How easy is it to Refurbish a House?

Gambler

We bought a 3 bed detached (4 yrs old) on an estate a couple of years ago. We had to decorate throughout to neutral colours, change the carpets, rip out fitted wardrobes etc.

Went to look at a 4 bed detached yesterday in a very sought after area with a fabulous garden.

Ours is worth £180K and the house we like is on fro £250K.

The house is 27 years old and unfortunately so is the decor. 2 of the bdrooms are also very small so may have to extend when our 3 month old gets older.

I think the kitchen is the original so would have to be replaced straight away.

Decorating will be more difficult due to artexed ceilings and painted woodchip on most of the walls. Probably have to get all the walls and ceilings reskimmed.

All internal doors and skirtings will need replacing.

It would be so much easier to go for a newer house but we want to make sure we get the location correct on our next move.

Just after advice from anybody who has gone through the same sort of thing.

Thanks

Prudent

Its basically hard grind. I did the same to buy a house in the area I wanted. It is time consuming and seems to cost more than you anticipated. However I have no regrets. I lovely house and feel real satisfaction in the transformation.
It is do-able. I am a single parent with a full time responsible and high pressure job, but managed it. I intend staying here a long time now though!

abbecer

We have found it very difficult and expensive. We have been in our house for 5 years and have had our 2 boys in that time. It has been hard for many reasons, financially with having the boys and time wise. But all that said it has been worth it as our house is nearly complete and is just how we want it to be. It's the jungle/building site next!!

We bought ours for £66,500 because it was so foul. However it is in a good area and is now worth at least £220,000. So financially it has definitely been worth the headache.

Good luck.

Rebecca x

crossleydd42

It's often the hidden things which take the time and cost the money.Will the house need re-wiring or a new consumer unit? And remember that it's difficult to alter wiring nowadays without having either a qualified electrician doing it or getting a council inspection.

clutton_2

i suggest that you talk to Building Control at the l ocal council and tell them what you plan to do. they will tell you what inspection visits are required, and how much those visits will cost. if you do not do this by the book, you will have difficulties when you come to sell it.

robwend

you learn a awful lot along the way, and yes you get self satisfation, but its like being at work 24 seven, i actually look forward to going to work

PoorDave

Gambler wrote:

We bought a 3 bed detached (4 yrs old) on an estate a couple of years ago. We had to decorate throughout to neutral colours, change the carpets, rip out fitted wardrobes etc.

Went to look at a 4 bed detached yesterday in a very sought after area with a fabulous garden.

Ours is worth £180K and the house we like is on fro £250K.

The house is 27 years old and unfortunately so is the decor. 2 of the bdrooms are also very small so may have to extend when our 3 month old gets older.

I think the kitchen is the original so would have to be replaced straight away.

Decorating will be more difficult due to artexed ceilings and painted woodchip on most of the walls. Probably have to get all the walls and ceilings reskimmed.

All internal doors and skirtings will need replacing.

It would be so much easier to go for a newer house but we want to make sure we get the location correct on our next move.

Just after advice from anybody who has gone through the same sort of thing.

Thanks

If you're like us (and i don't think we're too unusual!), you'll buy the house saying "we'll rip this out and change that", but money and pressure of time will mean it won't be anywhere near as quick as you imagine!

I have spent almost the whole of the BH weekend so far decorating our (quite small) dining room. When finished, it will be the second complete room in 18 months

sickofdebt_2

I've done the whole ripping out & starting again thing & I'll never do it again. Like the earlier post it's not the things you can see it's what you find along the way that get you.
it's taken 12 months of nothing but work then comming home & working on the house at night & weekends to get the place sorted. It had to be done because myself & the OH are splitting & the house wouldnt have sold in the condition it was in & beleive me we tried, one agent refused to put it on the market it was so horrible!!
Anyway now it's all done with brand new everything it still hasnt sold. We've been on the market for 11 weeks so even if you do all the hard graft there's no saying you'll get a buyer.
I dont want to sound like the proffet of doom or anything but it can get really hard.
Personally if you can afford to pay someone to do the work then great but if you're planning to do a lot of it yourself then think long & hard & have a BIG contingency fund. You'll never know what's going to happen once you peel back the layers!!

Mrs_pbradley936

Hello,

You will spend a lot more money than you plan to most of which will be on "unseen" items such as rewiring and new heating. When I say "unseen" I mean if you spend a few grand on the kitchen you and everyone else will see where the money went. People rarely comment on the wiring. It will also be time consuming and if you have lived in a modern place with decent plumbing and en-suite bathrooms you might feel like you have gone backwards. We have renovated two old houses and I would not rush into doing it again. But on the plus side older properties often have bigger gardens. That was important when we had small children and a dog but does not apply now children are grown up and dog has died and not been replaced. We now live in a modern house with en-suite bathrooms and an adequate but not huge garden.

nelly_2

It always cost more than you expect and more things turn up that need fixing half way through every job ever. One thing leads to another sort of thing.

The kitchen is the most stressfull room to be without, although you spend less time in a kitchen than say the living room, all the important stuff is in there kettle, cooker, sink, washing machine. As a plasterer Ive seen hundreds of houses being 'done up'.

Do a, 'room at a time' for less stress, but doing a couple or all, at the same time is cheaper but much more stressfull.

Telling a plasterer for example 'you will be doing every room eventually' will help keep the price per room down slightly same with a joiner with the doors.

Ems*Honie

Its taken us 9 years to finish ours (we got married and had 2 babies and some postnatel depression along the way to slow things down abit ) We did a bit at a time, went without some things for a while and paced it out so it wasn't all about the house. Our house is gorgeous, (when the kids aren't trashing it ) and we are really proud of the work done. Now my sister is moving into it and we're off to rehash a 2 bed bungalow into a 4 bed with open plan living , I can't wait.

If you can accept the mess, and the lost weekends (make sure its not every weekend) then its very worth while in my eyes. Plus buying a house with 'potential' to improve it is a better investmant too imo