Demolishing an old building to build a new one

bennyboy82

Hi Guys

First post so hope you can help

I own a large old pub building it is fairly substantial and made of big sandstone blocks. There are lots of other breeze block bits with flat roof added on. It was signed over to me by my parents and I dont owe anything anything on it. Me and my wife want to make a home here but think it will be way too expensive to renovate the building due to the age and it being quite run down.

We have been advised that it may be better to demolish it and use the land as a deposit on a mortgage to new build. The planning department in principle agree with this as does the archietect.

Does anyone else have any similar experience in this or have an opinion on what we should do?

Hope to hear back soon

justjohn

have you priced what a new build is going to cost?
i have had prices of 700 to 1100 per sq METRE. This will be different depending on the area. (i personally think the building industry is taking the peeeee). The building would have to be very bad for it not to be viable for renovation. You may be better knocking down just the newer extensions.

betsie

We knocked down and bungalow and built a 3000sq ft house with detached double garage, brick wall, gates and block paved drive. Cost us £250k but my hubbie did all plumbing and we did lots of the manual stuff. I also painted all the inside myself. We lived in the garage for a year (not fun) I would recommend a caravan. It was easier than we thought it would be and took 1 year from demolition to completion.

We had individuals do each job and project managed it ourselves. I think this helps to control costs.

With a new build you can claim back the 20% VAT you pay on all materials and you should not be charged VAT on any labour charges. This can add up to quite a bit - I think we got about £15k back.
If you do rebuild make sure you get a 10 yr warranty otherwise you will not be able to sell it for 10 years as no bank will give a mortgage on it.