Does anyone despair of getting their home done?

moneyistooshorttomention

Sympathies.

I moved into this house last month and have achieved quite a bit of work so far (at a cost....:().

I'm not sure which is the most daunting..be it the amount of work to be done or how much its going to cost.

I think its the cost...I stopped counting at £50,000...:eek::rotfl::doh:

I haven't got anything like that much money. Hence I will keep at it until the money runs out and then have to sit and wait however long it takes to have some more money before I can "crack on" again.

This when its not THAT old (ie 1970s) and basically in reasonable condition and I'm not going to be doing things to "luxury" standard (just yer ordinary reasonably decent standard).

Central heating modernised
Electrics modernised
Door swopped
New bathroom
Decorate throughout (looks like some plastering will be necessary)
Floorcoverings throughout
New kitchen (will have to wait)
Lots of garden work (some will have to wait)
Some maintenance work

:wall:_pale_

vaio

When we bought ours back in the '80s the mortgage company retained some money pending renewal of the roof which was original 1860 and suffering from "nail rot".

Mortgage finished 4 or 5 years ago with the retention still unclaimed.

Roof was finally done a couple of years ago so *all* we have to do now is the windows, doors & interior.

Luckily I have an epically tolerant (or equally lazy?) wife but it is difficult & demotivating to try and organise working space in a small house with people living in it.

We used to say we'd do it when the offspring flew the nest but they are long gone now. I suppose the next cunning plan will be to do it as a retirement project

Given my time again I'd certainly do the works before moving in

Lizling

Hell yes.

I moved into a 1950s flat about a year ago. It was in a terrible state, but I thought it was mainly cosmetic.
Anyway, there was very little choice unless I compromised massively on size or location instead.

So far I've
-fixed 2 gas leaks and replaced boiler, which broke down in week1
-had broken 70s heater removed
-replaced broken fuse box
-had wiring inspected and made safe
-replaced rusted-through radiator
-fixed various leaks in kitchen
-filled in holes mice were getting through
-replaced front door and locks with one that a) fit and b) a small child wouldn't be able to kick down
-repainted the bits that were in luminous colours
-started replacing the bathroom but water damage from the flat above has forced me to stop halfway through.

In no particular order, I've still got to
-get bathroom finished. It's a complicated job involving putting in a raised floor and removing a wall, so not doing it myself
-put up curtains (have nasty net ones and a blind at the moment
-replace wonky, water-damaged kitchen units
-replace horrible flooring
- replace broken door frames (internal doors)
-do something about the green tiling in the living room
-do something about the fireplace from behind the heater. Can't decide what.
-get TV cable working
-decorate hall and the bedroom that I haven't touched yet.
Both will need lining paper on the walls and sanding the skirting boards before I can start painting.

I'm sure there's more. Then I can maybe start thinking about actually making it look nice, like rugs and pictures and stuff. No point at the moment because it'd all just get dusty.

About 10k spent so far and I've still got a £4k contribution to pay towards the roof repairs next year.

phoebe1989seb

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Sympathies.

I moved into this house last month and have achieved quite a bit of work so far (at a cost....:().

I'm not sure which is the most daunting..be it the amount of work to be done or how much its going to cost.

I think its the cost...I stopped counting at £50,000...:eek::rotfl::doh:

I haven't got anything like that much money. Hence I will keep at it until the money runs out and then have to sit and wait however long it takes to have some more money before I can "crack on" again.

This when its not THAT old (ie 1970s) and basically in reasonable condition and I'm not going to be doing things to "luxury" standard (just yer ordinary reasonably decent standard).

Central heating modernised
Electrics modernised
Door swopped
New bathroom
Decorate throughout (looks like some plastering will be necessary)
Floorcoverings throughout
New kitchen (will have to wait)
Lots of garden work (some will have to wait)
Some maintenance work

:wall:_pale_

Totally agree about the budget money It's frightening tbh.....

