Hi. I've been lurking for a while, but as we are first time buyers I don't generally have much house DIY/buying experience to draw from to add to these boards.
We have seen a local big house advertised cheaply (well in the scheme of things) that we love. Can't view until Saturday at a block viewing, so assume it will be popular and full of developer types. But we are in a good position with a big deposit and are first time buyers. We realise it needs a lots of work and are hoping to get a friend's dad (a builder) to come along and view it with us to see what needs doing, but thought I'd research a bit first to see what types of costs we are up for.
I was wondering whether anyone had rough ideas of possible costs that you may have paid for similar work or repairs etc, so we can have a rough idea and can then add on 20-30% extra for contingency etc. The house is a 1920s (we think) 4 bedrooms plus an attic room semi in the south east/South london.
As far as we know, according to the estate agents, it is in need of modernisation and very old-fashioned and it needs:
• the back half of the roof needs to be replaced (at least - maybe the whole roof?) It looks like the back roof has been repaired at some stage in the past, as 2/3 of the tiles (ceramic) are a different colour to the rest. Not sure if it needs structural work on wooden beams etc or just retiling...
•rewiring throughout as it is possibly still original
• kitchen installed - only has a 'scullery' (quaint!!) so I am assuming maybe lead pipes and sink and little else? Might need gas pipes moved. Apparently it does have central heating and am assuming therefore that it has a boiler.
• a new bathroom (although as long as the old one is functional we can do it up at a later date)
• skim plastering walls throughout
* floors sanded and decorating, but we can do this in theory...
•installing an en-suite in the attic room (also a project that isn't a priority and will be done when we have saved up more oney in a year or three)
Having just done this in the last two years, my first bit of advice would be- unless you plan staying there at least a couple of years, don't bother. We did the house up and then had to put it on the market due to a job transfer. So then had that added stress.... Do what you can yourself- and if you have no practical skills, don't bother, unless you are eccentric millionaires. For everything, get quote after quote after quote. Badger complete strangers for details of reliable crafstmen! And finally, it will take twice the time and twice the budget- as there will always be somehting you just haven't planned. (For example, we removed the landing carpet and discovered the whole floor had rotted!)
We recently (Summer 2004) had a single storey extention put on a 1925 house in north London (4 beds), rewired, replumbed the original house, skimmed the walls, 2 new bathrooms (1 where there was no plumbing at all) and on and on.
Broad costs we paid were:
Roof - thankfully all OK so no idea
Rewiring - About £12k including the extension, to include 95 inset spotlights and more plug sockets than you could ever need! This also included all the other wiring for e.g. phone and television etc
Kitchen - The sky is the limit - fitting can be around £2k + tiling. The actual kitchen you can spend whatever you like on.
New bathroom - about £8-£10k to include the suites, tiles, tiling, plumbing, labour, etc. Again with bath suites you get what you pay for and the cost starts to mount up when they say in the shop "Oh you want taps?... that will be another £x"!
Plaster skimming - in the house of your size - probably about £4-5k. However it won't be that much because you will find that the walls are probably lath and plaster and they crumble away, so you will have loads of extra labour costs.
Hope that helps a bit. As Decca says, it will be much more than you expect!
If we buy it and do it up, then it would be our home for a fair few years as there'd be enough room for a study each, potential nursury and spare room. So would be a family home for us, rather then doing a 'property ladder' makeover.
Yes, was suspecting it may be a case of think of a number and double it.... ta for the costs info.
A new bathroom doesn't have to cost anything like 8k. We paid a plumber £300 to change the bath suite, and bought the suite ourselves for about £400 (short bath so more expensive(!)). Tiles and taps you can get reasonably or horrendously expensively, depending on budget.
No, I wasn't suggesting that you were some terrible property moguls but when we'd finally got the house of our dreams absolutely the way we wanted it, after all that money and all that stress- well, it has just broke my heart. Also be prepared to have some wonderful stand-up rows with your partner over the most stupid things. I once walked three miles home rather than compromise over a bathroom cabinet(!) The plus side is, you will never have a greater sense of achievement than when it is all finished.
Mm, I add to all of that, it's a lot, lot harder than it looks. We thought we only needed a tiny bit of replastering and guessed £500 for a few patches. Then you take the wallpaper off....!
You'll get to winter, heating not done, you'll get someone in rather than freeze etc. Then the tradesmen won't turn up .
And the rows, be very prepared for those, because they will happen and they're bad.
And the discomfort - I've just spent 2 weeks on an air mattress and 8 months without a kitchen (wash dinner plates in the bath etc), chemical damp proofing stinks like dead fish, flippin cold with holes in wall etc.
And the dirt....and not knowing where anything is...and it dragging on and on and taking over your social life...
And the unexpected bits - discovered 2 small but new holes in roof a fortnight ago, got roofer to fix asap.
Then again, when it's coming together and you get a bit done and it looks lovely - you feel very, very proud indeed. You're entitled to be a totally smug g*t when it comes together
Best of luck toffeemouse - when we moved into our (very!) old house this time last year it was structurally fine (except for one rotten joist) but was literally just a shell....we drew up a list of essential works and steadily ploughed through them, getting recommendations for local tradesmen from neighbours and other people who live in the village - and we haven't been let down or ripped off once. Our kitchen still looks like the aftermath of a nuclear strike, but, hey, I've got a cooker, fridge/freezer and sink etc. What more do I need for now?! Said kitchen will get done when the time and finances allow; After all, as long as you have the main utilities in place and the house isn't letting in the weather, everything else can wait. Hope the viewing on Sat. goes well!
but when we'd finally got the house of our dreams absolutely the way we wanted it, after all that money and all that stress- well, it has just broke my heart. Also be prepared to have some wonderful stand-up rows with your partner over the most stupid things. I once walked three miles home rather than compromise over a bathroom cabinet(!)
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