How much to upgrade an interior?

Nine_Lives

Yes i know that's a very open question - it depends to what level you want to upgrade & what features you want to add etc etc.

Without jumping in with a 'money is no object' approach & keeping things as conservative as you can, how much could you (a range) be looking at to just modernise a place as far as the interior goes? This is separate from fixing any issues you may find along the way.

The type of house we're looking at is 3 bed semi.

This house http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40052333.html has been up for sale for quite some time. It's quite cheap for the area really. I imagine some folk wont be able to see past the interior.

princeofpounds

Sorry no idea up that end of the country. There is a DIY sub-board further down the forum where people give estimations for work.

But it looks like a big job, as far as interior cosmetic stuff goes. You don't know what condition the walls are in under that wood panelling, so you would have to budget for plastering, carpets and paint/wallpaper at a minimum. The amount of wood would probably mean a skip.

Then it also looks like you would have to put in any detailing too - skirting, coving, hearth tiles, that kind of thing.

At least the red masonry paint on the exterior will be easy to fix!

Nine_Lives

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm just making the most of an early finish at work right now & going through every house in the area that we want to live that falls within our price bracket. I have 188 houses to go through

I'm no DIY pro, far far faaaarrrrrrrr from it, but i see houses like the one i linked which look like a LOT of time/money/work is required & then there's others where everything seems ok except perhaps the kitchen needing some new worktops & cooker etc.

As any work required would certainly mean bringing in the professionals (we don't know anyone who could do the job) then we need to weigh up whether it's worth the hassle & cost.

LEJC

ok..last year we renovated a property
Basically the majpr things we did included

electrics £4000

new windows front and back door gutterings and facias £6000
Central heating..none previously in property so from scratch £6000

Plastering/skimming £2000

new kitchen £5000
new bathroom £4000
New flat roof on back extention and renovation of existing conservatory £3000
New internal doors...£2000 (much more than originally budgeted for as the door frames were very odd sizes and couldnt accomodate off the peg doors so handmade by a local joinery

As well as that for major work we moved the bathroom from down to upstairs and created a utility room in the old space...tiled/and or carpeted the whole property and painted all walls and paintwork

Our renovation in total has come in at just a tad over £40000 when you add in all the extras that dont really get accounted for anywhere else.We used a mixture of tradesmen and did what we were able to as DIY...

a lot will depend on how much work needs doing and whether you are prepared to live with some of the outdated bits of your house or you want them all modernised at the same time...

Our project took a year and is all but finished now.

I will add that its a bit of a swings and roundabout situation though...before we started the project we had the house valued and were given a figure should we consider selling,and now work is complete we have another valuation of a higher value but when you take into consideration what we have done we not actually added substantial value,just created the living space we want!
Basically my advice would be only look at a project if you intend to make it how you want to...if there is the opportunity to buy "ready done" and its achievable within your calculations of budget,especially if you are not diy minded, you might be better off buying completed.

Nine_Lives

Thanks very much. That's one i forgot - one of the houses we were quite interested we noticed didn't have double glazing in a few rooms. It has an EPC of G, but a potential of i think a B it said.

dimbo61

How much have other houses sold for on the same street?
Now if the same size semi sold for £25K more and had everything already done IE total rewire, new kitchen,bathroom,gas central heating etc then you have an idea of your budget for the works.
We have done MAJOR works on our house over the last 3 years and the first phase to modernise 1930,s semi with economy 7 heating, wooden windows, rewire, replaster cost 325K

LEJC

How much cheaper is the house than something that has already been modernised in that area...?

I have added an extra paragraph to the bottom of my first post which might help you when considering purchase prices and resale values at a later stage!

Nine_Lives

Yeah you're looking at an additional 25k thereabouts for more modern houses in the area.

Thanks for the tips

I_have_spoken

Would you do the work yourself? A skilled trade will be billing at £150/day, labourers £100.

Anyhow, assuming you 'got the man in' for skilled work and you did the labouring, I'd be thinking minimum £15k with a £3k contingency