Was your renovation worth it?

[Housebuildhelp]

On the house renovation rollercoaster and finding it overwhelming. We haven’t started. The costs/quotes are mounting. We’re into our contingency budget and a builder isn’t even on site yet.

The house is an ugly wreck on a nice road. We were naive to buy it when everything needs doing - including landscaping.

Im wondering whether to sell and save ourselves the hassle of it all. We have young kids etc.

If you’ve been through it, was it worth it in the end??

I think your issue is whether you can sell in its current condition. I mean, obviously you bought it, but are you going to be able to sell without losing much money, potentially to buyers made suspicious by the fact of it being bought and sold again, unrenovated, possibly quite rapidly?

We can’t sell ours the way it is at the moment (paused mid-renovation, garden a building site), so we have to plough on. We will, eventually, probably make a considerable profit, but it’s been a money pit and very stressful.

Thanks @Hanto . We’ve been here for a few years. Due to the road being ‘naice’ I think we might be ok. Older houses like ours tend to get knocked down and replaced with enormous modern properties (we don’t have a knock down budget). I suppose we won’t know until we put it on though..
Im just pondering whether to go before the real stress of the build gets underway.

What made you buy the property? What will it be like when it’s done? Will it be your dream / forever home, everything exactly how you want it on a lovely road and worth far more than you have paid?

if the above is all true then go ahead.

my renovation was totally worth it. I am no longer on rightmove every day for one!

Get some agents in and get a current valuation and what it would likely be worth after renovation. Then make an informed decision.
Personally with young kids if you've kept up with the market I'd definitely move. Enjoy your time with young kids, I couldn't cope with renovation and a young family.

Def, few years ago now, inheritance, badly needed some areas, well worth it, new bathroom, kitchen, inside doors and decorated

Interested in this…

Do you plan to be in the home long term? If the house ticks your boxes in terms of location (for work and schools), size etc and you have no intention to move, it is worth it.

We finished 4 years ago and the process was stressful and costly but I can say without a doubt, it was the best thing. The house is a joy to be in, we love cooking in the kitchen, using the garden etc. We enjoy entertaining and cleaning is so much easier when things are organised. There were times I was tempted to do less to save money but I am glad DH persisted and said no to me

To answer a few of the questions -
We like the road and area - close to schools, quiet etc. Nice families nearby & community.
It’s a 10yr house but probably not forever home.
We would make our money back plus some extra but won’t be making a huge profit.
I do think it’ll be lovely when it’s done.

Totally totally worth it, but I was on the budget like a hawk, and had an excellent working relationship with the architect and his team. (e.g. the 100 quid I spent sending a hamper to their Christmas party pre-drinks was an excellent investment.)
Both me and (now ex) are project managers so there was nowhere to hide.

I know it isn’t a popular opinion but the company who created the most value in the house were the architects.

Our kids were all primary school at the time.

It depends how the renovation affects the house. Does it add space and improve living standard, while maintaining a reasonable size plot/garden. Does it add cost savings in terms of stuff like energy used.

These are two key things I would look for in terms of adding sales value.

Stuff like adding wallpaper, new kitchens and bathroom suites and flooring can be costly but dont always add much to the sale value, because everyone wants to rip them out and put their own style in. Certainly weird stuff like specialist baths can put off a lot of buyers, especially if they think they are paying a premium for stuff they are going to have to rip out later.

Prices for trades at the moment are crazy and because they are in such high demand the jobs they do can be slack as they want to quickly move onto the next one. Finding someone reliable to do the work who is also reasonable value is very difficult.

I needed this thread, having just been turned down on a house that needs loads of work.

We did a loft conversion 10 years ago. It was horrible at the time - it was done over the winter months and we had water coming in, scaffolding blowing down the street. The end result was amazing. We got a lovely big bedroom and new bathroom and all the pain subsides pretty quickly. 100% worth it.

More recently, we had the garden landscaped. It was at the height of Covid so we paid a premium and planned to move within a few year so it was a questionable decision financially. I don't think we got the money back on sale price, but we've had 3.5 amazing summers out of it. We sit in the garden at every opportunity - pre-work coffee, post-work chill and lazy weekend afternoons. The qualities it has brought from a mental point of view made it massively worth it. So don't just look at resale value - consider the value-add in terms of how you spend time together in the house.

Has a loft conversion and kitchen extension 20 years ago whilst working FT and the three young children. It was hard and I definitely had decision fatigue by the end, total project took 9 months. But I'm still in the house and I love it .. so def worth it

Yes, but it's taken 13 years. I'll finish this year.

I needed to buy a house in 2011, after the crash. Very few houses were on the market because everyone was sitting tight. I wanted a 3 bed house with a decent sized sitting room and couldn't find one. I ended up buying a Victorian four bed.

I've replaced an extension, the roof, kitchen bathroom, all windows, external doors, boiler and wiring. Installed a log burner and insulation. It's worth £330k more than I paid in total but that has involved a decade of work.

It has been a great place for ds to grow up. It's now in a decent state so I could keep it into retirement but will probably sell and buy somewhere smaller if I can find somewhere I like.