Estimate rework cost before buying first house

Gwendo40

You only seem to be concerned about the obvious cosmetic issues, if they're all in dire need of updating then how's the roof? The soffits and fascias? The gutters and drainpipes? The windows? The electrics? etc etc

markin

If the fireplaces really have no value (photos needed) then a builder/handy man to board over or a plasterer, if the is any kind of gas pipe you need a .gas safe. plumber.



Do you really need a 3 bed? I hope you plan to stay for many years, a shower will make it harder to sell, The normal thing to do is take the wall down to make it bigger, but again having a separate toilet is an advantage when the are many people in the house and could be seen as a negative when selling.

Slinky

If your bathroom and WC are like our old one, separate rooms but side by side, we took out the wall between the two rooms making it one. We had the toilet turned through 90 degrees but still exiting into the same soil stack. In the space where the door had opened into the separate WC room, there was then enough space for a separate corner shower. So our bathroom now has bath, basin WC and separate shower.

Sapphire

okhajut wrote: »

The house shall require following things to be done:

Essential:
1. Recarpet the entire house
2. Repaint and/or rewallpaper the entire house.
3. Clear out the overgrown garden.

Good to have in near future.
5. Remove the small unused redundant fireplaces in the bedrooms.

4. Move the boiler out of master bedroom and into the kitchen area downstairs.
5. Move toilet seat into bathroom area and replace the bath tub with shower cubicle.

Now my question is, who are the people skilled in the doing the above things? I know plumber can do plumbing but the above list goes beyond that. What type of organizations do the above work? I want to estimate the work costs before I buy this house.

1. Recarpeting: go to John Lewis, choose carpet/s, arrange for man to come round and measure up, get an estimate, and book a time for the carpet/s to be laid.
2. Repaint/rewallpaper: do it yourself or employ a decorator to do it.
3. Clear out garden: get a team of gardeners working for a small gardening outfit to do this job, unless it is a minimal task you can do yourself.
4. Are you sure you want to remove fireplaces, if they are original? I'd leave them in – they are considered desirable and would be to most future buyers of the property should you decide to sell.
5. Boiler can be moved by a plumber.
6. Move loo - plumber/builder, or someone specialising in bathroom renovations. Replace bath with shower? Wouldn't advise this if there isn't a bath elsewhere in the house. Again, this can be done by someone specialising in bathroom renovations.

Albala

Carpets- get recommendations to a local firm if you can. They can be cheaper. I gather that the national carpet places look cheap until you tot up the add-ons- fitting, underlay, delivery (yes, the cheeky beggars charge for that as well) etc. can easily double the /sqm cost on a 'cheap' carpet.

Boiler- not just any plumber, must be a properly registered one for gas working. I think moving the boiler will need to be properly registered with Building regs, won't it, chaps? Which a properly registered plumber would do. But you need to be sure they will, they have (check gassafe website) and that you have a copy of the certifcation (if you want to sell in future you will need that).


Only one way to find out what's under wallpaper, and that's to take it off! No seller will allow that. With wallpaper, all you can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. If you're lucky- one layer, easy to strip, prefect plaster underneath. If you're not so lucky:o, well....an old London house I helped renovate had multiple layers, IIRC at least 7, one of which had been shellac-ed. That took some getting off!:D



PS I would never wallpaper over wallpaper. However painful and messy it is, it's easily best to get it all off first.

Doozergirl

There isn't house in this country that hasn't been touched in years but yet only needs cosmetic touches.

One barely ever comes across toilets separate to bathrooms unless there is serious work that needs doing.

I understand you're a FTB but do you know anyone that's renovated a house to a decent standard?

Otherwise you need a good level of survey, a friendly surveyor and a dose of reality.

I'd really like to see the link as I suspect you're in for a financial hiding or will end up pulling out.


It's okay to ask for prices on what you think needs doing, but many of us here will have a far better idea of what actually needs doing, because we have the experience.

I think it would be beneficial to you to post a link to get some proper signposts.

Davesnave

It sounds like a pre-1960s house, in which case stripping off the old wallpaper may well reveal a serious need for re-plastering.

I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to re-carpet, especially as an extension to the electrics or possibly a complete re-wire would be on the cards too.


You need to fix the bones of the house before you worry about the skin.

Albala

Davesnave wrote: »

It sounds like a pre-1960s house, in which case stripping off the old wallpaper may well reveal a serious need for re-plastering.

I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to re-carpet, especially as an extension to the electrics or possibly a complete re-wire would be on the cards too.


You need to fix the bones of the house before you worry about the skin.

Even post-1960 houses can have iffy plasterwork, due to them not knowing back then about the way breeze blocks suck the moisture out of new plaster. We had a whole wall's worth descend into the bath in one go when a plasterer started to take tiles off the bathroom wall!:D (we expected it, but he was a bit worried we hadn't). More recent houses built with plasterboard can have problems if the first layer of paint was the wrong sort, or was put on at the wrong time, or in the wrong way.
I know of no home owner who can't join in with their own contribution to those 'The Terrible Plaster In My House' stories. It's just part of being in the club called 'owning a house'.

AdrianC

Albala wrote: »

I know of no home owner who can't join in with their own contribution to those 'The Terrible Plaster In My House' stories.

Pull up a chair and make yourself comfy, we may be some time...

Davesnave

Albala wrote: »

I know of no home owner who can't join in with their own contribution to those 'The Terrible Plaster In My House' stories. It's just part of being in the club called 'owning a house'.

There was nothing whatever wrong with the plaster on the walls of our 1974 bungalow....


......which made it doubly annoying that they'd built about 6 of them in the wrong places! :rotfl: