Ballpark costs for renovation

7 months ago

last modified: 7 months ago

We are looking at a house, but want an idea of the renovation costs to make it liveable before we make an offer.
It's a 5 bed house in Aberystwyth, and the estate agent told us 80-100k of renovation costs, but that's including making it nice; and we'd just like to consider bare minimum initially.Costs needed:- replace all windows (or most, anyway)- rewire (if electrician says so)- replace boiler- replaster- fix a leaky dormerIt could do with a new kitchen and bathroom, but we're happy to work with what there is for now.I don't think we'd need more than £55-60k for that work, and I'm assuming the rest of his guess was for kitchen, bathroom, carpets, paint etc.Am I being wildly unrealistic?

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Comments (8)

Simon Alexander
Original Author
7 months ago

Example photo of state of house. Missing plaster is due to structural survey which came back ok
tamp75
7 months ago
I think it’s difficult to place a figure on it without knowing more detail but I would suggest your estate agents estimate is more accurate, particularly if it does need rewiring & new boiler plus potentially a new heating system. The window in the photo shown is large & perhaps not a ‘standard’ window so in a 5- bed property new windows are likely to be a considerable cost. Replastering can also eat into your budget significantly. In fact, labour costs seem to have increased massively in recent years so unless you’re planning on doing work yourself, labour will take up a lot of your budget. I’d also want to set aside a good contingency budget for unforeseen problems. Bathrooms & kitchens on top of that can easily add 20 / 30k +++ .
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i would say your budget can be reasonably enough but its very depends on the amount of electricity points to be installed. also you haven't mention it if you would like to have rewiring in a whole house or just on ground floor and if its any main meter or fuse box upgrade involved. extension you planning to do cant be calculated by m2 as its to small its more likely the remodelling and steels installation would cost you further amount if its any involved. same time good to know what type of built up you have in the existing area (floating or screeded floor) as if you would like to have a rewiring to be done and you have floating floor and you would like to lay new flooring all way through it might be a good idea to lift all floors up balance out flooring and relay with new t/g floor before you install all new floor finishes (thats give you space to rewire everything) worth to check on the government website if you could use there scheme (for efficiency) to insulate your floor as the they would pay 80% of a cost up to 5k£. i hope so thats helps
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Tani H-S
7 months ago
Well about 4 years ago we gutted our last house. We spent about £100k in total. Was a 3 bed bungalow with 2 downstairs bedrooms.

First lot -

We replaced the roof tiles, added a few roof lights, insulated the whole roof, full re plaster and new flooring. Plus added a new bathroom.

Downstairs we replaced nearly all the floor joists throughout , knocked down the wall across the back of the house and one internal one, created a new bathroom, had a woodburner put in, new stud walls, another roof light in the bathroom and build a large 8m x 5m approx extension with 2 large roof lights and taller 5m bifolds across the back. Landscaped the back of the garden, had a new driveway done, has lvt flooring put throughout the large open plan living diner kitchen (big L shape) new bespoke kitchen with island and utility created

I'm sure we added more as well but I did do all the painting and decorating myself 😂

There was a lot of work on the house but we didn't have to replace everything ie the front two bedrooms were mostly decoration as windows were OK. Just the rear and upstairs was demolished, lol.

Prices have increased a heck of a lot since then but hope they gives you some idea of what we got for our money...
Jonathan
7 months ago
I agree with other people posting. I think you are underestimating the cost of things. However you might rethink your priorities. For instance the first thing you mention are windows but for many people original windows add value so rather than replacing you might well get a good joiner to cut out any rotting wood and replace ….. I bet it’s not much rot because the wood used is generally rock hard. Then just painting the outside is a much cheaper job than replacing these large windows.
Simon Alexander
Original Author
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
Thank you for all your thoughts. We're not looking to make a finished home, we just want to get it habitable (weather proof with power) then we can do the rest later. We've phoned a few local builders who say replacing the windows, electrics and boiler and plastering should be doable for £40-60k.

If it helps, the link to the listing is here: https://iestynleyshon.com/properties/aberystwyth-ceredigion-id-325075
Tani H-S
7 months ago
That seems like a hefty sum for just that amount of work. So it's 1940's build. Doesn't say what the windows are in the agents description ie single glazed are they?

It's a much larger house than mine was and at least mine did have a good boiler in but I guess plan for your worst case scenario and have a full survey done on it as well of course.
Simon Alexander
Original Author
7 months ago
Yeah it's single glazed. I'm trying to get a worst case as 60k is the top of our budget
Tani H-S
7 months ago
Ah ok, well it would definitely be worth asking a window expert if the frames are worth keeping and can take a DGU if they are original. Might save some money depending on the state of them but anyway, irrelevant really to the question of cost! Lol

Ballpark costs for renovation

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Simon Alexander
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tamp75

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Ballpark costs for renovation

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Simon AlexanderOriginal Author

tamp75

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Jonathan

Simon AlexanderOriginal Author

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