Angel Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 (edited) We bought a plot with an uninhabitable 60s chalet bungalow for its location. Our plan was to demolish and build a contemporary house. Unfortunately we cannot afford to build the house of our dreams on the plot so are now looking at a smaller renovation project using the existing bungalow. I've joined the site to get an indication of costs for a number of options. Edited November 20, 2019 by Angel mis-type Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 Hi Angel, welcome to the forum and good luck with your project. I actually found doing a complete renovation of our last house less stressful than our new build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 We were in opposite position... Bought to renovate, worked out cheaper to build a new house, due to the poor condition of the exsting house (we'd basically have to take the house back to 4 bare walls). We did a renovation and extension of a 1970s semi. Top tip from me, get everything 100% finished before moving in!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 Welcome. 37 minutes ago, Conor said: we'd basically have to take the house back to 4 bare walls Having done 3 renovations in the past, I wish I had made that decision early on. Would have saved time, money and mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 Living in a money pit I wish I knew then what I know now. Knock down / rebuild without a doubt. Renovating here consists of first removing the old, badly done, then sometimes you have to compromise and workaround. If nothing else the time doubles at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 Time is cheap, you do save on the professional fees. I like the idea of building my own place, but the VAT saving is just not enough of an incentive. You can save that by shopping about. Living in dust for months us not fun though. Get a good tent, or build a decent shed to live in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted November 20, 2019 Author Share Posted November 20, 2019 Thanks folks for comments for and against. Access is difficult (tight turn from narrow road) so demolition and bringing materials in was going to be expensive. The existing place is basically sound (except electrics and plumbing) and almost big enough to suit as we can convert outbuildings for additional living space. This looks to be a better option now, and should give us more financial headroom. We are fortunate and don't have to move out of existing home until new one is finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 Please can someone help me with use of forum. I'd like to post a question about relative costs of certain works but in the drop-downs all the forums except this one (and the building land one) are greyed out for me so I can't make a post in the forum I'd like to. The email I received when registering said "Once you have made your first post you will get access to the members only forums too". I have done the 'Introduce yourself' post as requested. I emailed forum@buildhub.org.uk a couple of days ago but haven't received a reply. Can anyone advise me what to do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Click the big Buildhub logo at the top left of the page. do you see the list of all the sub forums and can you go to one and the and "start a new post"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 4 minutes ago, Angel said: Please can someone help me with use of forum. I'd like to post a question about relative costs of certain works but in the drop-downs all the forums except this one (and the building land one) are greyed out for me so I can't make a post in the forum I'd like to. The email I received when registering said "Once you have made your first post you will get access to the members only forums too". I have done the 'Introduce yourself' post as requested. I emailed forum@buildhub.org.uk a couple of days ago but haven't received a reply. Can anyone advise me what to do? I've just checked and I can't see any restrictions on your account. I'd do as @ProDave suggests initially. If that doesn't work, then it might be worth signing out (using the option in the menu that drops down under your username, at the top right) and then logging back in again, to see if that clears it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 Thanks both. I was trying to get in through the 'create' on top left. Now I do as you say and then enter the forum, a 'create new post appears'. Will see how I go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joth Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Sorry to tag on the back of another question, but bat is the "best" way to contact admins? A while back I tried the Contact Us link at the bottom of each page (https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/contact/) but that also did not get a reply. (I was thinking to setup a blog. I have no idea if I'd actually have time to maintain a blog, hence didn't chase it any further!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 17 minutes ago, joth said: but bat is the "best" way to contact admins? No, pigeon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 19 minutes ago, joth said: Sorry to tag on the back of another question, but bat is the "best" way to contact admins? A while back I tried the Contact Us link at the bottom of each page (https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/contact/) but that also did not get a reply. (I was thinking to setup a blog. I have no idea if I'd actually have time to maintain a blog, hence didn't chase it any further!) PM is far and away the best way. The forum email stuff seems not to be that great, for reasons we're still working on. Easy enough to set you up with blogging rights if you wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joth Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 @Jeremy Harris thanks! Perhaps worth updating the "how to create a blog" info on https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/guidelines/ in the meantime? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Welcome, Angel. Will comment on the length of your piece of string on the other thread . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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