Crazy quotes? Regretting buying your fixer upper? Join me in home renovation rants!

[Yemelade]

Some of you might remember me from my house sprucing (low level, manageable DIY) thread where I was preparing to sell up my old house.

That purchase is now complete, and we are now semi-regretful owners of a run down fixer upper.

I dillegently made a spreadsheet and researched possible prices of work needed. New roof, kitchen, bathrooms, windows. Its essentially a money pit. IIinitially, prior to purchase, thought we had a healthy budget at 62k, but have quickly realised this is nowhere near enough.

Please join me in rants, woes, discoveries and doom. It would be good to hear from anyone in a similar boat so that my colleagues are no longer plagued by this regularly! I am in North East UK.

X

If you want to buy a fixer upper without experience the safest method is to use a costing service from a RICS surveyor. They will price projects and often have recommend companies for the required jobs. They can do this when you get the home survey done and it’s a couple of hundred quid.

Your budget sounds ridiculous considering the list above.

Prioritise structure and forget cosmetic for the foreseeable would be my advice.

We have a do-er upper that I think we bought not quite realising that's what it was. We've now been here for ages, and either need to do some doing-up or sell and move.

It's one of the worst things about my life if I'm honest.

Wishing you the best of luck.
Prioritise your work carefully, and always put safety to the top of your list. Do your research thoroughly, and wherever possible do your own prep work before getting trades in, and decorate yourselves afterwards, to save money where you can.
Do you have children at home? If so that will require extra consideration.

Our children are grown up, but even having a dog, made our renovation so much more difficult. I am very glad to say that our renovation is finished now - four and a half years later…

We are in renovation but this is our 3rd as we live in them. 20+ years in property.

The prices are currently very very high but with prowl c a keeping and scaling back hold right as they will come down again.

We have planning submitted but are waiting a year to start.

Get what you can done!! And sending a hard hat.

As mentioned, we do have some experience of owning a house and DIY. I started this thread for people experiencing similar challenges to come together - it's not a direct call for advice in any shape or form.

Though I would be interested to know in what way you feel our budget is "ridiculous"? This is an initial figure and residual equity from our previous property sale that will enable us to make a start on renovations. None of the listed things were highlighted as red, or in urgent need of attention when we had our home surveyed, but since getting the keys we've discovered several failed and rotting window frames for instance, which means we need to prioritise this. The kitchen cabinets were mdf and swolen and mouldy in places so we have ripped it out. We had our last home for 6 years and just did work as and when we could afford (no initial budget, we had about £400 in the bank when we moved in). We aren't in a rush and we don't have children to worry about. This is our forever home, we are happy renovate at our own pace. If you're in a similar situation, feel free to join/share in property woes.

Just been quoted £17k for a full electrical rewire 😭

So sorry you're not enjoying your property renovation experiences 😢 It takes a lot out of you! I work full time, am a carer to a disabled adult, and also have a range of health conditions. I am definetely struggling, but keep trying to focus on the bigger picture and eventual (hopeful) outcome!

We were also sort of lured into thinking ours was a manageable project...so far it's been anything but!!

So glad you're renovation is finished! I can't wait for mine to be done already!

So far, we have emptied all bedrooms of soft furnishings and carpets, painted all walls upstairs, remlved part of kitchen, removed most tiles from bathroom and kitchen though luckily we are in rented accommodation until April time so we have a safe, warm place to retreat to. We've also ordered our DIY kitchen. We don't have children, just 2 cats which is nice and manageable and less tying for us at present!

Prices are SO high! But this seems very inconsistent?! E.g. bought a timber framed complete (large) kitchen with granite tops, for the same price as a smaller kitchen with oak worktops 5 years ago. I would have thought that would be more expensive... And yet we got quoted 42k this week for it to be fitted (alongside a couple other joiner jobs). Labour costs seem extortiate!
Among other quotes this week:

Windows, bifold, garage roller door: 11k
New roof: 17.5k
Knocking a load bearing wall down and RSJ to be added: 10k

...it's a lot of money!

Nooo! That's hefty! Have you bought a much older property? I havent had someone to look at our electrics yet but I know we need a bigger unit.

I have told my husband it is probably cheaper for him to give up his job and go on a tradesman course so he can do everything safely himself!

You just need to be smart about what you buy and where from. DIY kitchens are one of the cheapest on the market, come ready assembled and are good quality. What they don't have is showrooms everywhere just the one in Yorkshire and they don't do a design service. However, you could use any independent kitchen place to design your kitchen if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. Nick Morris on YouTube compares 5 exact kitchens from the leading manufacturers, he is a property developer. He says DIY hands down win. Also videos from DIY kitchens themselves and others who have installed them.

Bathrooms, buy ex display or just search online. We used PlumbWorld online for our en-suite, again fantastic quality, solid tray and 8mm glass door. This is the second house and 4th bathroom we have renovated. We will be using Paramount Bathrooms for the fitted furniture.

Windows, we used a long standing local company who make the windows rather than going through a middle man. You can find windows as supply only online so you can compare the cost for the supply and fit from any other company.

I think your budget is doable, if you can get your hands dirty with some DIY. Just seen your latest post, compare items on the internet and find the cheapest prices and deals. Be your future friend by thinking ahead for work that may take place at a later date. Whilst we had the electricians in we had an electric shower cable run but not connected for when we installed a bathroom a few years later. Think about where your Christmas tree is going to go and put a socket near it for the lights, same for outside sockets. We have a timer one at the front for our Christmas lights.

