Renovation of a 3 bedroom Victorian House in London

MaireMarieMarie

Hi all,

We are in the process of purchasing a 3-bedroom Victorian House in London, which is in need of complete modernisation. According to the survey, the structure of the house is sound, but all the rest needs updating.

How much do you think it will cost to:
- reroof
- damp proof (the damp survey stated 3 800+VAT, is that possible?)
- completely replumb the house
- rewire the house
- replace 3 windows
- refit bathroom and kitchen
- replaster
- renovate the damaged victorian flooring
- and ideally renovate two fireplaces which have been taken out.
- and another plus would be to knock down the ceiling of the bathroom to make it higher, as a secondary roof is above it.

The survey also stated that some mortar joints are missing. Is that something urgent that should be done straight away or can this wait?

What are the most urgent things that I should consider doing immediately? And in which order shall things be done?

Thank you very much for your help I am happy, but also scared about this new project. Especially concerning budget...

Cakeguts

Is it a terraced house, semi or detached.

mije1983

Speak to some local builders and get them to visit the property with you. They will probably only give you a ballpark figure, but you'll get an idea. There are so many variables. You could spend thousands and thousands just on a kitchen and bathroom.


As a guess I'd say £20k at least.

MaireMarieMarie

@cakeguts It is a terraced house

@mije1983 I'll definitely have a builder to come around, but it would also great to hear the opinions and experiences of other people who have been renovating

need_an_answer

It will depend on how much of the work you can do yourself or whether the renovations will all be done by trades people.

Doing it all in one go over the course of a month or 2 will be quickest but likely to be the most expensive option.If you are able to leave some things to spread the cost that always helps.

Get the intrusive or very dirty work done first and progress on from there, rewiring is an intrusive job so plan to do that near the beginning.

costing in a ball park might be difficult until you start to get some quotes but having done a full renovation previously allow a healthy contingency budget as there will always be other things that crop up along the way that you have not planned for.


Renovating the flooring and the fireplaces, reclamation sites will be your friend here if you are looking to "put back " rather than replace with new,it again can cost as little or as much as you are prepared to throw at the project.

If there are things that are not desperate to be done then don't do them straight away,we have been renovating our current house back to its Victorian past for a good few years but only now do we have enough antique tiles to complete the bathroom with a "tiled patchwork wall"

You could be looking at £50k easily to do everything you list,however you could also haggle and be prepared to do work yourself to reduce costs.

Things like kitchens and bathrooms can easily eat away at a budget so set yourself parameters and try to stick to those costings or things will end up spiriling out of control money wise.

MaireMarieMarie

We will not be able to do the work ourselves, so I am aware that it will cost a bit more. The rewiring definitely needs to be done, before we move in. I would like to change all the pipes as well, but have no idea how much we have to expect to pay for that.

need_an_answer

MaireMarieMarie wrote: »

We will not be able to do the work myself, so I am aware that it will cost a bit more. The rewiring definitely needs to be done, before we move in. I would like to change all the pipes as well, but have no idea how much we have to expect to pay for that.

The golden rule is 3 quotes from each trades person,if you can be there when they look round to discuss your requirements then that always helps.

When we rewired we probably ended up going for more sockets than actually needed at the time and increased the total bill by about a third simply because we wanted convenient and what we needed rather than follow the existing wiring pattern.

Pipework and plumbing is also intrusive and again best sorted near the start especially if you want radiators in different locations than where they are now.Best to sort all that whilst the floor boards are up and easily accessible!

You could easily spend £10k on a rewire and plumbing if you renew both but get people round to quote,without seeing the layout its virtually impossible to give price point figures.

MaireMarieMarie

thank you for the tip on the 3 quotes! The house has only 80sqm and just one bathroom. 10k sounds good (hopefully the builders will give me a similar quote )!

westernpromise

About £100,000.

Do the kitchen, bathroom and floors last.

Rambosmum

You need to make the house waterproof - so the dampproof, repointing, reroofing and windows need doing first. If you don't waterproof the house then anything you do do may get damaged by damp.

Are you renovating to sell on or to live in? To sell, you could do it for 20k or less, to live in, it'll be more.

If it were me, it'd be the above work first, then electrics and plumbing, then plaster, then floors. Then the cosmetic stuff, bathrooms, kitchens etc.

Also, when rewiring, think about having LAN (internet) cables and TV aerials put in to each room.

Doozergirl

Rambosmum wrote: »

You need to make the house waterproof - so the dampproof, repointing, reroofing and windows need doing first. If you don't waterproof the house then anything you do do may get damaged by damp.

Are you renovating to sell on or to live in? To sell, you could do it for 20k or less, to live in, it'll be more.

If it were me, it'd be the above work first, then electrics and plumbing, then plaster, then floors. Then the cosmetic stuff, bathrooms, kitchens etc.

Also, when rewiring, think about having LAN (internet) cables and TV aerials put in to each room.

I'm horrified at the comment that it costs less if you're selling it on! £20k does not cover a comprehensive renovation of a 3 bedroomed house to even a basic specification.

Homes Under the Hammer has really infiltrated the British blood. If you take on something like that, you take some pride and you do it properly. You don't bodge it for the next owner to deal with.