Would £40k to £50k be enough to renovate this house?

[HouseHelp12]

Hello, hoping for some advice from those wiser than we are! We are considering offering on this house: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/171573188#/?channel=RES_BUY

It obviously needs a fair amount of work, but if we were able to secure it for the price we’re hoping for, we’d have around £40-50k to renovate initially. The smaller jobs - flooring throughout and decorating - feel manageable. The bigger question mark is the kitchen.

The kitchen is in an extension and is single glazed. It seems solid enough from what we can tell, but it’s obviously very old and would need replacing.

In an ideal world, we’d completely knock through from the kitchen into the existing family room, then take around 3ft from the family room to enlarge the kitchen slightly, leaving a smaller snug/office space instead (see floorplan).

If that isn’t feasible because both are supporting walls/original external walls, we were also wondering whether we could at least remove the door, windows and lower wall between the existing dining room and kitchen to open the space up more partially (see picture). Then use the existing family room as a snug/office.

I know nobody can say for certain without a structural engineer, but has anyone done similar work and got a rough idea whether this sounds feasible within that sort of budget?

For context, we’re already homeowners but have only ever lived in a new build, so we have zero renovation experience but have fallen in love with this house...

Thanks in advance!

It’s hard to tell from photos, as the expensive things tend to be roof repairs, re-wire (and then need to plaster and decorate walls afterwards), new boiler/rads. Also depends on the cost of work in your area, obs more expensive in London/SE. Assuming the above is ok, or ok for the next couple of years then £40k sounds fine, especially if you can it in stages rather than all in one go.

Worth getting a builder in to have a look and give you a more realistic estimate.

I’d say no. The place we want to buy is in similar condition and we’ve budgeted £100k to do it up completely. We are in the south though x_x

Thanks for reply! The house has just had a new boiler - so that's one thing we know is okay. We're in the Cotswolds, so not a particuarly cheap area for work I would guess (as nothing is!). I guess if we did a Level 3 survey we'd get answers on most of those things to do with wiring, etc? I have had a builder friend look online but he's said it would need a structrual engineer to quote properly - which as I understand it, we wouldn't be able to do until we bought the house which is my big worry as by then it'll be too late!

Looks like you'll need to rewire, probably not been done since the 90s, and new boiler. Windows will be fine but what state is the roof in? This is someone's forever home they died in, right? So often there's a good ten years of insufficient maintenance at the end.

It depends what you want, basically, and what you will need to do once you start poking about. I could do it, but I've got family in all the trades and I've done it before. Materials have gone up, a lot. It's doable but I don't like your chances if you're thinking about a kitchen as a big job.

Oh caching -- didn't see the updates about the boiler. That's something!

You say single glazed but I suspect single glazed brick it’s a lean to not an extension
you can live with that bathroom rest of rooms look in order basic decorating
boiler needs checking
windows fine get new glazing units without the bar
it would be full structural bad back of house would need to come out plus wall rebuilt if kitchen is single skin
is say you’d get the building work done but no money for anything else like kitchen units

we had a house in similar condition
painted every room white and lived with it till we could afford

Itt can absolutely be doable if you can do stuff on your own, plastering and decorating for example.

I would say not enough. £50k will do rewire, bathrooms, replumb and contingency. For more structural stuff tou need twice the budget. Plus you have a lot of redecorating and carpeting, I’ll bet the roof / guttering needs some repairs and there will be some hidden horrors and replastering.

However, you don’t need to do it all at once. Get the basics bones sorted first and some of the easier rooms, work top to bottom.

If it is your forever home then its a good starting budget and you will need to plan for more money in the future.

Yes, it was built by the couple who lived in it since the 1960s I believe and it's now empty - so, yes you're right it's unlikely much was done in the last decade in terms of maintenance.

Not sure about the roof!

It's been empty since the end of last year but feels suprisingly warm and doesn't smell of damp which feels potentially like a good sign? The carpets have been taken up too so it looks more 'bare' than the listing shows.

I wasn't originally thinking of the kitchen as a big job but when I spoke to people about knocking down the walls to open it up they told me it could be very difficult (well, more accurately, expensive) as they are structural, which made me rethink.

Thanks for the response! Things to consider...

Thank you - this is really helpful. Decorating etc totally fine with and we're happy to live with the old bathrooms as they are with some paint, so wasn't including the bathrooms in the original budget. For the £40-£50k I was hoping to do the kitchen (including opening it up somehow) and all flooring plus any hidden horrors. Then, over the years, do the rest.

You should have enough for the basics: rewire, roof/gutters and windows.

You can remove the carpets yourself and paint the house.

Also you don't have to do everything at once and can just plan to update the house over the next few years once you have done the urgent stuff.

Get a level 3 survey but also get a builder to have a good look and give you some quotes before you commit to anything.

Thanks for the response! This is possibly a stupid questiom, but would the survey show whether the current kitchen is single glazed brick as you suspect it might be?