We're not new to this renovating game, yet every time we get shocked by how much more than we've budgeted things eventually cost, often down to unseen jobs cropping up

You'd have thought we would have learnt from our last experience (spent £40k+ on restoring the house.....could have spent tons more if we hadn't decided to sell after only a few weeks, lol, and sold for considerably less than purchase price ), but here we go again.....our £50-60k budget has crept up to £100k not only 'cos the architect we employed to design the extension was living in the dark ages when it came to costings, but as we keep uncovering bodged jobs by the PO, none of which were apparent when we viewed

Still, onwards and upwards as they say......good job we're doing most of the work ourselves or else it would be double that! Only thing is it does take forever.......

moneyistooshorttomention

Ah yes...there's bodged jobs and then there's ignored jobs and then there's poor quality items bought....and....and... (leaves space for just plain old-fashioned)....Some of the bits here are so old-fashioned that I wonder whether I should just re-label them "retro" and try and convince everyone they're about ready to come back into fashion again...

Oh bow down and be thankful for not having any patterned carpets at least...

Charliezoo

Oh yes, i sympathise with you all! This is the last time I ever buy a house that needs work doing on it - DH is capable of doing most jobs and we're not poor yet things that need doing just haven't been done. 3 years since we moved in and the house continues to gradually degrade...

NeoVR2k6

I definitely agree.

The utopian view of doing a days work then coming home and decorating really isnt all what it cracked up to be!...
Been in my house for over 6 months now, and all ive managed is to strip two rooms and pay for them to be re-plastered.
Ive pretty much given up on the idea of doing it myself now.

paulineb_2

Im absolutely crap at DIY but my mum painted my hallway and my kitchen last week, took her less than a day each time, we used eco paint which is a bit dearer, but goes on really well and no paint fumes.

Ive been in my flat 18 years and if I had the money theres lots of things Id like to do.

When I moved in, given that Im crap at decorating, I left the decor the same way as my previous neighbours had it. When a new heating system went in the wallpaper in the living room had to come off so my mum painted my living room, that was 6 years ago. We'd have had more done sooner but my gran died suddenly 3 years ago and weve had more testing times since.

Anyway, Ive finally got sick and tired of my bedroom wallpaper so its also getting painted.

You can only do what you can do, if you arent DIY minded, try and find someone who is, maybe a friend, a neighbour, dont know if there are any skill swap places around where people trade skills

Id happily give people free fitness classes if they did all the bits around my home that Im rubbish at (thats just about everything)

My house certainly isnt a showhome, but it feels brighter already (well my kitchen is purple and my hall is deep lilac), just having a fresh coat of paint on.

paulineb_2

Furniture, look on freecycle and maybe see what charity shops have. I bought a few bits from argos when I moved in here and nearly 20 years later they are still going strong, also have a pine table and chairs I got from the red cross and a couple of cabinets, one small, one larger, also from the red cross.

moneyistooshorttomention

I guess part of the problem (ie having a lot of work to do) on many British homes is that many of us cant afford them at the time we buy them.

Hence we "stretch" as much as possible for the dearest one we can possibly get and, if that isn't good enough but can be made good enough or at least "better" then we promise ourselves we will pay out the rest of the cost of the house (ie for the work needing doing on it) later on when we can afford it and/or tell ourselves that we personally will do it (in order to save money).

Well...I know that's what I did with the last house definitely. The "headline cost" of the house was only the major part of what I bargained on it costing me. In the end I gave up and refused to "chuck any more money at it" when it struck me that the house would never be "good enough" for me even if it was totally gutted. This time round I've paid a "headline price" for the one I have recently moved to and mentally added at least £30,000 to that at the outset (as "rest of house price to be paid later = the work needing doing on the house"). So, I knew at the outset this house would cost me at least £30,000 more than the "headline price":(, but I couldn't have afforded to pay the full price of the house at the outset (ie a house like it....but with all work done). Ho hum...well at least this house will be "good enough" when its finished...