Owning your own home

They really like satellite tv

Harsh responses are fine. I don't want to end up in a half finished house and out of cash - that's kind if where we are now. Although as it's our 20 years worth of "unfinished", it's pretty comfortable.

So ball parking the jobs, based on work we have done here and quotes friends have had recently:

Roof - 30k
Windows - £25k (obviously huge range of prices of windows so this would be PVC but not the cheapest ones)
Re-wire - £15k
New rads, boiler, random plumbing sorting - £10k
Back extension (build) - £50k
Kitchen - £25k
Upstairs bathroom and downstairs loo - £10k
Making good, plastering, I bet a couple of ceilings end up coming down - £15k
Decorating the whole place - £12k
Carpets - £5k

so that's £197k, add 10% contingency , call it £220k.

I'm guessing they will take an offer as it's been on a while, so let's say £680k plus £220k, now we are £900k in. That's not totally wild for a nice example of one of those houses in that area, but it's not a bargain either and a lot of work to get it there - and it would probably end up over budget as well.

Here's a smaller house on for just under £900k but it has a bigger extension than I've budgeted for and also has the loft converted:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136682060#/

That looks just plain bad.

My take is location/nice light and the size you want/need is most important. Second to that is not giving someone money for bad design.

Easy to say as I never lived in a building site, but I much rather would have a go at a place that needs all the things doing than live in that house with all the stupid down lights.

That Lea Hall Road house has been up for months, it’s a friend of a friend’s and is overpriced imo so would likely be conducive to a lowball offer.

With regards to your renovation costings: whilst they may be in the right ballpark priced as individual jobs, doing the lot together would bring the total cost way down, likely to not much over £100K exc.VAT. It’s turning into a buyer’s market for residential renovations/extensions right now, and materials aren’t sky-high either.

Re-wire - £15k

That seems quite strong, I was given a rough estimate of £4k ‘ish to rewire my parents three bed semi by our electrician of choice. He said that if we didn’t give a toss about the amount of mess as it would need full redecorating it was much cheaper.

might be on the high side - although i recently paid £6k for a re-wire of a 3 bed flat and then an extra £1,500 for making good afterwards. tbf I probably could have negotiated a bit harder on that one.

I'll adjust my spreadsheet to £10k :)

Second to that is not giving someone money for bad design.

yes, that kitchen would not work for me at all.

this is one of the reasons i'm having a bit of a "debate" with my partner about whether we should look for a doer upper or a done upper. I'm in the camp of "we can do it how we want it" whereas she is "i cba with all the hassle of getting work done and it'll take too long and cost too much".

No. What you're proposing is likely to be closer to double that at current prices.

Ask me how I know.

likely to not much over £100K exc.VAT.

this seems super optimistic to me but good to hear that prices are getting a little less stratospheric than they have been.

I’m on your partners side. Would never want to live in a building site.

i'm having a bit of a "debate" with my partner about whether we should look for a doer upper or a done upper.

A doer upper is probably going to cost more than a done property. Gone are you days where you get value from doing the work. If anything you pay a tax for being able to do what you want but in all honesty, you'll most likely be buying a victorian terrace and there's not that much variety on what you can do with them, unless you're tied to a bespoke finish I'd be inclined to look for one that's done.

If you've got kids I definitely wouldn't live in a building site, I did it with a two and a one year old and it was hell.

With a done upper you give up some choice about what work is done but you'd get more for your money. If you spend say £20k replacing your roof then immediately sell the house you aren't going to get 20k extra on the sale price.

20k for a roof is wild, ours was 7k two years ago

I'd actually suggest

Roof - 15k
Windows - £15k ish
Re-wire - £8
New rads, boiler, random plumbing sorting - £7-10
Back extension (build) - £50k/60
Kitchen - £20 mid spec magnet/IKEA etc
Upstairs bathroom and downstairs loo - £10k
Making good, plastering, I bet a couple of ceilings end up coming down - £10k
Decorating the whole place - £8k
Carpets - £3-5k

Ive just (started July 22 finished March 23) fully renovated a larger house in Wanstead, kitchen diner, loft, new kitchen, bathroom, repaint and replaster in most of the house, wood burner, new driveway -110k all in. Material prices might have come down for some bits since then, may have increased for others

That's with me pming the whole thing and doing the painting.

If you want low stress turn key then you'll pay through the nose. If you get your hands dirty lots of cash to be saved (but also to be withdrawn from the bank also)

@ChasnotRobert it's hardly the main issue you have but for the plumbing/new boiler/rads you may want to explore heat pumps.

I also need to replace my system boiler and rads to a combi- I was quoted £4k for that work.

However the government are offering a £7.5k grant for heat pumps, and the work includes replacing any radiators that need it. We'll have to pay the extra past £7.5, so I think we'll end up paying about a grand and a half for the lot. It's well worth it, especially if the place has a system boiler which already has space for the heat cylinder storage.

Roof - 15k

That's the quote we just got for a re-tile, so you're making me feel better about it

Gone are you days where you get value from doing the work.

Yes, this does seem to be the case.

Places which are basically ruins are still going for maybe 70% of the price of a ready to move in place.

Worst value are the places which have been treated to trade's white emulsion, laminate flooring and a cheap kitchen from Wicks. These might be on for close to the price on a nicely done place, and highly likely that many of the major jobs won't have been undertaken, and the work that has been done will just need re-doing in a few years.

Arguably, best value are the places that have been someone's personal project and they have outgrown or decided to move to the 'burbs or whatever, where they have put in really nice quality fixtures and fittings, and done most or all of the big jobs. They will have sunk a lot of money in, of which only a relatively small portion is reflected in the sale price. Only real downsides here are that people have bad taste and pushing the budget or over budget on the larger size places we are looking at.

This comes back to unalterable factors like location, footprint, orientation and garden size, trumping all else. Potential to extend is also a big factor.

I got lucky and ended up with a semi-detached house with side access in Leyton that was also a total wreck. The side access, with ability to extend into it, was the killer app; I wouldn’t have paid any more for the place had it not been a wreck.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124272983#/?channel=RES_NEW

New house outside Glasgow, would still need to spend a bit on the drive and landscaping even at the 1.2 price.

Looks like a regional nature reserve visitors centre

I like this house a lot

https://www.themodernhouse.com/sales-list/the-meadow/

If only it was a mil cheaper

This near me (recently withdrawn) looks like a conference centre. Awful.

Optimistic address! Not even close.

And not in Kent

Looks like an office. Takes working from home to a new level.