Ball-park renovation cost

Emmylou_2 · 21 April 2015 at 9:57PM

DH and I have just bought a stone-built, Victorian (1885) house that needs total renovation. It's four bedrooms (3 doubles, 1 single), three reception rooms, kitchen, lean-to, and has a cellar under the "main body" of the house. This is its rightmove link (http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32341983.html) - we did NOT pay asking price

It has a damp cellar (was ankle deep when we bought it, dried within a week of the rain stopping) which needs a membrane and pump fitting, wet rot to be treated, active woodworm, damp throughout (survey said that the walls needed all plaster stripping off, walls drying, and then replastering), inadequate/missing guttering (some is too shallow AND full of moss, other bits are original and full of holes, there is none at all on the bay etc). The downstairs loo is green and the upstairs bathroom is pink with chicken tiles on the wall (all WHOLE tiles are the right way round).

It needs a full rewire (with lots of sockets), and a replacement heating system (it has a back boiler and the super-thin 70s radiators; and not in every room), new windows (still single glazed) and doors. We are replacing the lean-to (2m x 4.20m) with a proper extension for a kitchen diner, extending the downstairs loo into the next room by about a metre to put in a wet room, building an internal utility room in the current "breakfast room" by removing a chimney breast and putting up a partition wall.

We've had one quote back so far (three building firms are quoting) and it's a frankly ridiculous figure that is nearly the same as we paid for the house!

Can people "in the know" give me a rough ball-park for the work - basically, we're taking everything off the walls, re-doing everything, treating timbers etc, rewire, re-do full heating and hot water system, putting the walls back on :rotfl: just so I know whether this quote is truly as ridiculous as it seems?

Doozergirl · 21 April 2015 at 11:11PM

A comprehensive rebuild of a renovation with an extension? You could be easily heading towards six figures, especially once you factor in kitchens and bathrooms.

Emmylou_2 · 21 April 2015 at 11:49PM

That's what I was thinking - around £80k plus kitchen cost was what was in my head.

First quote has come back as £155,000 :eek::eek::eek::eek:

I'm just hoping the other people come in a bit lower. We do have the cash but I didn't expect to use it ALL on this.

Doozergirl · 22 April 2015 at 7:58AM

The thing is, when you have a broken house, there are a lot of unknowns. You hand the entire risk to a contractor, they have to cover themselves.

You might be better breaking the job into smaller chunks. The weigh up is between having what is hopefully a set price, and not knowing until youhit a certain point.

Have they provided you with a breakdown and have you provided a clear specification and schedule of works?

Emmylou_2 · 22 April 2015 at 3:01PM

The quote for £155k is all in - basically, we hand over the keys, they give us back a house we can move into (carpeted, decorated, the lot). They acknowledge the risk of them finding something "unknown" and would accept that, if something went wrong, it's their profit down the tubes. They have done us a complete spec re what they'll use down to the brand of coving! (for the bits where we have "choice" they've allocated "bathroom from X, Y or Z range at named-supplier", carpets "up to £x per square metre from named-supplier", same with kitchen etc). Works will take 4 months and they can start in the middle of May.

One thing I hadn't considered when I was pricing it "in my head" was bloody VAT...that's basically £30,000 :eek: - the £155k is inclusive of that, fortunately.

I've nudged the other two builders today to see what their quotes come in at, and we'll go from there. Having spoken to a friend who has had substantive building work done before, she said it's probably about right.

I did think about coordinating it myself but I'm not well enough to do that, and I would much rather someone else do it.

Oh well...I am just thinking of Vimes' boots and the fact that once it's done, it won't need doing for another 30+ years (that's how long it's been since work was done before, as far as we can tell), apart from routine maintenance, and it's going to be a lovely family home (and they can take me out feet first!)

martinsurrey · 22 April 2015 at 3:09PM

Emmylou wrote: »

if something went wrong, it's their profit down the tubes.

Unfortunetly not.

Its already priced in.

That quote is a worst case quote with thier profit margin on top. if it isnt as bad as it could be, they make more money.

I think I could almost guarantee that if you stripped the house back to brick top to bottom (as a seperate job), and then got a structural report on the timber and the basement on what NEEDS doing, and then get a quote for contractors based on that, you would save a fortune.

but again, that involves a certain amount of work on your part, and will add to the time frame for the project.

all in, with the risk (and without knowing the spec of the finishings) £155k doesnt seem to be too bad as they may end up replacing every stick of wood from the roof down.

Doozergirl · 22 April 2015 at 7:59PM

You're right, Martin Surrey. I think we saved another MSEr quite a bit by ripping out for them last year, so that they could see what they had to work with.

Stripping back first is a very good idea. No unknowns anymore and it has to be done anyway!

paddyrg · 23 April 2015 at 12:58PM

If you strip the house back (sounds like it needs it anyway) then you know what questions you need to ask next, so can come up with an accurate costing :-)

Emmylou_2 · 24 April 2015 at 8:43PM

I don't want the hassle, basically, of getting someone to strip it back, someone else to do X, someone else to do Y. I want someone to do it all.

But on that point, the second quote is back.

Doesn't include kitchen fittings, or carpets. Works out at £178k (and some "change" - and they've said that we should budget 10% for "contingencies".

Third one has said he'll have it for me by tomorrow afternoon.

Doozergirl · 24 April 2015 at 9:23PM

The same company should quote you in sections.

Ask for a quote on the rip out first, then you can adjust the spec accordingly for putting it back together - on the principle that you've already got one quote, can make your decision on the builder and the revised quote after rip-out is based on the spec in the previous one.

We work with some very good architects and it's acceptable for us all. None of us really want unknowns.

somethingcorporate · 1 May 2015 at 12:43PM

You could build that house from the ground up for that cost!

I do think the quote is about right though, somewhere between £120k-160k (going on about £1k psqm) which is pretty crude.

Good luck

Ball-park renovation cost

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