How difficult is it to do up a house?

Sunflower43

Apologies as I realise that I’m asking how long is a piece of string. 

After a very unsuccessful attempt at trying to buy a house and a lack of available houses in our price range, three houses have come up that are definitely do uppers and I wondered where do you start wi this kind of project? I know all three will quite likely sell soon (If not already) as has everything else. I say do upper as they look to need more than just repainting and carpeting. 

I’m not shy of doing work but I am scared of taking on something that becomes a money pit that we can’t afford to fix. (When I have no knowledge of renovating)

Aside from this I have also considered reserving a plot on a new build. I have read lots of horror stories about the developer in question though and that worries me just as much. 

I don’t expect any house to be perfect. I just worry that we may run out of funds mid way through if we fail to recognise a house has bigger issues than we thought. 

Any advice would be really helpful. 

Many thanks!

davilown

if you’re going to do a house up for the first time, move into it for 6 months so you work out what you need to do with it.

redecorating is relatively simple but structural changes can be complicated!

Angela_D_3

For me personally i wouodnt buy more than repainted and flooring with a new kitchen and bathroom being on the things to do over the next 3-5 years after ive saved up a bit kinda thing.  

And if i bought a new build id start saving for a new kitchen,  bathroom and flooring immediately too.  We rented a new build,  the carpets were knackered after 3 years.  

Houses are money pits at the best of times.  
I have £6,000 saved for the one im hoping to buy and its a case of do the upstairs first,  save to do the downstairs and pray the boiler is ok.  

pinkteapot

When you say do-er upper, what do you mean? Decor you don't like? New kitchen/bathrooms needed? Need to install central heating and rewire the place? Needs a new roof? There's a broad spectrum... 

JJR45

Also factor in when you start on job, you may uncover more.
If buying a project I would say buy an untouched house, no walls removed, no extensions and get it checked that it is solid without major works (unless factored in the cost).
It's amazing some of the bodges you find, you can tell that on this forum.

Thrugelmir

Time is expensive. If you are unable to perform the task yourself costs can soon mount. 

FreeBear

davilown said: redecorating is relatively simple but structural changes can be complicated!

Depends on the age of the property. Start stripping the wallpaper off in an old house, you could find some of the plaster coming with it.

For my sins, I started to strip artex off in the lounge - Slap a layer of X-Tex on, and it came off easily enough. Looked at a crack in the ceiling over the bay window and thought "hrmmm just give this a little poke". A very large chunk of plaster ended up on the floor. Poked at a few of the other cracks in the ceiling with the same result. Ended up removing all the old plaster & laths and fixing plasterboard up in its place.

Got rid of the artex and cobwebs

Sunflower43 - Take a long hard look at the properties you are interested in. Depending on the age, a bit of paint and new flooring may be enough. If you have any doubts, don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion, and for heaven's sake, don't buy without a full survey.

Sunflower43

Thrugelmir said:

Time is expensive. If you are unable to perform the task yourself costs can soon mount. 

We would definitely try and do what we could ourselves to cut costs.

Sunflower43

Angela_D_3 said:

For me personally i wouodnt buy more than repainted and flooring with a new kitchen and bathroom being on the things to do over the next 3-5 years after ive saved up a bit kinda thing.  

And if i bought a new build id start saving for a new kitchen,  bathroom and flooring immediately too.  We rented a new build,  the carpets were knackered after 3 years.  

Houses are money pits at the best of times.  
I have £6,000 saved for the one im hoping to buy and its a case of do the upstairs first,  save to do the downstairs and pray the boiler is ok.  

One of the houses would definitely need fully redecorating and a new bathroom and kitchen. The house is wallpapered and it clearly hasn’t been decorated in many years so it would make me worry about what was lurking under the paper. 

Sunflower43

JJR45 said:

Also factor in when you start on job, you may uncover more.
If buying a project I would say buy an untouched house, no walls removed, no extensions and get it checked that it is solid without major works (unless factored in the cost).
It's amazing some of the bodges you find, you can tell that on this forum.

Thank you! That is something I hadn’t thought about. I’d definitely rather be on the side of caution and do as you mentioned.

Angela_D_3

Sunflower43 said:

Angela_D_3 said:

For me personally i wouodnt buy more than repainted and flooring with a new kitchen and bathroom being on the things to do over the next 3-5 years after ive saved up a bit kinda thing.  

And if i bought a new build id start saving for a new kitchen,  bathroom and flooring immediately too.  We rented a new build,  the carpets were knackered after 3 years.  

Houses are money pits at the best of times.  
I have £6,000 saved for the one im hoping to buy and its a case of do the upstairs first,  save to do the downstairs and pray the boiler is ok.  

One of the houses would definitely need fully redecorating and a new bathroom and kitchen. The house is wallpapered and it clearly hasn’t been decorated in many years so it would make me worry about what was lurking under the paper. 

Need to price it all up,  £10,000 for a kitchen,  £5,000 bathroom.  £5,000 flooring.  £300 ish per room plastering,  that sort of thkng.  

Then work out if the house would sell for what you are going to offer for it plus all of the above