Anxious and stressed about moving and renovations

[Scubadivinginabox]

I know a lot of you will have undergone renovations and I'm just looking for some reassurance really that it's worth doing!

We've been in our current house for 12 years and 6 of those have been spent trying to move. We spent almost every weekend during the pandemic driving up and down the motorway looking at houses in an area we were trying to move to because my daughter got a place at grammar school. Long story short we found a house but pulled out because the neighbour's could walk through the garden, and looking back it would have been too small and too expensive. (Daughter didn't go to grammar school in the end which I feel so guilty about).

We want to move as we're getting too big for this house and we have noisy neighbours who have made our life hell over the years (it's a terraced house so there's no getting away from sound through the walls and in the garden).
We really want a detached house and found one last September, and it was going through the solicitors when our buyers pulled out and we lost it. We put the house back on the market on Boxing Day and in Jan had one viewing and one offer at asking price, which we accepted. We found a house in April in the same area and we are in the process of buying it.

But we just got the surveyor's report back and it's so much worse than we thought. It needs a complete rewire, no heating upstairs, asbestos roof in the garage (and maybe in the ceilings), and so much more! My husband is gung-ho and says we'll live in a caravan on the driveway and it'll be fine. But I just don't know how that's going to work in winter with 2 teenagers. We don't have deep pockets, I've never done a renovation before, and I can't sleep because of my anxiety levels. Please tell me that it'll all be worth it! If we stay here, I'll feel a failure all over again, but I'm so scared to move out of our nice, warm house into the unknown! Thanks for reading so far.

Maybe that's just not the right move for your family. Labour and renovation costs has gone through the roof and. if you can't afford unexpected surprises, it will be hard to manage. So, unless all of this is incorporated in the price, and you have buffer, it is hard to justify this move.
It's a buyers market these days! Something will come up soon enough! Don't settle for something that doesn't feel quite right!

Can you add a link to the right move? Then people might be able to give more advice about how to make it less stressful

If it’s making you so anxious, perhaps it’s not the right house for you and your family.

Thank you so much for your replies. I will think about sharing the listing but it's basically a house that needs lots doing to it. We live in a relatively expensive area so the only way we are going to move on is to buy a house in this condition to do up. I'm thinking that I just need to be braver!
Have you had a surveyor's report that scared the pants off you but you did it anyway and now have a lovely house? How bad is renovating? How long will it take to do a full rewire and install central heating? We are thinking of putting everything in storage, living in a mobile home so that at least the house is empty and work will progress quicker. I'm such a newbie at all of this.

Prices will depend on where you are. I'm London based and these two jobs could easily add to £20k (or more depending on the finishes you chose). Maybe it's best you engage with a design and build company in your area as they would be able to engage with the professionals for you and perhaps run things simultaneously. These are not DIY jobs. It also involves building control. So best to hire someone do handle that for you.
Renovations are stressful but also at least you know what needs to be done. Sometimes is better than be caught up by surprise down the line.

It needs a complete rewire, no heating upstairs, asbestos roof in the garage (and maybe in the ceilings), and so much more!

Are you sure you UNDERSTAND the survey? because surveys don't tell you that stuff you claim they said they just advise you to get specialists (ass covering). You have to have a separate EICR and asbestos report and very few houses need rewiring and ALL pre-1990s house have the asbestos warnings.

No heating upstairs would be something your survey could report, its not THAT expensive (looking at more like £3k-£5k unless its a mansion) or disruptive to add central heating radiators, there also easy other non invasive options like electrical plug ins etc...

Yes, I understand the survey but I could have been clearer - we have an EICR report which recommends a full rewire.

We were given a quote of £8k to install gas central heating in a 3 bed house that had night storage, and were told it would take a week so I imagine just having heating put in upstairs wouldn't be too bad. Or someone upthread mentioned electric radiators which is a good option.
I think you do need to be a bit brave to do work on a house but it's never as bad as you think it's going to be (generally ime!). Also you will be adding value to your home.
I hope it goes well whatever you decide to do.

So helpful, thanks so much.

Not to be doom and gloom but I think it can absolutely be way worse than you think it's going to be. A friend is currently over a year behind moving into their house, this is just one story of many I know. Often one job rnds up being bigger than anticipated and it all escalates. You need to get reputable tradesmen to come and give you quotes and time estimates

I think you are right to be cautious. It’s hard finding good tradespeople with availability and even materials are much more expensive than a few years ago. And projects often go over budget. Doesn’t mean you should not go ahead and it will feel worth it once it’s finished. Good luck.

How many bedrooms? Detached? London?

The reason I asked about the listing is that it is very hard to know how long things will take without an idea of the general state of the building. If it hasn't been maintained very well then new wiring could uncover a load of other issues which then need fixing.

Even if there aren't any other issues a full rewire means you will need to get all the rooms skimmed and the decorated so you are looking at 3-6months of not being in the house (3 months is if you have a good project manager which can organise all the trades and get them in at the right times).

Often houses don't actually need a full rewire, they just need the fuse board and consumer unit bringing up to modern standards and some new sockets putting in. Which is lots cheaper (£1000 vs £6500)and won't mean you need to replaatee and redecorate.

Thanks @Geneticsbunny But if the EICR recommends a full re-wire, isn't that the case? Is it really 3 months? Oh wow, I was hoping for 1 month renting somewhere else.

We're in Bristol, yes it would be detached, 1930s. It's been empty for a long time and is very unloved.

We would love a design and build company but I already know that's out of our budget.

I would get a second opinion from an electrician.

Obviously cabling does degrade over time and if it hasn't been rewired since it was built then a full rewire is probably sensible.

House buying surveys tend to err on the side of caution so they don't get sued if they miss something. So if there is something they can't check properly for whatever reason, like it's inaccessible, they have to assume the worst case scenario.

If the eicr guy has checked the connections for all the sockets and switches then I would completely trust that if they say it needs a rewire that it does. I don't know how thorough an Eicr is though.

The other option is to do a room at a time once you have moved in and rewire, plaster and decorate as you go.

How many bedrooms? We did full rewire for 8k and plumbing for 7k. But then because of the full works, we needed to replace ceilings, floors, replaster and decorate which would probably bring the total to 50k.