Idiots guide to renovation

[Renovationstagnation]

Last September we moved into a 1950s bungalow which needs everything doing. We always intended to wait a bit before doing any work but now I feel like we’re feeling a bit overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. We’ve had a stressful year due to huge bereavements which has meant not getting around to it.

By everything doing I mean - wiring, new roof, repairs to brickwork which sits below the damp proof course, new kitchen, plumbing might need updating in places, knocking through so toilet and shower room are one (next to each other), either removal of (if not usable) or reinstatement of fire place in single storey extension, windows, re-site loft hatch (it’s in the garage and at too great a height meaning loft is pretty unusable), and obviously cosmetic upgrades throughout.

We replaced the boiler, pipes and radiators when we moved in as boiler was 30 plus years old and on its last legs. Heating system was converted from a separate tank system to combi boiler. We just put basic screw fix radiators in for now but they are now all situated where we would want them (some in very odd locations).

We don’t know where to start, who we need to speak to first, what to prioritise etc. We will be upgrading in stages due to funds so cosmetic stuff is a long way away. Even thinking about it is making me anxious (I know this sounds silly) for example rewiring - there’s a lot of built in storage - do we need to rip that out if we think we need plugs along that wall? So should we do that first? I feel panicked (a symptom of the year I’ve had and not my usual unbothered self!).

We feel a bit silly now but we genuinely were in a different mindset and enthusiastic when we bought the place. We’re not super skilled ourselves but happy to do tasks that just need a bit of man power.

What do we do? I feel like once we get a bit of momentum we will be fine but feel paralysed and a bit sad. The house is totally liveable and has been reasonably well looked after which helps but it’s not feeling like our home.

Are you planning to do most of the work yourself ?

I would be minded to get a reputable builder in for some quotes

if you need for finances to stage the work I am sure they could work with that too

What’s your budget available now/soon?

Recently I’ve been using AI to dictate into brain dumping as I walk around the house with the never ending to do Reno list and it’s been helping me loads work into priorities, sectioning it, budget etc.

The exact format I’m currently using is a paid Claude connected to a free app called Ticktick and has really helped me.

Have a look here:
https://www.fmb.org.uk/resource/house-renovation-checklist-a-step-by-step-guide-for-uk-homeowners.html

We currently have £60000 to put towards the work (yes I know that will evaporate) but that seemed like enough to do the wiring and roof at the very least.

Even just getting a builder in hurts my head - I never know what work they can cover!

What actually needs doing and what’s nice to do?

the roof- what’s wrong with it? Are you replacing all the timber structure? Just the felt? Adding or altering insulation? What does it actually need?

Id always start with outside. Repair pointing, windows, roof, ground levels eg the fabric of the property, first.

Id make a list and put everything into categories:

important and urgent
urgent
important
neither

that’s your order.
neither can then be broken down to

required
nice to have
probably dreaming

Honestly I don’t recognise myself with managing this, I’m usually very capable and do my research and just take it step by step but I feel like with everything that’s gone on we’ve bit off more than we can chew. But we plan to be here well into old age (late 30s/40s) so taking our time seemed fine.

You'll need an electrician to do rewiring. It's best to get that done first because they'll need to chisel out bits of walls and drill holes in places to go under floorboards. Get 3 quotes. Try to use a qualified electrician who is not VAT registered as that will make the work cheaper. Get an invoice for all work done and don't pay until work is completed.

Having just finished the main structural work for a derelict house, it can be draining both mentally and physically. I would buy a static caravan and live in that during the renovations. It gives you a clean area to wash/cook/sleep and an escape. You'd be surprised how far the dust will travel in the house and even so called sealed off areas will get filthy!

Are you getting trades in or planning to do some yourself? Will you project manage or pay someone for that? Do you have any trusted trades currently who could recommend others?

Roof needs new cover at a minimum and potentially a new structure (would need to get confirmed to what extent but some things flagged in survey). Rewiring is a must I think given the age of it all and we work from home so cant afford a sudden outage and obviously for safety seasons.

If we were in the right head space I would be happy to have a go at project managing ourselves - it will clearly save us a lot of money but I sometimes wonder whether we should pay someone to at least have some guidance.

Given that you're not in the right headspace, I would focus on the roof, the outside brick work and the electrics to buy yourself some time to get in the right headspace.

Find out what needs doing to the roof - get multiple opinions/quotes so you know how much you're going to need to spend on that. Get the brick work done - should be fairly straightforward, without needing to make loads of decisions.

And get an electrician to do an electrical safety check so you know whether there's anything urgent. It may be that for now, you can just do something relatively straightforward, like new consumer unit to make it all safe, but future proofed so that you can reuse it when you rewire. If you can avoid it, I wouldn't rush into a rewire without a plan to do the rest of the house. You don't know exactly where you want sockets, the kitchen layout may change and then stuff will need redoing, and you'll be left with a bunch of holes in walls and ceilings which you'll probably need to live with until you're in a position to redecorate after doing the rest of the work.

And then when your house is safe and secure, give yourselves some time to recover from the horrible time you've had and do the rest when you've got more of the budget, and as importantly, are in the right frame of mind to make a million different decisions. You're going to be there a long time so take your time and do it when you're ready.

