How much will THIS refurbishment cost?

tulipz · 8 January 2012 at 10:30AM

Dear all,
I've seen a house that needs complete refurbishment. Its in a good area and we see potential in it.

I've made a list of things the house will need. Being a first time buyer, I have no clue of the costs involved. Can I ask the experienced buyers here to kindly help me arrive at an estimate so that I can make an offer accordingly?
We want to have this done to a good quality. So fittings etc will be about avg in cost (not necessarily cheapest possible ones)

External work (a lick of paint may be?, Removing the glass encasing in front of the main door)
Full house replastering and painting
Rewiring
New flooring (laminate flooring) downstairs
New windows.
New doors
New kitchen
Upstairs new carpets,
New bathroom (the property has a separate toilet right next to the bathroom. so the work involves knocking down the toilet wall and converting it into a shower cubicle accessible from within the bathroom. Then moving around the bath and sink to accomodate a toilet)

The above work is absolutely essential. What we'd also 'like' to do is:

1. Extend the kitchen (to make the house more of a rectangle...so want to extend the kitchen to make it a straight line with conservatory outer wall)

2. Knock down a wall to make more space

3. Build a wall to have a separate dining area.

4. Have a downstairs toilet in the cupboard space below the stairs.

Inputs sincerely appreciated.
Thanks,
-Tulipz

tulipz · 8 January 2012 at 10:38AM

I am in SouthEast London btw

sims01 · 8 January 2012 at 11:06AM

As a starting point, there's a website that gives order of magnitude estimates for various building jobs at http://www.buildingsheriff.com/job-costs.html. The numbers on there seem to be a bit on the low end especially if you're in London (and don't include the cost of the fittings for things like bathrooms), but still useful to get to the right ballpark and what various jobs involve.

thomasdown · 8 January 2012 at 11:21AM

tulipz wrote: »

Dear all,
I've seen a house that needs complete refurbishment. Its in a good area and we see potential in it.

I've made a list of things the house will need. Being a first time buyer, I have no clue of the costs involved. Can I ask the experienced buyers here to kindly help me arrive at an estimate so that I can make an offer accordingly?
We want to have this done to a good quality. So fittings etc will be about avg in cost (not necessarily cheapest possible ones)

External work (a lick of paint may be?, Removing the glass encasing in front of the main door) £1k- £2k
Full house replastering and painting £5k - £6k
Rewiring £3k - £5k
New flooring (laminate flooring) downstairs £1k - £2k
New windows. £4k - £6k
New doors £2k
New kitchen £3.5k - £5k
Upstairs new carpets, £2k
New bathroom (the property has a separate toilet right next to the bathroom. so the work involves knocking down the toilet wall and converting it into a shower cubicle accessible from within the bathroom. Then moving around the bath and sink to accomodate a toilet) £3k - £4k

The above work is absolutely essential. What we'd also 'like' to do is:

1. Extend the kitchen (to make the house more of a rectangle...so want to extend the kitchen to make it a straight line with conservatory outer wall) will need a new roof (flat roof only under building regs,if you want pitched roof you will need planning permission which will cost more, probably need footings aswell) £7k - £10k

2. Knock down a wall to make more space £500

3. Build a wall to have a separate dining area. £1k

4. Have a downstairs toilet in the cupboard space below the stairs. (re-plumbing which involves putting a new stack on drainage system) £2k - £3k

Inputs sincerely appreciated.
Thanks,
-Tulipz

I would say looking at £35k. Maybe if family members are in trade or friends you should be able to pull a few favours and get mates rates. This is my opinion on the above amounts. All depends if you want basic sink, bath, kitchen appliances or nice top of the range things in your house?

tulipz · 8 January 2012 at 11:24AM

Thank you Thomasdown.... Does your estimate include labour?

thomasdown · 8 January 2012 at 11:30AM

Yes they do include labour. So you should be looking to get that off the property or the property should be cheaper than other houses in the area you are looking at. The house sounds like a complete re-furb, so it should be cheaper than other houses by about that amount I would say but the house is in London which is a different kettle of fish with regards to house prices to the rest of the UK. I would only purchase if the price reflected the state and condition of the property. Hope this helps.

GDB2222 · 8 January 2012 at 11:33AM

Add in the cost of living elsewhere whilst the work is done.

thomasdown · 8 January 2012 at 11:37AM

As GDB2222 has said this is another cost aswell, forgot to mention if you are knocking a wall down then you will probably need some sort of steel beam to reinforce the weight of the house. Steel is not cheap, depending of the size of the beam this could be another £1k easy.