Renovation Advice

sg0102

Hi there,

I'm after some advice about some potential house renovation I am thinking of - i hope this is the right board...

Wife & I are thinking about moving as we are expecting a 2nd child, and need some more space, and viewed a house today which we like, but needs A LOT of work.

Primarily we want to knock through the dining room & kitchen to make a kitchen diner and completely refit, and also do the same for the bathroom (currently separate to the WC). The rest is largely cosmetic changes.

We are unsure on a few things though, and would welcome any thoughts or advice.

The obvious one is ballpark costs of this kind of work; the kitchen is currently galley, and the dining room c.4m x 3m. I'm thinking we'd like an island and fake wooden flooring.

But also, what would we need to expect in terms of living through the renovation? How long would it take? How out of action would the kitchen be? (i.e. how do we eat?) Part of the quandry is we have a 18month old, and so nervous of how to manage him through it all...

Also, would a renovater do the bathroom concurrently? Or would these be separate jobs - and hence me a longer period of disruption?

I intend on taking a builder with me for a 2nd viewing, but any initial thoughts or advice on any of this would be really gratefully received!

Thanks in advance!
Steve

jc808

it always costs more than you expect but i would estimate (from work ive had done recently)

structural work: £1500
skips and waste: £1000
new kitchen: £6000
new batyhroom: £3000
plaster skim: £2000

decorating you can do yourself, other things that need to be done (eg rewire, new plumbing) pusgh the price up and cause other stuff to be done eg new plastering etc

as for living there during renovation, dont let your diet suffer!!! (no kebabs every night!!) just stick a microwave, travel hob, kettle and toaster in the bedroom that needs least work (and for gods sake dont be tempted to gut that one too ...) with a fridge freezer, your set with your little bunker

sg0102

Thanks for the response.

Those costs are lower than what we have budgeted so that is all good.

How long should we expect the jobs / disruption to take? And would they be able to do the bathroom concurrently or would they do one first then the other?

We're also keen on the idea of moving a wall - adding to the lounge, taking from the dinning room. Is that feasible or not??

Many thanks
Steve

Canucklehead

OP: trials, tribulations and triumphs from MSE home renovators here.

HTH

Canucklehead

Jaynne

I think the answer given above could bare no relation to the actual cost or it could be spot on. It entirely depends on the level you wish to do it all to and things have a habit of coating more than our expected. Our kitchen dinner of similar size is going to cost £9000 without fitting but if you wanted you could probably half that.

The best advice I can give is that for the kitchen is pick a budget to tell your designer and add 50% to it for your own budget as that will be nearer the price once you add in all the accessories and extras you want.

jozbo

Hi Steve,

sg0102 wrote: »

Wife & I are thinking about moving as we are expecting a 2nd child, and need some more space, and viewed a house today which we like, but needs A LOT of work.

We're doing the same. Have you checked the services too? If it needs a lot of work do you mean it needs modernisation? As I understand it would be far better to update elec and CH first if necessary before kitchen, after demolition...

Our budget is tight and we're having to lay down c£7k to cover the services and some repairs first. Hoping to do that before we move in.

The quotes you have above are much higher than what we're planning, though all depends on your taste etc. We're in a different position as no kids (yet!) so planning to add kitchen, bathroom etc at different stages as and when finances and time allows. We are probably going to spend about £2k on a freestanding kitchen of a similar size.

I'm also conceerned about disruption and am planning to probably complete 2 bedrooms before we move in and set up mini kitchen/relax area in one that means you can escape the mess when it gets too much!

Best of luck

sg0102

Thanks for all the replies very useful and much to ponder. We have a 2nd viewing next week and will take a renovator with us. We have a budget of about £17k so will see what we can do.

Anyone got thoughts or advice on using a renovation specialist rather than standard builders and plumber for bathroom?

27col

Renovation specialist or builder, it's all the same. They are both doing the same building work.

Happy-Days_3

Prices - How long is a piece of string. We refurbed a bathroom (with me doing all the prep and gutting of old suite). Cost about £4k all in. Floor and wall tiles and underfloor heating. That I think was at the cheaper end of prices. If we had boutgh posh tiles and paid for it all to be done, probably more like £6-£8k.

But, what I can say, is that almost without fail, it will cost more than you are expecting!

Anyways, ignoring cost, few things I would say....

• You need to be 100% sure that is not a loadbearing wall!
• Electrics - you may find that once they start looking at the electrics, you end up needing to re-wire the house or parts of the house. If any of this needs doing, get it all done at the start.
• Can you still live there? Well, you can answer that, if you have no kitchen for say 4 weeks - No sink, no cooker, no washing machine etc, does that work for you? You could have a mini fridge in another room, cook in a microwave and wash up in the bathroom sink. So can be done, but not much fun.
• Bathroom - again, that is going to be out of action for a while, maybe 2-3 weeks. Where are you going to bath / shower / use the toilet, is there another in the house you can use?
• When looking round the house, have a real good look for the other work you might be forced in to doing even if you haven't thought of it. E.g How is the boiler, all the external brickwork, rendering, roof, all in good condition. When inside, how are the walls, is the paper very old? Is there a chance that when you take it off the plaster comes off too. If reasonably old, have a look at the ceilings, can you see any cracks - might it need overboarding soon.
• You ask about who to get to do the work. Well, it is as with most things, money vs time. Get 1 person to organise, supervise and check on everything and it will cost more, but be easy for you. Hire in and organise all the trades yourself, more work, more chance of somethign going wrong, but should be cheaper.

I'm not allowed to post links on here, but if you have a look at my profile, there is a link to our blog. It has now become more of a baby blog, but the first 6 months of it are all about the house. We gutted the place, almost every wall, ceiling, re-wire, new CH, new kitchen, extension, new bathroom. Not all done yet, but shows some of the fun and games we had and all the mess.