I've done loads of renos - did my first aged 20 (builder family).

You need to think about it in terms of risk, mess, and parallelisation.

If your gas and electric are not safe get them made safe. If you need to patch your roof before you re-roof you can often do this with gorilla roof tape as a temporary measure.

Good tradesmen know other good tradesmen so always make friends and ask for references persistently. Often very skilled workers are a bit chaotic in their lives so build in lots of padding for people to constantly have things coming up. If you're a small job, which it sounds like you are, what you want to be is "fit-in-able", to be flexible enough to be fit in when they've got time. This is the way to keep making progress, to sequence the work so that you don't have too much tight coupling or brittle dependencies between unreliable humans.

So you will need for specialists: a roofer, a chippie, a spark, a plasterer, a plumber. Then you will need at least two generalists who can do lots of jobs like knocking out and can fit you in. Don't even think about decorators or carpet fitters or anything like that yet -- all that little stuff comes at the end.

Pick one room and make it sacred for living and working in. You might have to fit a temporary kitchen in there too. Buy an IKEA freestanding unit and you can resell it after the work is done. Trying to live in all the rooms while you redo them is what extends the time and cost.

Use AI to help you sequence the work, just keep pushing back when it makes fragile inflexible plans, and keep telling it you're in the UK. Project management tools like Trello can be helpful too, though honestly just sticky notes on a wall are as helpful, cause then everyone working on the job can see it too.

I'm sorry for your losses. x

Start with stopping things getting worse.

So - sort out the damp coming in (roof) and damp coming up (damp proof course).

Windows ok? Front door and back door secure? Because if not your house insurance could be compromised in the case of a break in. Check small print about locks.

Once the house is 'stable' you can take your time over deciding where the next chunk of money goes.

I would add, we started out with 60k to do ours and it got swallowed up in no time.

Making the house stable (damp free and safe) should be priority and then see how much £ you have left.

That might dictate what your next steps are to be honest. I've been waiting 10 years for my new kitchen and it's not even on the horizon 😳

Any essentials to keep the winter weather out and prevent deterioration immediately - patching the roof, replacing leaky windows etc

Then focus on one room, ideally your bedroom. When it all gets too much, you want somewhere to retreat to, and close the door. Bathroom or ensuite next.
That means you can have a decent hot shower, a relaxing comfortable sleep, somewhere to watch tv together. And the renovations won't hamper your ability to work.

Then work outwards. What is more important to you? If you are a ready meals and takeaways household, do a sitting room next. Or if you are enthusiastic cooks who hate convenience food, do the kitchen next.

What are you planning for Christmas?

Thank you so much for all the advice. We sat down last night and thought about an immediate plan. Get quotes for the roof - had someone come out for a small repair on the flat part who comes highly recommended so will get him back and a neighbour one street over has had theirs done this year so going to knock on and see if they recommend. Will get a couple more but feels like a good start. Then wiring and brickwork quotes and we will see where we are money wise. I know the wiring will make a real mess but we can maybe not use some of the rooms (just two of us and the dog) and focus on making good the ones we are in. We worked out with the exception of the kitchen/bathroom as it will be redone one day we think we know where we want sockets. The wiring is so old I’m not sure we want to put it off much longer but will just get basic sockets etc or now and worry about fancy switches etc later. We just need it safe.

We’re regularly topping up our savings but I expect things will still be slow and my husband reminded me we still don’t know how we want to decorate so there’s no rush with all of that.

Thankfully we’re away for Christmas so no worries about hosting people in a building site!

Yep, we’re realistic about that. I wish we’d keep more back from the profit on our old house but it’s done now!

Definitely focus on making it watertight and safe first. That means new roof, anything structural.

I'd then do wiring and plumbing together as you will need to replaster after both. You'll need a planned layout for bathroom goods for this so get a quote in.

Then you can get onto kitchens and bathrooms, ideally not at the same time.

Finally nice flooring because it gets trashed with all the other jobs.

My top tip is get one room nice asap so you have somewhere to retreat to when it all gets a bit much.

Start with any damp issues.
Wiring next. They ideally like you to move out for the duration (about a week), including furniture, as floorboards will need to come up. It'll also create a lot of dust as walls will need chasing out, and that dust gets everywhere.
The chasing out will need patching up, afterwards, so think about knocking through and whether you'll have paid for plastering that will then need chasing out and patching up, or whether the new room configuration will require wire re-routing, anyway. I'd suggest the two jobs would need to be done in the same breath, so to speak.
If you can afford it, get all the dusty jobs done in close succession, while all your stuff is boxed up/protected. (I sealed off a room with plastic sheeting taped over a door, and the dust still ruined all my wind instruments in that room. It's really fine and will settle everywhere, so I really recommend bearing that in mind. It'll get in the back of your fridge, oven etc.)
Then get your windows done. Don't complete kitchen/bathroom until after this, in case newly laid tiles around windows are affected.

Yes we moved out while the new heating system and radiators went in. Luckily there is a few reasonably priced air bnbs near us which we can use. It’s a good point about knocking through, hopefully we can ask what works best when we get quotes and maybe plan to do that. We can always put lino down as a temp measure on the floor after? Luckily the one completely modern room in the house is our en suite. We’ve got a garage where we can store our stuff.