Converting an office to two holiday lets - how much £...?

altyfc

I have identified a property that interests me, with a view to doing holiday lets. I work in online tourism, have experience of the self-catering industry and so am reasonably comfortable with that side of the equation.

However, I am less certain on development costs. The propery is an office with permission for residential use. It is not that big, but just about big enough to convert into two holiday cottages/apartments for couples. Each property would have enough space for an open plan living room, dining area and kitchen, and a double bedroom with a small bathroom off it.

I appreciate it might be difficult to say from these brief details, but what might I be realistically needing to budget for to gut what's there, fit 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms, and to do the rest (decorating, flooring, etc.). My friend is saying £20K but that seems very low to me... I would think you'd be looking more at around £50K and I'm conscious that these things invariably end up costing far more than you originally anticipate due to unforeseen problems.

Thanks for any advice.

nelly_2

I'd say 40 quid plus a skip

altyfc

* sigh *

Helpful responses welcome.

Doozergirl

residential for one or two units? Does it have parking available to provide two spaces for each property? It's the basic planning laws that make thing like this an issue, before cost even rears it's head.

It also depends on what kind of labour you are using, but assuming you had two average houses that needed a good refurb and lots of new waste pipes for plumbing etc then I would personally budget at least £30,000. For a lay person being sensible with their budget, I'd budget at least £40,000!

Both will count as 'new build' and will need to comply to new build building regulations (iyswim). That is not cheap. £20,000 won't get you anywhere. It is not as simple as kitchens, bathrooms and flooring. It never is!

Not sure what the regs are these days on new build regarding open plan living. You certainly needed to have a door seperating the kitchen from the escape route but egress windows *may* have changed that

clutton_2

sound-proofing costs an arm and a leg in conversions - planning applications also take many months - dont forget to factor that into your budgets

Doozergirl

Agree, even I was talking about work rather than the purchase and boring month to month payment stuff!

PasturesNew

People will be cutting back on breaks and holidays in the coming months/years. Holding onto their pennies.

So your pricing would have to not only be competitive, but you'd be chasing an ever-decreasing marketplace of people.

altyfc

Doozergirl wrote: »

residential for one or two units? Does it have parking available to provide two spaces for each property? It's the basic planning laws that make thing like this an issue, before cost even rears it's head.

It would create two units. There is no designated parking, but ample street parking, a lay-by of sorts just close to the property (for around 5 parked cars) and a small car park across the road.

As it is an office at the moment, with probably at least half a dozen people working there (I guess), the number of cars required at the site would likely actually decrease.

Doozergirl wrote: »

It also depends on what kind of labour you are using, but assuming you had two average houses that needed a good refurb and lots of new waste pipes for plumbing etc then I would personally budget at least £30,000. For a lay person being sensible with their budget, I'd budget at least £40,000!

Both will count as 'new build' and will need to comply to new build building regulations (iyswim). That is not cheap. £20,000 won't get you anywhere. It is not as simple as kitchens, bathrooms and flooring. It never is!

No, this is as I thought... thanks for confirming.

altyfc

clutton wrote: »

sound-proofing costs an arm and a leg in conversions - planning applications also take many months - dont forget to factor that into your budgets

Yes, I'm aware planning can take a while, but didn't realise sound-proofing would cost so much. Can you put any ball-park figure on what "an arm and a leg" means... several thousands??

altyfc

PasturesNew wrote: »

People will be cutting back on breaks and holidays in the coming months/years. Holding onto their pennies.

So your pricing would have to not only be competitive, but you'd be chasing an ever-decreasing marketplace of people.

Yes, I'm appreciative of this. This is in a very popular (touristy) part of the UK. That said, it could still be hit if people have less spending power. I am not unduly worried by that, though... if I was to pursue this project, it would be a long term investment, and I would hope to ensure that my budget carried all necessary contingency plans for all those things that never go quite as planned.

clutton_2

""but didn't realise sound-proofing would cost so much. Can you put any ball-park figure on what "an arm and a leg" means... several thousands??""

I'm not even going to speculate on figures - and neither should anyone else here - we have no idea of the sizes of the properties, the build-type, nor the finish required -

if you are going to rely on nonsense figures given you on here - instead of drawing up a specification and getting 2-3 builders to give you a quote - then you are going into property development with a fools head on

have you talked to the planners yet to find out if it is likely you will be given planning permission ?