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I didn't have one. Here's the context:
I bought a two bed bungalow with a small extension. The house is/was structurally sound, but needed a full interior update (all wallpaper stripped and the walls replastered, all woodwork removed and replaced, bouncing floorboards fixed and lain with engineered wood), and the old concrete fireplace hacked away. In addition, I had the lintels above four windows replaced as they were unsuitable and liable to cause structural issues down the line, and at the same time had two of those windows enlarged. I also had the lounge door changed from single to double.
On site (depending on the day) I had 1-2 skilled builders, one unskilled labourer, one plasterer, one painter and two bricklayers. Their respective day rates (starting at 7:30 and finishing at 4) was £200 on average. We managed to not use any scaffolding for the windows. Over the five weeks, we had three full skips.
The basic building materials I mentioned were things like paint, new woodwork, plaster, mortar, etc. Not included are the specialised items like windows, flooring, etc, nor electrics or plumbing.
Obviously you need to take your own people round to look at it, but in my case I was working with a builder I have known for ages and was heavily involved in the process. I am comfortable that I wasn't being overcharged. Doing a full refurb is expensive, do not get caught out.
Having said that, there's always the option of moving in and doing things as you go along/can afford them, so long as the house is safe to live in.0 -
Thanks. I bet you are really pleased with the outcome now though. What about designs and plans?0
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Oh absolutely, it's totally worth it, but I did have to take out a £10,000 loan towards the end just to be able to pay people. No regrets though!
I didn't need plans as such, because the structural things I wanted done were easy for me to decide and the builders to carry out. It was literally a case of me standing by the windows and doors to be enlarged and saying to them 'okay, I want it down to here and out to here', and them measuring up and making notes, and potentially making a couple of suggestions of their own, if there were aspects they felt should be taken into account (e.g. standard door width). They knew where and how the lintels needed to sit, which was the only really structural aspect of it. No need for anything but the most basic drawings, which the builders did in their notepads. In your case, though, it definitely sounds like you need an architect.0 -
Yes I’ll get one I think, even though I’m quite sure about the general layout I am looking for. It’s a scary thing to go through however, as money means more time spent at work.
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Yes, there is that. I'm trying to do the FIRE thing for various reasons, and I consider buying this bungalow to be fundamental to that. True, the renovations alone mean another 18 months spent at the office, but on the flip side, I've now got a house which suits me well enough in every way that I can envision living here comfortably for the rest of my life, even if I need more space at some point (there's scope for plenty more extension), or I should become infirm (it's a bungalow, plus very near to services and amenities). It's a trade off, of course, so is everything in life, and I feel like I've made the right call on this one.0
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We did this too but lived in a mobile home on site while the work was being done.
We couldn't live in ours as there was no roof - completely open just the walls left standing.
It was originally a bungalow and now it's a chalet bungalow.
We did a lot of the work ourselves.0 -
For ours it was move 6 interior walls, replace all ceilings,and skim everything else, move the front door, replace and move several windows, rebuild the front facade and roof to eliminate a horrible flat one, convert the integral garage, take off the rest of the roof to re-membrane and batten, build a new roof over the garage and utility, completely replace the bathroom and cloakroom, refurbish an existing en-suite, replace all the doors, skirtings etc, completely renew the kitchen/diner and build a 10m conservatory + back porch. All the above tied-in with replacing the boiler/heating system and adding a new wood burner and flue. The rewiring also went on gradually as parts were finished.Locornwall wrote: »Can you break down the £100k. Seems a little high.
In addition to the above we also had to replace much of the drainage to and from the septic tank, adding more to allow for the bathroom we're doing now.
I won't bore you with stuff we did to the barn, as it was an 'extra.'
Our builder was a family friend who'd fallen on hard times in the recession, otherwise our build would have been more modest. We did the labouring. We had to use other pros for the CH, re-wiring, plastering etc.
With middling fittings, I think we've spent £110k and there's still hard landscaping to do. We have friends/relatives with diggers and extra practical skills, so a few favours were/will be done. I also managed to get all the matching roof tiles we needed for free.
Top tip: get a trade account with a good local builders' merchant, or two.
Would we do it again? No! But now we have, we're glad we did.
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It all will depend on the size of the new ext and loft but i would think everything would be 75-95K you won't know until you get quotes for it all.0
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I’ll be walking round with a builder next week and will update after that. Many thanks0
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Rennovating home have several benefits such as It increases home value, more living space, adds comfort, less future maintainence and personalization. Remodeling home structures like your floors, bathroom, kitchen or bedroom will provide added comfort to your home. Few days ago one of my friend has rennovated the home with new structures and also with electrical wiring0
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