You'll be able to open it up, just depends how much youre willing to pay as it might be a massive chunk of your budget so other plans might have to wait. Is your builder friend doing all the work or will you be needing to source electricians, carpenters, plumbers etc as that might affect the cost. You could see if any neighbours in similar houses have done what you would like to do to give you an idea.

Thanks for the reply! The kitchen is our main issue with the house so we'd be happy for most of the budget to go on that (plus flooring) as we could live with everything else until we had more money, and would manage the decorating ourselves so just paint costs there. However, I would need to hire people as the builder friend lives too far away! It's the only house of its kind, otherwise that would be a really good idea to go and see neighbours' houses. I have spoken with one of the neighbours who said the couple took brilliant care of the house (though I know this doesn't mean there won't be potentially a lot of hidden problems).

Thank you - this is helpful!

Yes single brick construction would definitely show up on survey and also effect epc rating
and could cause trouble getting a mortgage as single brick can be classed as non standard construction
looking at the picture the kitchen window is flush out and inside there’s no recess round the window indicating the wall is 8inch thick at a guess so definitely single brick

it’s not single glazed it’s single brick construction mean the wall is 1 brick thick with no cavity or isolation

I think originally the dining room was the kitchen and this was by as a porch

looker rip off Britain in i player series 18 episode 12 there’s an episode where a couple had a problem with this

we had this with utility room it was the back portion that had been carved off the garage
but it might be ok because the original structure of the house is still intact with external wall and back door. So the single brick part isn’t intergal to the main structure it’s tagged on not integrated ours was

sorry I might be panicking you for nothing and got it all wrong but I would look very closely

Unless you are doing most of the work no, though how much it will cost depends on the standard of finish you are after.

In addition to the things already mentioned, I’d say that looking at the floor plan the wall between the kitchen and the sitting room/family room looks like the original external wall, ie a supporting wall. Knocking that out is possible, but v expensive as you’ll need RSJs to support the upper floor. More hassle than it’s worth, in my experience. A better option might be to check the construction of the wall between the dining room and family room and if that’s not a supporting wall, knock that through and make a big kitchen/family room and make the current kitchen a study/sitting room. The other option would be to replace the lean-to where the present kitchen is. If it’s single-skin brick construction, it’s likely to lack insulation and will be cold. I’d be looking at taking that down entirely and rebuilding to better standards, enlarging it and putting in a new kitchen and utility room. That would probably be more than £50K though.

I’d be a bit cautious with that budget. £40k–£50k may be enough to make the house liveable and do flooring, decorating, and a basic kitchen update, but the knock-through could change everything.

From the photos and floorplan, the kitchen looks like it may be part of an older extension, so those walls could easily be supporting or original external walls. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done, but it may need a structural engineer, steels, building control, plastering, electrics, and a lot of making good.

If this were me, I’d get a builder and structural engineer to view before offering. The house has good potential, but I wouldn’t assume the full kitchen opening and renovation can be comfortably done within £50k without proper quotes.

Sounds like the budget would be tight to open up the kitchen space as well. We're you going to offer the asking price? I'd be tempted to see if they'd take 400k if it's been on the market for a while and they've reduced it a couple of months ago. That would potentially give you more budget to work with.

Why would it need rewiring if it had been done in the 90s?

Absolutely not, unless you were undertaking a substantial amount of the work yourself.

Am currently renovating (and have renovated before), and our kitchen alone, including having a wall removed + small WC and small utility cost £40k alone.

Other stuff we’ve done:
Bathroom 1: £8k
bathroom 2: £15k
Flooring: £600 for basic carpet, up to £2000k for other
Boiler: £3k
Roof: £4k (and counting)
New insulation: £1500
Electrics: £2k

Lost count of all the other smaller bits to be honest. And still need to do A LOT more flooring.

I have refurbished a few houses, converted old offices into homes etc, I would say your budget is not enough. The problem is you would want to reinsulate and plaster rooms too.

The kitchen is simple enough. 2-3k would pay for a structural engineers report, buildings regs, knock down wall and put the steel in. Fitting a new kitchen 2 weeks of a multi trades tradesman on 250 a day. Off the shelf kitchen units for less than 2-3k (as long as you measure and design layout yourself) and then oven, sink, taps, worktop for 1500, tiling on walls budget another 1k (depends on size and volume). Floor choice is a big variable, change radiators is an option. Replacing the window wouldn't be more than 1.5k (but I haven't had it done in ages). However I suspect that you will find you want things like underfloor heating or notice the walls are poorly insulated for noise and temperature and then your end up with mess all over your house, lots of skips, dust everywhere, new wiring and new electrical fittings. If you do go down that route I recommend only doing 1-2 rooms at a time.

Well it might be ok, but usually not. It's 30 years ago. Obviously you'd check first.

www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guidance/your-questions-answered/questions/how-often-should-a-house-be-rewired/

If you really like it, could you buy it and save up for a year or so?
That's what we did. Bought a probate house lived in it for about 18 months then reconfigured, rewired, new boiler, replaced conservatory with a proper extension, new kitchen and bathrooms, redecorating etc.
Cost £150k 6 years ago.