Please Help working out renovation costs.

Firsttimebuy1991

Hi everyone!

I've just made an offer on a house has been accepted, 8% lower than asking price, but the house is going to need some work because the owners have neglected it. However, I am not sure how much all the work is going to cost, does anyone have any rough idea based on their experiences? I am in Surrey.

1) Does anyone know how much it would cost to change the flooring around 824 sq ft (76.6 sq meters) with wood floor (all the rooms of the house)

2) The upper landing is completely pitch black during the day, because there is no windows. I am thinking of putting in a velux window in the roof (it is a terraced house). Does anyone know how much Velux windows costs to have fitted? There is an attic above as well so not sure if that adds to the price.

3) I'd also like to replace the toliet and shower and have it fitted, rough cost?

4) The roof has not been checked for 30 years, and the owners haven't checked the boiler in 5 years - how much would this cost?

I am worried I am going to be broke by the time I have all the changes done to make it liveable.

ACG

Are you doing it yourself or getting people in?
How much is the house? You are likely to do things to a different standard in a £100k house than you are in a £500k house.

1) Probably from around £5 a sqm if you want the cheap stuff and are doing it yourself, price could go up to 4-5 times that if not more.

2) No idea.

3) £200 as a starting point, but that assumes you are doing it yourself.If you are doing the toilet and shower, are you not going to do the sink also? If so, are you also going to do any tiling etc?

4) How much to check it, repair it or replace it? A boiler can be bought and installed for about a grand, but again, that could quite easily be doubled or trebled if you want something more expensive. If the property has had people living in it, it is unlikely to need a new boiler. If it has been left empty for a few years, it could need replacing.

Firsttimebuy1991

ACG wrote: »

Are you doing it yourself or getting people in?
How much is the house? You are likely to do things to a different standard in a £100k house than you are in a £500k house.

1) Probably from around £5 a sqm if you want the cheap stuff and are doing it yourself, price could go up to 4-5 times that if not more.

2) No idea.

3) £200 as a starting point, but that assumes you are doing it yourself.If you are doing the toilet and shower, are you not going to do the sink also? If so, are you also going to do any tiling etc?

4) How much to check it, repair it or replace it? A boiler can be bought and installed for about a grand, but again, that could quite easily be doubled or trebled if you want something more expensive. If the property has had people living in it, it is unlikely to need a new boiler. If it has been left empty for a few years, it could need replacing.

Thank you for getting back to me! The house was 375K, I got it 345K. I will be getting someone in because I don't know how to do it myself.

I would probably do the sink too. I would like to do the tiling if affordable.

For the roof, probably to check it out, hopefully it doesn't need to be replaced, thanks for letting me know about the boiler. A family have been living there so hopefully it's ok!

csgohan4

get three local tradesman to give you quotes for each point and you will see, prices vary from each city

pinkteapot

The window for the upstairs landing isn’t necessary “to make it liveable”. Leave bedroom doors open to let light in or use the lights!

I’ve only just realised now that our last house - large 5-bed detached - had no windows in the upstairs hall. Literally never occurred to me on viewing or in five years of living there. :rotfl:

If money's tight to start with, I'd suggest focusing on other jobs ahead of this one.

Flooring - you get what you pay for. The cheapest of the cheap laminate could even de-value the house or make it harder to sell (depending on how bad the flooring is right now), unless you're at the very bottom end of the market. I know Surrey is expensive but I'm guessing you're not at the bottom end of the market at that square footage. Look for independent flooring shops locally if you need sound advice, and haggle.

Roof - you need to get that inspected BEFORE you exchange contracts. If it needs replacing, that's a huge cost (blows all the other things you mentioned away) and a major upheaval. It's pretty unlikely it's that bad, but if you've got concerns, get a good surveyor! How old is the house?

Firsttimebuy1991

pinkteapot wrote: »

The window for the upstairs landing isn’t necessary “to make it liveable”. Leave bedroom doors open to let light in or use the lights!

I’ve only just realised now that our last house - large 5-bed detached - had no windows in the upstairs hall. Literally never occurred to me on viewing or in five years of living there. :rotfl:

If money's tight to start with, I'd suggest focusing on other jobs ahead of this one.

Flooring - you get what you pay for. The cheapest of the cheap laminate could even de-value the house or make it harder to sell (depending on how bad the flooring is right now), unless you're at the very bottom end of the market. I know Surrey is expensive but I'm guessing you're not at the bottom end of the market at that square footage. Look for independent flooring shops locally if you need sound advice, and haggle.

Roof - you need to get that inspected BEFORE you exchange contracts. If it needs replacing, that's a huge cost (blows all the other things you mentioned away) and a major upheaval. It's pretty unlikely it's that bad, but if you've got concerns, get a good surveyor! How old is the house?

Thanks so much for the sound advice! I will focus on your tips! The current owners don't know how old the house is. Is there anyway to find out for sure?

EDIT: Actually checked the seller page, I can see it dates back to 1996.

FreeBear

Firsttimebuy1991 wrote: »

2) The upper landing is completely pitch black during the day, because there is no windows. I am thinking of putting in a velux window in the roof (it is a terraced house).
There is an attic above as well so not sure if that adds to the price.

Have a look at a "light pipe" - These will reflect a fair amount of light from above down through the attic space into the landing area. As to cost, really couldn't say. If it requires scaffolding, that could easily be £1K+ before any work starts.

kerri_gt

Our landing has no windows, in fact I've only ever lived in one house that did (it was to the side of the stairs and a total PITA to clean).

As mentioned, if it really bothers you, leave bedroom doors open to allow light through, or just stick the light on going up / downstairs...it's not like anyone actually spends any significant time on landings. Paint it in a light colour and if space, look ata mirror perhaps to reflect what little light there is. Look into adding a light tube or the like if it really bothers you but tbh, it seems like a lot of cost / hassle for somewhere that isn't even a living space. Better to use your funds elsewhere like on the quality of the flooring.

gwynlas

If the house was built in 1996 it is unlikely to need any drastic renovation.
Look at neighbouring properties to see of anyone renewed roof, unlikely.
There is abother thread running re engineered re solid wood flooring, check that out,
Sun tube or velux wuld be an improvement but not strickly necessary.
Changing bathroom with fittings kept in same place relatively easy,

Mardle

If you don't want to leave bedroom doors open the cheapest option for lighting your landing would be motion sensor LED lights. Battery ones are very cheap.

Alternatively you could look at borrowed light - a window above a door frame.