how much can you get done for £10,000?

kunekune

In househunting, there seems to be a price difference of 10-20K between houses that are in need of general updating and houses that have been recently modernised/upgraded. I'm curious about this, because surely if you use tradespeople, it would cost quite a lot to -

put down new floorcoverings throughout
install new hob, oven and dishwasher
install new gas fire
upgrade a kitchen (probably new units but possibly just new doors)
re-do bathroom tiling, put in new shower unit and housing, put in new toilet and bath
re-do ensuite tiling, put in new shower unit
decorate throughout
disconnect bedroom vanity unit
remove surplus wardrobes

Is it a bad bargain to get somewhere tired, do the planning, cope with the disruption, if there are other houses around which are already to your taste but around 15K more expensive? Has anyone here done all this kind of thing for less than that differential (and not done it themselves).

Some ideas would be helpful.

woodbutcher_2

If the 15k dearer house is to your taste then why bother buying a fixer upper?The main reason i suppose is that you can make it EXACTLY how you would like it and spread the cost out over a period of time.That way you get what you want and have less of a mortgage,assuming you have one.I have done both.I usually buy wrecks because i end up changing them anyway and cant see the point of paying for work someone else has undertaken.I have just met a new partner and we have bought a house together.We were looking at two and one was 11k cheaper than the other but wanted more work.I would have gone for this one if it were my decision but ladyfriend said she didnt want to live in a building site especially as both her daughters are studying for future carreers at the moment.We went for the dearer one but will end up knocking it about anyway.Already had to condemn the gas fire and boiler.Two grand straight away.But at the end of the day,this house feels like home and my last place never did,even after completely renovating it top to bottom.Some decisions don't come down to money.

kunekune

I do have a bit of an urge to take on a fixer upper, I've never done it and I have a lot of ideas - the house I like best has awful carpet, etc, but is very light, quiet, and has a great layout for our family. I think these might be more valuable than the right colours. I've never had a kitchen designed how I want it, and I don't mind waiting for that. Only thing is that it will take a long time because we'd want to pay for everything rather than borrow money, and we'd have to use tradesmen because we don't have much spare time, and no spare time without children underfoot. I'd have to live with swirly blue and pink axminster through much of the house for a long time to come. THe good bit is that there is bench space, refrigeration and plumbing in the utility garage so we could still cook while the kitchen was done, and there's an en suite so that if the bathrooms were done one at a time, we'd never be without a bathroom.

I'm not hard to convince, am I!!! You're right, it isn't really about money.

Kaz2904

The thing is that last time any work was done on most of these houses £10k probably would have fixed it up!
We've not spent £10k on ours yet despite having central heating and hot water installed, new kitchen and bathroom, new drain, replastering where done, new cveilings etc. Loads of damp work outside which meant digging up and shifting about 2 tonnes of concrete etc.
However, this has come at a price, we've been in our house for 3 years and it's not done yet. It's probably going to take another 2 years to get done. We both work full time, we have 2 young kids and we work opposite hours too (me nights him days). We anticipate having more time to do it when youngest starts school in September but these jobs do take a long time.
TBH the people who market their houses at this level are in the same position as anyone else whereby they will only get what someone is willing to pay for it.

Joannaclaire

Just a thought - don't forget the unseen things that may also need redoing on closer inspection such as wiring, plumbing, insulation etc. So on a surface level the 'done up' ones might look fine but you may find beneath the new paint lurk problems they've glossed over as they didn't want to shell out money.

It's not until you've bought somewhere that you can start pulling up floorboards and pulling sockets out of walls and then you discover other things that may need doing as they were not done properly or safely in the past. So what you think may cost 10k for cosmetic stuff may possibly spiral to more money and more time, as we've discovered to the detriment of our savings account.

We bought a house that wasn't a wreck, just in theory needed cosmetic updating, but upon closer inspection it turns out the work was done by a DIYer electrician and the gas leaks and the water pipes are lead etc etc so all these things need immediate attention. To date our budget and costs looks like this, just to give you an idea - all paying for professionals to do it as our DIY skills are very basic and we have a toddler underfoot as well, but we'll do the painting ourselves:

approx 2k rewire (bargain as other quotes were a lot more)
approx 1k for wall removal and rsj
approx 3k new boiler and some new rads and new pipes as gas is apparently leaking :-(
approx 2.5-3.5k re-plaster over artex ceilings and walls
3k new ikea kitchen and appliances
approx 2k kitchen fitting
1k kitchen floor
2k carpeting and fitting
approx £500 for new front door and fitting
approx £500 for new bannisters and fitting

so 17.5k at least so far for basic level work - we've gone with cheapest quotes from shopping around, asking for recommendations etc and have a probable overspend/contingency of another 1-2k on these figures as we've yet to have most of the work done still.

The bathroom and painting will be done once we move in and count how many pennies we have left (I suspect none). So all up it will probably cost somewhere nearer 25k to do the place up - just a 3 bed terrace in the south east.

lawrie28

have you read this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=378247

some good tips on it.

lawrie28

Alos, one thing to consider is used houses from big builders. We have just bought a house from Barratts. They had taken it in part exchange for a newbuild.

Not only did they repaint the whole interior, including all the gloss work, but we also negotiated new carpets into the deal. Around the whole house.

We were careful to make sure the boiler was up and running before we moved in, and lo and behold it wouldn't light up. One new boiler later and we got an even better deal. Oh yeah, we paid £17k less than barratts did this time last year (sale agreed in Jan, completed in april), and they had paid £1k less than the neighbour at the same time. His identical house only has double glazing on the front, rather than all round like ours, and we have a conservatory, and he doesn't. By my reckoning Barratts paid £10k less than market price, then add in all the extras (5k ish, at market prices, not what they would have actually paid) and the £17k, and we paid £32k less than what is was worth this time last year. Gives me some comfort in the current market. If we had waited a few months we could have got a better deal. But then, someone else would have bought the house.....