First-time house renovation

kimmi

Hi
can I join you all? Have been reading this thread on and off for a couple of months,. but haven't posted before for fear of our purchase falling through!

Anyway we hope to exchange and complete in a couple of weeks on our 1st ever property, a bungalow that needs some work doing to it (nothing major, just new kitchen and bathroom, remove a brick fireplace, re-decoration etc). We're in rented at the moment so aren't going to move in straightaway, and need some advice on finding an insurer.

Have had some quotes for Unoccupied insurance while the renovations are underway As some of you have been going through the same thing, can anyone recommend an insurer or a broker I could get some more quotes from?

:beer:

Kimmi

Canucklehead

Good morning: A couple of specialist brokers you could try...here
and here: alternatively contact the maintstream providers and see what they can offer. You would be amazed the number of people who do not get adequate cover during unoccupied renovations, suffer break-ins and lose thousands in materials and tools.:eek: Thieves ripping out new boilers and copper pipework is popular past-time.

HTH

Canucklehead

latecomer

TomsMom wrote: »

Oh, and we got the kitchen tiles yesterday. Not 100% sure about them,

I'd have a very good think about getting them put up if you are not sure. You've spent so much time and money on the house why put up some tiles that you are not 100% happy with? I'm sure your son will be able to help at a later date once you have found something you really love

@kimmi - the more the merrier
Be warned you will be badgered into starting a blog so everyone can follow your renovation and be sure to take lots of pics too

@jamtart6 - sounds like you've got a good plasterer there, make sure you keep him sweet for any other work that needs done.

@Andyb - I know the feeling of the never-ending bathroom! Hope the back gets better soon

latecomer

Canucklehead wrote: »

Thieves ripping out new boilers and copper pipework is popular past-time.

Thats pretty shocking but I guess it doesn't really come as a surprise. Definitely worth spending a few pounds to remain covered.

andrew-b

Hi Kimmi

Make sure the insurance you take out is from the date of exhange of contracts rather than the completion date. If you don't know the date then get it all lined up so you only have to call them up to give the go-ahead.

Do you already have contents insurance? If so then i would phone that company first and see if they will give you a quote as they may give you a better deal as an existing customer. I don't know about unoccupied insurance as it didn't apply to us but we keep chopping and changing insurance companies every year to get the best deal. I've made big savings via ordering insurance online by going from either Quidco or Topcashback cashback sites but whether unoccupied insurance is something you can order that way i'm not sure. At the moment we are with Halifax but have also used abbey and prudential . We've got pet and car insurance with halifax too so i think we get better deals.

We did have one of those dreaded house purchases that your worrying about where we didn't exchange contracts because the vendor was taken ill and decided (the day before!) not to move after all...we had insurance with Nationwide lined up for that one.

I tend to always go for insurances where they will take monthly payments without adding on interest - which tends to be the banks.

If mortgages are involved then it may be worth seeing if your lender will give you a better deal on insurance too.

Kimmi wrote:

nothing major, just new kitchen and bathroom, remove a brick fireplace, re-decoration etc

i like your optimism ..it's quite similar to my own thoughts when at the same stage as you and my thoughts of having it all done by Christmas 2006 2007 2008 2009...2010 ?

Andy

jamtart6

andy - hope your back improves

kimmi - welcome to the fun house! lots of people are renovating bungalows (in fact house owners are in the minority!).

Anyone heard anything bad about skirting boards, banisters and spindles from B&Q or do you have any other reccomendations for where to buy them from?

Also any good suggestions for type of tiles/places to buy tiles from for Bathroom? I'm thinking of a specialist tile place rather than B&Q

latecomer

jamtart6 wrote: »

Anyone heard anything bad about skirting boards, banisters and spindles from B&Q or do you have any other reccomendations for where to buy them from?

The inlaws fitted skirting boards from B&Q and they had a nightmare with them due to warping etc. They did allow the wood to aclimatise etc as per the instructions. You probably now about our experience with our skirting boards but to be fair none of them have warped at all (yet.... )

I would have a look round the local timber yards as you will almost certainly get better quality for less provided you can find what you are looking for.

Also any good suggestions for type of tiles/places to buy tiles from for Bathroom? I'm thinking of a specialist tile place rather than B&Q

We got ours from CTD:

http://www.ctdtiles.co.uk/

We got a good price (about 30% off) by simply bargaining and then also got very good trade prices on all the adhesives and grouts as we ordered them all at the same time. And they've given us the same price for any additional bags of adhesive we've bought too. Highly recommended

Canucklehead

latecomer wrote: »

The inlaws fitted skirting boards from B&Q and they had a nightmare with them due to warping etc. They did allow the wood to aclimatise etc as per the instructions. You probably now about our experience with our skirting boards but to be fair none of them have warped at all (yet.... )

I would have a look round the local timber yards as you will almost certainly get better quality for less provided you can find what you are looking for.

Good morning: Good advice from latecomer. We never buy timber from the 'sheds'...fortunately we have an excellent, independent timber merchant just down the road...very competitive on price and far superior quality/range of products on offer as well.

HTH

Canucklehead

Canucklehead

latecomer wrote: »

Thats pretty shocking but I guess it doesn't really come as a surprise. Definitely worth spending a few pounds to remain covered.

Hi...the incidents the OH hears about in the merchants and reads about in the trade journals are almost unbelievable but with many major building sites on shutdown the usual suspects are targeting individual properties instead.:eek:

Canucklehead

PurpleK8

Anyone heard anything bad about skirting boards, banisters and spindles from B&Q or do you have any other reccomendations for where to buy them from?

JT - Couldn't find spindles etc anywhere that were just what I wanted so searched the internet - finally made a decision and bought them from ukstairparts (got stop ovello), had them delivered last week, prices were pretty good, arrived specified time and all in perfect condition/well packaged, I'd definately recommend them. We bought all our skirting from a builders merchant