Overview
We bought the house knowing it was in need of total renovation. Upon seeing the house, we immediately saw the potential of turning it from a 3 bed home to a 5 bed home, without space being compromised. The house was built in the 1920s, so it has beautifully large rooms and taller ceilings. We knew if we were going to extend it, the new rooms must keep to the same scale to ensure it flowed without the extended area being obvious. It was paramount to us that the renovation was sympathetic to the age and style of the home. We wanted it to look like the house was always built this way. The house came with an external outbuilding that was a couple of metres away from the original back door. We decided to demolish this and rebuild it attaching it to the house to create an integrated utility. From the front, the house looks largely unchanged but from the back, we did a double storey extension and a single story wrap around extension.
We designed it ourselves so we knew exactly what we wanted. The architect suggested open plan and bi fold doors across the back, which he drew in his plans, but we decided to stick to our guns and go for more traditional french style doors and a dividing wall. We felt it would look more original and give the house more depth and interest with the various rooms. We used internal glass doors to allow the back to flow into each other. As a lot of the original features had been removed, we have been careful to add the features back, such as a fireplace, deep skirting boards and tiled floors.
Duration
We got on with the planning as soon as we bought the house and got to work with the build about 10 months later. That was in October 2017 and we still haven’t finished! The main structural work has been done and we are now going through the house room by room to decorate. There are so many “hidden” jobs that have taken time, like an entire house electrical rewire, a whole new heating system and strengthening the flooring joists. We tried to work our way methodically around the house, prioritising what we did next. We have lived here the entire time which saved us a heap of money that we could use towards to build, although it comes with its additional stresses. We split the build in to several stages, first being the new structure, then the internal decor and our final stage, converting the loft.
Budget
We never set ourselves a strict budget, as we knew it would cost about £100K to get the work done, but in reality it has probably been more like £150K. We knew that the money we would spend would add value to the overall cost of the property.
The most expensive thing has been buying all the materials that we have needed, It's amazing how it all adds up. Also, the amount of waste that comes from a house renovation, has also been an unexpected cost. To try and save money where we can, we have self managed the renovation and done some of the work ourselves where we could.
Challenges and Obstacles
The biggest obstacles were timing the trades to come in. It's difficult to co-ordinate everyone in the right order, at the right times due to their availably. We also found it a challenge to find reliable workmen. It took us a while to find a team who we could rely on to do a great job for us. We have had a few bumps along the way; items being out of stock, stormy weather whilst having no roof, burst water pipe, cut though the gas pipe and even coming home to find a builder passed out in the garden with his bottle of vodka.
Looking back, is there anything you would change and do you have any tips for someone looking to do something similar?
I think if we did it all again, we would probably have got a builder in to project manage it on our behalf.
If I was giving any advice to someone looking to do a house renovation, I would say, choose a house you can add value too. You don’t want to spend more money on renovating than the house is worth at the end. Do your research in to the tradesman you are using and plan plan plan.
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