Guestimate for refurbishing old home

C

cat24

Guest
Hi,

Searched various threads for costs of refurbishment but most of them are quite old now so I thought I would ask the question again. Myself and partner have gone sale agreed on a 2 bed ex-council house in Dublin. It needs a complete refurburbishment including re-wiring, central heating, new kitchen (not expensive) and new bathroom, not to mention floors and paint etc. The windows are all perfect expcet the small one in the bathroom and we've no intention of changing internal doors for a while.

There is no dry rot or damp and we intend to insulate the attic and rip out old fires etc. No plans to replace 1 fire and the other we will leave for a while until we can afford it.

Basically I'm looking for advice on the main stuff to make the house livable such as items mentioned above and then we can do bits at a time throughout the next year.

If anyone has experience of this can you give guestimates or any advice?

Much appreciated!
 
We were in the same position a few years ago. Two bedroom, bathroom, sittingroom and very small kitchen (inside front window). Got a fella to look it over first and tell us how much to bring up to scratch. This included a very small extension (for downstairs toilet). We got it rewired, central heating, insulation on outer walls, old back window replaced with french door, three replacement windows, the attic sheetrocked, all the ceilings replasterboarded and the whole inside skimmed, a raised deck (8M2) at the back and a small kitchen for 22K. The painting we did ourselves. Everyone has remarked how warm the house is and our heating bill is small.
 
That seems very reasonable but I suppose the cost of everything will have gone up since then! We have about €22k ourselves but that has to include a bathroom, I suppose it's a god send that we don't need to replace all the windows and there is a nice patio there already.

I'm just getting nervous that we have taken on too much and will be left with a half finished house. I suppose the trick is to do 1 room a time (I'm just not a very patient person)

Thanks for your advice!
 
We asked him what needed to be done, how much it would cost, the time frame etc. Then he went off and let us have a think over/change this and that etc. The following lunchtime he came back and listened to our new ideas, advised us when necessary, and gave us an amended price. All this over tea and bikkies. For this he charged Eu 200 which he returned after finishing the job. Exciting times and I wish you all the best.
 
Did he do all the work for you? Advice is definitely needed when its the first time doing something like this. It is exciting but I feel that I will have grey hair by the end of it. Are you still living in that house?
 
For what it's worth, I'd say get it all done at the one time otherwise you'll end up living in a building site for ages. Think this would be especially true if you are going to be re-wiring & plumbing for central heating. We went down the "one room at a time" route and it has taken years to get the house finished.
 
Deedee80 I did read this post but seeing as it was in April I thought it might be a bit of date in relation to prices, thanks though

Ideally we would love to do the whole house at one time but money is a big issue and I'm afraid what we're going to find once we get in. The surveyor didn't come back with anything major except the items taht we already knew about but there's always little surprises I'm sure!

we're thinking of concentrating on the kitchen, bathroom and main bedroom for the time being. I can't believe the cost to get heat and light is in the region of €11k, I hope it's all worth it!

Thanks again for advice
 
Well I've just done up my house cat so perhaps I can help. I started in July and will hopefully be finished just before Christmas so prices will be relevant to you. We have pretty much done everything bar new windows and we didn't have to change wiring or heating or anything like that.
Off the top of my head this is what we did so let me know if I can advise you:
2 completely new bathrooms
new semi solid floor in sitting room hall and dining room
new carpet on stairs landing and one bedroom
knocked a small wall in kitchen between kitchen and sunroom and got a proper roof put on sun room
new kitchen floor and wall tiles (could do with new presses but can't afford at the moment)
painted the whole house
semi solid flooring in 2 bedrooms
new doors between sitting and dining room
tiling in downstairs toilet
New Fireplace
 
cat24 said:
Did he do all the work for you? Advice is definitely needed when its the first time doing something like this. It is exciting but I feel that I will have grey hair by the end of it. Are you still living in that house?
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He was here each day from start to finish and he and his friend did everything except the electrics and plumbing. For these he got a plumber and electrician in who do subcontract work for him. Yes, we are still here and intend to stay for a couple of years more before heading south to God's own county.
 
Deedee80 most of that would be relvant to us expcept for doors and we only have 1 bathroom. There is a small arch in the kitchen that we intend to knock down but it's not a low bearing wall and is very small so we're hoping it wont be a big deal. You were lucky you didn't have to get the heating and re-wiring done, it's so expensive! How much did you do all that for?

Chocks away where did you hear of that guy? That sounds so handy because the so much has to be done, it would be great to have someone look after everything for us
 


If you PM me I can give you his number/eMail
 
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