Renovate? Extend? Loft conversion? Help advice!

[Blu2Seine]

Hi all,

We bought a 1930s 3 bedroom (2 bedrooms + box room) semi in a desirable part of East Oxford last year which has an old rotten galley kitchen that's falling apart. The survey revealed major work needed as it needs a full renovation (rewire, new windows, get rid of lathe and plaster, replaster, redecorating, replace flooring, new bathroom, new kitchen) approx £60k of work. We initially wanted to: renovate the house, extend and do a loft conversion but we've been shocked by the costs of building work so had to revisit our plans. We thought we had a good healthy budget but turns our £200k isn't enough!

When we discovered the price of the extension+renovation only (I can't remember how much but loads) and that a loft conversion would be £100k we gave up on the idea of the loft conversion and focused on the idea of just renovating the house + doing the extension given the living space really needs to be redone. Quotes for the renovation + extension (extension: 23 sq m2, but this is a bit deceptive because some of this includes space from the existing kitchen that we have to knock down) came in and varied from £210k-£280k (incl. VAT)!

So we decided to ask the 2 cheaper builders to requote. We went back to the drawing board with the architect and reduced the footprint of the extension by 4 sq m2 in a strategic area which meant less steel was needed and we didn't have to move any of the services (sewage, guttering etc.). We also cut back on lots of other items (window quality, guttering, some of the decorating). One of them told us we'd save £19k (pre-VAT), which would take us to £185k (incl. VAT, note this doesn't include the cost of a kitchen!). We're waiting for the 2nd revised quote to make a decision.

Now we're just torn and wondering is this worth it when we see houses prices in our area, and the cost of our renovation + extension would be the same as what a 4 bedroom house is currently on sale for?

We're wondering if:

• Should we just renovate the house and do no extension? This gives us the option to extend or add a loft conversion in the future (or any future buyer should we decide to sell).
• Should we go for it and renovate + do this new revised extension?
• Should we renovate + do a loft conversion + not extend but just square off the kitchen + dining area?
• Should we renovate + do a loft conversion and keep the layout downstairs (galley kitchen + separate dining room)?

For context, we're not sure if this is our forever home but we intend to stay here for 5 years at least for now. The house is in a desirable area, next to good schools, shops, and has a big garden (that's what sold it for us, it was the biggest garden we'd seen).

We feel a bit frustrated when we see all other houses on our street all were able to extend and do loft conversions when it was much cheaper :(

What would you do?

If it’s not your forever home (or more than 5 year home) I’d question whether it’s worth going through the pain of a full scale renovation, regardless of the cost, as they’re horrible, stressful things to do. But if you still want to do it, I’d do the downstairs and get the steels in place for the loft so you can revisit the loft at a later date without shaking the whole house up again with structural work.

£200k just about got the renovation works completed on my 1970s bungalow in Devon. That did involve building an extension and new kitchen area, extended the master bedroom to incorporate an en suite as well as creating a loft room plus everything else!

It all depends on if you plan to stay in the house for ‘life’ or you plan to move in a few years.

If it’s the former, I’d probably be more inclined to have the property to how you want it…. It would be expensive but at least you know you won’t be moving from there.

If you do plan to move, I’d just do a basic renovation without extension or loft conversion. Can you reconfigure the space you have currently to make it work better for you - ie, knock through dining room and kitchen to make one large room?

Do you love the area

Yes we could reconfigure and basically just square off/connect the kitchen and the dining room. Then that would give the option to do a loft in the future and/or larger extension. And we are leaning towards this option of just renovating and squaring it off/connecting the two rooms.

Don't love it, it's ok, but very practical (good location, good neighbours, good schools, nice parks).

Yes I think you're right. I will add though that we won't be living in the house whilst the works are happening, we will be staying with family.

It will cost more than whatever you budget for. There will be things you haven’t thought about, or aspects that don’t go to plan, and others that you simply have under budgeted for through no fault.

I’d invest in decorating and modernising so when you can enjoy it and it maximises its value when you are ready to move on.

this way you can spend on good quality fixtures and fittings that you will be happy with rather than feel agreeved by. You can always stick some money in a high interest account so it does some work for you ready for your next deposit.

We are in a similar position, how much work can you do yourself OP? Are your quotes for the builders to come and do everything? Build, electrics, plumbing, plastering, tiling… the whole works? Or can you get the “box” done and watertight and crack on yourselves? Are the builders going to be finding your windows, kitchen, lights, flooring? Again another place you can save massively and supply the items yourself.

it’s gone up so much but it is coming down a bit, as peoole like us are scaling back or not bothering so a year ago we could’ve get a builder even if we wanted and this year a few are responsive and have availability to start late summer.

From what you’ve said I’d just renovate, make the most of the space you have sit tight and think again in 4-5 years.

Well then no bloody way would I do this

If you did all the work and made it lovely could you get comfortable with it being your forever home?

We’ve definitely spent more on our house than it’s worth but we love it, we’re never leaving and it works for us.

I’d say prioritise space you’ll use most. For most people that’s the kitchen / living space.

You can definitely do the loft some other time in future

The point about the steels is I believe (at least I was told) that if you put steels in for the loft after you’ve done the downstairs the house will start cracking/moving again and you may have to redecorate, and possibly have fitted furniture (such as kitchen units), etc adjusted. If the structural work is in place when you later want to do the loft, it is less likely to cause damage to the downstairs.

We're in no position to do the works ourself unfortunately other than perhaps a bit of decorating of the bedrooms. I think you're right and from what everyone is saying, we'll just focus on the renovation, sit tight and then perhaps move on to something else in the future...

Oh yes we're definitely adding the steels to support a the potential loft conversion even if we're not doing it right now.

Personally I would do the windows, rewiring, kitchen and bathroom.
id put a timber studio in the garden for extra space.
then I’d move to a bigger house in a few years.

That's a good callout, we did consider that too as we need office space.