Some advice please

WaveyDave_2

Sorry about the partial cross-post, but I asked for some advice on the house buying post and was advised to ask some questions here too!

My wife and I are thinking of moving, we have seen a house we like, but it needs some renovation. It's a traditional Semi-Detached.

To make it worth our while moving, we would need to do the following -

Loft conversion
knock kitchen and breakfast room into one, then fit new kitchen etc
extend bathroom and fit new suite etc
create en-suite in another bedroom (by taking away a tiny box room) and fit suite etc
knock front boundary wall down to create driveway
new gas boiler/central heating
new PVCu windows
remove wallpaper/skim walls
remove marble fireplaces and block off some of the chimneys (4 in total)

and some other less major things

We would have a total budget of approx £35-£40k. Having never done any renovation work before, we have no idea if this is realistic. Does it sound practical to do?

Thanks for you help.

Dave

windym_2

Hi Dave,

It is very difficult to guess what budget would fit without actually seeing the house and knowing what your level of renovation is (ie gold taps on bath etc etc).

We have just converted a barn in Cornwall and my budget was £100000 and I have come in more or less around that figure. We sourced a lot of our materials locally or via the internet and ensured we got the most for our money. Project managing you renovation is a sure way to keep costs down, but it is hard work and you must be extremely organised.

A lot depends also on what part of the country you are in.

A good way to start would be to try and 'cost' out each job individually, whether using a builder or doing it yourself. You should also factor in costs that some people forget, like Building Regs approval (which is a sliding scale) as you would need this for the work you mention.

When you say that the move would only be worth it if you could get these things done (on budget) would you consider moving to the same house if you could do the work but had to stagger it over a period of years?

I wish you luck, there's lots to think about!

WaveyDave_2

Hi Windym

The house isn't what we would consider liveable at the moment. It's not quite what I'd call a shell, but it hasn't been touched for about 40 years. Currently we live in a new build (well 10 years old now) that we've had from new. The size difference between the houses is marginal (which is why we want the loft conversion). We'd need to get it all done in one go really, living there and doing it slowly is not really an option.

I appreciate its a kind of how long is a piece of string question, but I'm basically trying to get an idea of whether a 40k budget is realistic.

Thanks

Dave

alanobrien

40k seems realistic as long as the loft isnt costing you 30k
(i would suggest <25k and target 20k in fact) and your managing the renovation yourself.

robwend

id say 40 is still a tight budget ive heating installed new bathroom new kitchen , building work just done, and double glazing, a loft convertion alone is a fair price, ive spent 18000 just on the above