property renovating advice

zrss

Hi,

I am a first-time buyer and going through the process of buying an old property in Swindon area. The property has been vacant for a while and does not have any electricity, gas or water connection. It needs a fair bit of work with potentially EPC upgrade, kitchen, bathroom, boiler renewal and wiring needs checking. Also, before everything, we need to get connections to gas, electricity and water. 

This is a lot of work and surveys will be needed. Is there any single organisation that can help me do all these or do I need to get separate trade person like electrician, plumber, gas engineer and so on? How do people get major renovations like this done? I noted people go for 'builders', are they certified to do all 3 major services like gas, water and electricity? How do you find builders and how do you know who is good?

For individual trade person, I was looking at the gassaferegister website for plumbing and heating so I hope someone will be able to sort out water, bathroom, kitchen, boiler and gas. I also looked at niceic website for electricians locally. Any other tips and advice will be highly appreciated.

Thanks for your help.

Bookworm105

a builder may hold multi trade qualifications allowing them to do gas (gas safe) and electrics (or more likely they are someone who can build things by employing "sub contractors" (tradespeople) who hold such registrations.
It is illegal for someone who is not registered to work on gas and (most) electrics in a property. All other aspects of building work do not require qualifications or registrations  

there is no one stop shop.
as a property owner you have now entered the world of how to find good traders through word of mouth recommendation or use of market websites (rated people, trust a trader  etc) where a tradesman has paid that site to make them look as they are good,  or stick a pin in a list and hope.

Rodders53

Architects and Building Project Managers will do it... sub-contracting stuff as required at a (significant) price.  Don't forget you'll need Building Regs and maybe Planning Permission.  Plus Elfin Safety knowledge / processes at the site during works.

This really sounds to be a stupid purchase for a first time buyer / renovator who knows nobody to advise them and perhaps help with the project.

It could also be a real money pit.

FreeBear

Rodders53 said: It could will also be a real money pit.

Depending on the age & condition, it may benefit from a total gutting and going back to bare brick - Gives you opportunity to insulate walls, ceilings and floors. Put in extra sockets in every room (along with a rewire), and a new heating system. It would make sense to install a heat pump rather than another gas boiler (could even be cheaper).

Albermarle

Rodders53 said:

Architects and Building Project Managers will do it... sub-contracting stuff as required at a (significant) price.  Don't forget you'll need Building Regs and maybe Planning Permission.  Plus Elfin Safety knowledge / processes at the site during works.

This really sounds to be a stupid purchase for a first time buyer / renovator who knows nobody to advise them and perhaps help with the project.

It could also be a real money pit.

As above, this is not a suitable purchase for a ftb with no experience in property refurbishment. It is very likely to end in tears, so better to look elsewhere.

gzoom

zrss said:

For individual trade person, I was looking at the gassaferegister website for plumbing and heating so I hope someone will be able to sort out water, bathroom, kitchen, boiler and gas. I also looked at niceic website for electricians locally. Any other tips and advice will be highly appreciated.

We are coming up to 19 months into our very first ‘build’ project, its on a much larger scale than what you are doing, but equally even though this house is my 4th house purchase before this project I’ve never had to engage with builder, electrician etc etc.

As others have said, there is no ‘simple’ way, either you do your own leg work and find all the different trades, coordinate their time/work (for example the plumber might want the chippie to put in some supports/move stud walls, or plumber and electrician need to work together to get the gas boiler ‘live’ etc etc), or you find a ‘builder’ who can cover all the work but you trust them implicitly regarding the cost of trades and to get the work done.

As other have also said, use word of mouth, local contacts on who’s good to use, don’t bother with random phone calls from website etc, any good builder/trades person will have work lined up well into 2025 already, so anyone who’s jumping at the chance of starting work right now off a cold call be very very careful.

Good luck…..it’s kind of fun……and kind of stressful!!!

This is what the builders did to our house (with our consent) within a few weeks of appearing onsite…….TRUST is the key word, you cannot rely on hope or crossing your fingers to get building work/renovations done. You need good builders/trades you can TRUST!!

Mutton_Geoff

I would not recommend this for a FTB. If you need a mortgage, you may find the lender undervalues it in any case.

zrss

Thank you all for your comments, caution and advice. Much appreciated