cost of doing up a run-down house

Nenen

Well... we've just seen yet another weird and wonderful property and looking for a few ideas!

This time it's a smallish 4 bed detatched house (usually well out of our price-range in this area) but very, very run down. Now I know this question is a 'how long is a piece of string' one but I'm looking for some advice for a ball-park figure for doing up something like this to a reasonable standard (i.e. not gold-plated taps but not the cheapest and tackiest stuff either as we want it to last a long time to come). It is brick and tiles, was probably built around 50-70 years ago and comprises a hallway, kitchen/diner (20' x 9'), sitting room (24' x 13') and attached garage on the ground floor with 4 bedrooms (3 double and a single) and a bathroom with separate loo upstairs.

It has been lived in for the last 30-40 years by a now very elderly couple who have recently gone into residential care. Everything looks 'original', metal window frames (with secondary glazing fitted behind), cast iron bath, heating system that looks like it came out of the ark and decor, carpets etc that even the EA can only describe as 'dated'! Having said all that it is a lovely house and I can really see it being a wonderful family home.

Assuming it is structurally sound (which I realise we'd need a full survey to ascertain) I think we're looking at doing the following:

new kitchen
new bathroom
new windows, exterior doors, sofits and guttering
new heating system
new wiring (and making good)
new fencing and side gates
stripping out all wallpaper and redecorating.
Ripping up carpets, stripping floorboards if possible or laying wooden floors and/or new carpets

If it was possible to find a space (or build a small extension) we'd also like to add a downstairs loo and convert the garage to a study.

Anyone got a ball park figure please?

lemontart

basically the answer is how long is a piece of string, I spent the last 8 yrs doing my place up to the tune of around £40,000

WaveyDave_2

Its an impossible question to answer accurately, but to try and give you a guide, this is what I've done to my 3 bed semi, consisting of large hall, dining room, living room, kitchen and breakfast room, 3 beds, separate bathroom and WC

We -

knocked the wall down between kitchen/breakfast room fitted RSJ
stripped wallpaper off every room, and had them all skimmed/ceiling boarded
removed carpets
created a downstairs loo
knocked WC and bathroom into 1 room
new suites throughout
new boiler/heating system
electrics
new front door
2 new windows
painted

its cost us in the region of £45000.

fc123

If you can do a lot of stuff yourself over time, that will help reduce costs but I would guess £30 - 35k if getting workmen in.
You could do the essential stuff (wiring etc) and live in it undecorated, doing a bit at a time...your whole life will be consumed with DIY though...our last house took 8 yrs to finish......i think we reckoned on a year when we bought it!

soappie

Do it bit by bit as the finances permit.

It may be a dated bath but does it work without leaking? If it does, then you can wait a couple of years or so before replacing.

The windows may be metal, may have secondary glazing but are they water tight? If they are, then you can wait a while before replacing.

The electrics - get them checked. As long as they are safe, you don't need to work on them just yet.

The heating system, it may be antiquated, but get it checked. If it checks out OK, you can leave that for a year.

It seems to me that we all want Everything and NOW.

But, we don't have to do that. If the price is good and the potential is good, and you want a home rather than a stop off get rich quick place, then go for it. Once you've gone for it list the jobs that need doing then prioritise. Safety first, cosmetic last.

And hold the thought that even though you might not have a wonderfully 'modern' home for at least 10 years time, none of the cosmetic stuff goes towards making it a 'home' in the sense that you all live there, you love each other, you're happy and you're settled. Even though the bath might be cast iron... (keeps the bath water hot for longer actually!)

I would go for it if I were you.

fc123

And then after 12 years, you have to start all over again!! Redecoration and maintenance

HugoSP

Nenen wrote: »

Anyone got a ball park figure please?

Nenen:

new kitchen - supplied and fitted B&Q type, probably £3-4k
new bathroom - as above - poss around £1.5k
new windows, exterior doors, sofits and guttering £4k
new heating system - £4k
new wiring (and making good) £3k
new fencing and side gates £2k
stripping out all wallpaper and redecorating. £1 - 2K
Ripping up carpets, stripping floorboards if possible or laying wooden floors and/or new carpets. - depends on taste, available spend.

If it was possible to find a space (or build a small extension) we'd also like to add a downstairs loo and convert the garage to a study.

This will be the biggy. My guess is that you would be looking at around £5 to 10k for the garage conversion, depending on what has to be done. Building regs are so strict for insulation u values these days, and the insulation products are so expensive.

Extension will cost upwards of £1k per metre squared.

Adding downstairs loo. It all depends where the available plumbing is, and if there is a room that the loo could go in or whether a stud wall would have to be built. Say £2k


Money saving tips:

Rip up, and dispose of the old carpets yourselves
Don't get the likes of B&Q to organise your kitchen and bathroom fitting, get recommendations for good fitters, notice I didn't say plumbers. Fitters will fit the bathroom and charge half the hourly rate.
Get several quotes for upvc products. DONT go for cover board for the fascias that just cover the existing wooden fascias. pay the extra if you need to and insist on full replacement board.
Don't go to British Gas for your heating system, or if you do, you can probably get it fitted by a good local independent for half the price.
As for the wiring, get a good electrician to carry out a Periodic Inspection Report on the installation. This may cost about £200 but it will give you a list of recommended work to bring it up to a safe standard, unless you particularly want to move sockets and light switches around etc then it may be cheaper to do a complete rewire.

Hope this helps. PM me with more details if you want. I may not frequent this board too much for fear of running into HPC threads

Jingojango

Just a word of caution, make sure that it isn't a listed building as replacing metal framed windows 'like for like' can be incredibly expensive.

ruggedtoast

Dont forget the cost in time and energy as well. If you can afford to get it all done at once with a building company to project manage it for you then great. If youd be looking at part DIY and part hiring your own blokes then its a whole different thing. I know from experience that theres a lot to be said from coming home after a long day at work and not having to repoint the guttering.

When I sold a run down place that was left me my gf and I tried without much success to do it up for a year. Eventually we gave up and realise we'd have go get it done "properly". We worked out it would cost about £30-£50,000 to get everything done up, take 6 months and put roughly £35 - £55,000 on the value of the house. We didnt bother sold it as a fixer upper to a couple and I heard recently that 6 years on, they still havent finished doing it and theres been cement mixers in the yard ever since

LisbonLaura

Please don't 'do it up'. It's a period piece

If it's sound, leave it alone. Try to find furniture, fittings (& clothes? -- it's fetish time folks ) of that era.

A 40s/50s house all original is IMHO far more desirable than a boring, modern, flash, box.... but then I'm from that era ... but I don't think I'm alone with my views?

Anyone remember the Pete Seager song "Little Boxes"...........not that it was about houses!

SquatNow

The figure can be calculated quickly and easily. Find a similar house in the same area that has had all the work done to it.

Deduct the value of the house that you are wanting to buy from the cost of the fully renovated property. That's what the renovations will cost, give or take 10%.

You couldn reduce this "cost" if you did some of the work yourself, but the work isn't free... if your a skilled plumber you could plumb someone elses house for them and get paid for it... any time spent working on your own house is time you can't spend working on someone elses.

So basically the reason the proeprty you are looking at is £x cheeper than a renovated one is it needs £x spending on it.