plumbing.
b) 80k to do additional things, such as, the conservatory.
c) over 100k to do a wider extension, loft, breaking down walls, rear extension.

The latter will happen gradually over the years.

Hope this clarifies 😅

To add, we know someone who can get us trade discount of 20% on all the material. We need to worry about the labour though, which is what I'm most concerned about.

Doing major work to properties is no longer always the best idea, given the crazy costs involved. It sounds like you'd be making so many changes, to the point that you might as well buy a house that is better suited? What's the ceiling price once done up? Don't spend more than it's worth.

14’ kitchen. 😂

It’s a car crash of a floor plan.

Replacing the lean to with a proper extension (for a kitchen?) would help, but what are you prepared to lose to create a hallway, proper kitchen and an actual living room?

Agree this is more like £100k worth of work without a loft extension.

I think it will be a nice property when renovated but you’re hugely underestimating what the renovation will cost. Assuming that you’re thinking of removing the bathroom from its strange position adjacent to the kitchen and extending the kitchen into the space created… that work alone will cost far more than your £40K budget.

I would get estimates for the work from 3 builders.

It is very difficult to find good builders so you need to be very careful.

Are you sure you really want a project like this when you do not have any building experience?

I don't mean to be rude, but you seem very inexperienced when it comes to even buying a property letter let alone renovating it.

Most people who take on a project like this would know trustworthy people in each of the trades.

It is very easy to be ripped off when using a builder because there are no compulsory qualifications in the UK unfortunately.

Anyone can say that they are a builder and most of the good builders can't won't be able to start work for 2 or 3 years because they are fully booked.

If you find anyone who can start in the next few months and you need to be very careful because you need to ask yourself why they haven't got a pipeline of jobs lined up, which all good builders have because they are so difficult to find.

I'm very worried that you will unwittingly get a dodgy builder to do the work because you do not know any good builders.

Anyway, all I can say is please be very careful because you sound very inexperienced.

Anyone can get a 20% discount.

It is the labour that is impossible to find, well decent labour is impossible to find.

I really think that you should reconsider this project as it is too much for people who are so inexperienced and who do not know any trustworthy trades people.

I agree with this.

I think it's reasonable for the area and looks perfectly liveable whilst a bit basic kitchen wise. Nothing has to be done all at once OP- ignore people who expect ideal home style pads in a year or they aren't moving in- £475k doesn't go far in the bit of Kent close to London -

That is fine, but the OP is talking about moving walls etc when they don't know any trustworthy trades.

If she just wants to update the kitchen and bathroom and redecorate, then fine.

But trying to find good builders is very difficult and if she does, then they will be booked up for years.

I am just concerned that she will be ripped off like so many other first time buyers and left with a half finished house or worse.

That's a weird floor plan! I'm presuming it was originally a 2-bed (without the right side extension) and they've carved the 3rd bedroom on the left from the original bathroom. Now you have an odd-shaped bathroom off the kitchen and an odd shaped kitchen left over. It seems cheap but unless you are going to do all the work yourself have you checked if it's worth the renovation?

I appreciate your response although I totally understand where the other comments are coming from, and I do not blame them at all.

@IMustDoMoreExercise I really appreciate your concern and am grateful for the advice. We may/may not break walls, we may live in the house as it is and just get a new kitchen/bathroom/electric/plumbing and redecoration. We would however, like to understand if we're thinking in the right direction. That was the primary reason for posting here. We're going to be very careful and will make sure we do our homework/research well before working with anyone.

You're absolutely right it is extremely hard to find a good builder and the good ones are booked for years in advance.

It is odd indeed.

What makes you say it's cheap? We may or may not renovate it completely. We may do the basic renovation only, still evaluating.

There’s not much kitchen or bathroom to replace!

I agree.

My worry would be where you’re putting the new kitchen and bathroom? I’d want to configure the existing lay out of kitchen and bathroom and clearly you do too. There’s no point in redoing them without repositioning the bathroom I’d have thought (and you mention turning that whole space into an en-suite bedroom). Given the cost of work and materials right now, it would be madness to do brand new kitchen and bathroom just to redo them fairly soon. Is there a plan to reposition them straightaway?

It is great that you are going to be very careful but even if you are very careful, things can go wrong.

I will try and find the link, but I remember reading about a poor woman who did everything right before contracted with a builder (she ensured he had adquate insurance etc) but when her house collapsed, the builder's insurance refused to pay out because they said that the builder had not followed correct procedures.

I will try and find the link, but here is a similar story:

www.thesun.co.uk/money/14979289/devastated-family-left-250k-bill-home-collapses-extension-work/

Remember to tell your insurance company before you have ANY work done (even if you are just having the kitchen re-done) as otherwise you will not be covered if anything goes wrong.

Again, anyone can set themselves up as a kitchen or bathroom fitter, so you need to be very careful.

Do not use a company like Wren (just do a search for all the bad reviews) as you have not control on how good the fitter will be.

Also, I wouldn't use sites like Chekatrade because the reviews can be fake, but if someone has hundreds of good reviews, then they are likely to be ok.

Some local authorites have recommended traders. Kent does:

https://tschecked.kent.gov.uk

There is also Which Trusted Trader, although I have never used them, so you need to check how they vet the traders:

https://trustedtraders.which.co.uk

If you do find a good kitchen fitter, then you can buy your kitchen form DIY Kitchens and get them to fit it. There are lots of threads about then on here if you do a search:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/5112933-diy-kitchens

https://www.diy-kitchens.com

@IMustDoMoreExercise I agree on that too-

It's got potential, but unless you're going to be doing a lot of work yourselves, I think you are massively underestimating the cost of things.

My parents recently had their house re-done (no extension, one wall knocked down) and it cost them around 200k.