Best of luck to you, totally worth it in the end for the perfect house for you.

Ooo can I join! We bought our first mini reno in 2019 I say mini as it was mostly cosmetic- we knocked through and created a large kitchen diner. All new kitchen, bathroom, ensuite and wc. Completely revamped the garden and new floors throughout and finally decorating. We sold up with a good profit back end of last year and have started a bigger project now.

So far we have had all ceilings replastered (removed decorative/artex) and now painting. We have all new floors coming next week to be installed. New doors internal and external, patio doors and windows,
Turns out roof needs work. Not a new roof but repairs needed.

Feels completely different from our first go at it as this includes things that are in such a bad way and needing repair. So far getting quotes and workmen in to do jobs have been easy and no shocks yet at costs...

I'm in Sydney and am just getting towards the tail end of renovating an apartment. Thankfully only a small place so hasn't been too bad!

I've done most of the organizing myself. Surprisingly, I've had good luck using airtasker and even marketplace to find both supplies (appliances etc), and people to do the work (found an excellent countertop guy, electrician and painter on FB marketplace). It problably helps that we have a lot of immigrants who are happy working for cash. Its ended up costing me about half what the estimates were. I've actually enjoyed the process.

42K to fit a kitchen is madness. I can't see how it could possibly cost that much, unless you live in a mansion.

I am buying a house that is fantastic layout and location wise but I know will need some TLC because it’s been rented since 2016 and the owner has per the agent spent not one penny on maintenance.

I have about £35k.

What are the most likely necessary jobs I should look into and get quotes for first before I spend my entire meager budget in F&B and Tikamoon in some late night Pinterest inspired fever dream?

I got a DIY Kitchens kitchen installed in 2018. It looks as good as new and was the main selling point for my house I’m about to sell to FTBs. By contrast the bathroom I had fitted (Victorian Plumbing) that same year mostly needed replacing already.

We’ve just bought a “do-er upper”

new build to 100 year old house - its been a shock!

we knew we needed windows, front and back doors, driveway, kitchen, flooring, minor joinery and some tree surgeon work. We have a really tight budget of 42k and have just about made it work.

we do have some other minor things to deal with like guttering, re plastering etc we hadn't anticipated.

i cant believe how variable quotes are! for instance there was some mold on the ceiling top corner in a back bedroom. Our seller actually highlighted this and said someone had told her the roof issue and it would be £900 to fix.

well…

we’ve had FOUR people out with quotes from £300 to £3000!!! All stating the issues to be different (some finding totally new ones) and that doesn’t include the guy who told me i needed a whole new roof! I was losing my head and had two last people come look (separately) both who confirmed absolutely nothing wrong with the roof at all and the mold was caused by poor ventilation as it was also mouldy around the window. This tracks as it was a young lads room who ran a gaming PC and never opened his window. Both told me to save my money, give it a scrub and open a window.

not for the faint heart

That is crazy unless you live in a castle in the middle of London! I suspect they don't want the job?

@ohsitdownnextome I would make sure the building is weather proof and well insulated first. So think about windows, roof (which you can probably assume is fine unless there are obvious leaks) and checking gutters aren't blocked or leaky. Also don't forget to check loft insulation. It should be at least 300mm deep or more of possible. It makes a huge difference to the temperature.

We bought ours in 2016 and I reckon over the 8 years we've lived here we've spent 100k. Current woes; finally had our bathroom done after years of saving. When trying to replace our ceiling light in the downstairs loo we are told that it's rubber/original 1960s wiring. Annoying, but even more so considering that in the time we've been here we've had the whole upstairs rewired, AND a completely new fuse box and neither of these electricians have mentioned to us that the work they were doing was not the full work needed. So another electrician, another load of work and mess. We want to replace some old artex ceilings and therefore need this done first. I've said to the electrician I want it all done, every single thing in the house that needs replaced and hopefully that will be it.

The problem with these type of houses is they were owned in peak diy era, when the owners did 'jobs' themselves and basically botched them or covered stuff up. Although we did find an original parquet floor under a layer of Italian ceramic tiles which we have now removed. So there are some wins I guess. But even then, a worn parquet floor will cost thousands to restored properly. We've sanded it and revarnished it but at some point it will require some proper TLC.

I am currently trying to work out how to safely get to the ceiling in our stairs/hallway to paint it. Anyone have any suggestions? It has a landing halfway up and whw height from the landing to the ceiling is at least 4m. We can't afford decorators so that option is out. Am thinking some sort of scaffolding?

@Geneticsbunny I think you could hire a platform from a tool hire place?

We bought ours 7 years ago and still can't decorate because we have damp that no one can figure out how to fix! We've spent thousands on a new roof, plastering, gutters, passive vent system, rendering, had the chimneys swept and capped, damp course done...and NONE of it has worked! I can see why the previous owners sold up after a year. Alarm bells should have rung then really.

This is a very useful thread for me, as I am househunting and like the idea of a doer upper. I always overestimate costs, but even then, I live rurally and the real challenge is actually finding someone to do the job!

What I am unsure of is how to get the house's 'needs' reliably and honestly assessed. How do I avoid tradespeople pushing me into unnecessary and expensive work?