Costs of refurbishing a house

bouicca21

Trying to work out what to offer on a house in need of refurbishment. Hot London market so no time to get a builder - that would have to come after/if the offer were to be accepted. The house is a small 3 bed terrace with one reception room, approx 74 sq m in all.

Overhaul roof (35 sq m approx) assuming hire scaffolding: £3,000
Board and insulate loft: £1,000
Install burglar alarm: £500
Rewire: £5,000
Replace old boiler with combi, remove hot water tank: £2,500
Repair or replace front door (bottom of jambs clearly rotten): £1,000
New kitchen: £9,000 inc white goods
New bathroom:£8,000
Contingency: £10,000

Total £40,000 without redecorating, or cost of replacing windows (not really necessary but might be desirable, post war house of no architectural interest so plastic double/triple glazing might be ok)

Do these costs look reasonable? Am I vastly over or under estimating?

Doozergirl

You're not far off with that, although I suspect the roof may eat into your contingency. Scaffolding could easily be £1000.

Rewire is a bit high but burglar alarm is low. Electrician can do that, probably.

Plumbing - are you keeping the existing rds? They may not be very efficient.

No mention of plastering which is almost always thing that needs doing that people don't allow for.

Bathroom could work out a lot cheaper, depends on what you want, but the price of bathroom vs kitchen are two different quality levels.

Good Luck.

bouicca21

Thanks. Hadn't thought about replacing rads - I assumed they would be ok. Also assumed electrician would make plaster good. But ball park roughly in right area, depending on quality of bathroom and kitchen refit? Mid (well in London terms, cheap) price house so wouldn't go in for top class fittings.

I'll make my offer and see what happens. Lots of interest so would not be surprised if some panic buyer upped the odds beyond my means. Currently that is the story of my house buying saga.

suestew

I agree not far off, we had a complete rewire with new consumer unit at £3,000. A complete central heating system plus rads hot & cold water plus gas supply to kitchen at around £4100 to give you an idea of how much the full works cost. I think you could go lower on bathroom and possibly higher on kitchen depending on what units/worktops you go for and fitting costs are very high on kitchens unless you employ a local joiner. No idea how much the roof would cost though. plastering is quite expensive so allow for that

Radsteral

they nevr think of us plasterers dozergirl.... only after spending 950 quid in a new toilet seat , then people think that the living room walls look a bit shabby novadays the friends and family who visit, first go and try the toilet, then lay down in sofa any enjoy a chat

bouicca21

So how much for plastering Radsteral? I reckon the walls are in good shape. Ceilings papered. So it would mostly be making good. More extensive plastering in kitchen and bathroom refit it's, but surely that would be factored into the quotes?

Putting my offer in tomorrow. I think it's reasonable given the amount of work and the sale prices of neighbouring properties. But in the crazy world of London properties, who knows?

goodmorningsunshine

bouicca21 wrote: »

Putting my offer in tomorrow.

Have you heard how your offer went?

Radsteral

sorry just seen this , 2800 if its just skimming and a bit of patching up here and there , wallpaper we employ some one for it and he normally gets paid straight from house owner 75.00 per day


if more work needs to be done on walls specially on ground floor one, add around 700-800 as it ideally need to be done with sand and cement instead of the gypsum based plaster

bouicca21

Thanks for all the help. Really appreciate it. But sadly got nowhere with offer. Next door sold for 250k in 2011 and was described as dated rather than in need of complete modernisation. 'My' house has had three offers over 350k. No way I can compete with that.

Mind you the house has already been marked as sold once, and had the sale fall through. Would not be surprised to discover that this was caused by a difference between offer and bank valuation, but maybe this is just sour grapes ... I wish I could feel confident that this bubble will burst - soon.

the_matrix

My experience costs start to escalate. I would add 25% to original estimate.