Old House Purchase - Lots of Remediation Work Required - Unsure How To Start

[KHex]

Hi, a long post as my 1st one on the forum.

I'm close to putting an offer in to buy an old house build in the 1820's. The house is on 4 stories (lower ground, ground, 1st and loft). There is lots of work required on the house and I am a complete novice when it comes to an approach, plan, order of work, budgeting, quality of work and engaging the correct tradespeople.

The house is in need of much renovation including:
 

• Remediate rising damp problem in the lower ground floor (no soil built up against the external walls, this is held back by external retaining walls)
• Remediate chimney damp and chimney stack issues
• Remediate roof issues, including possible new roof required
• Replace damaged roof skylights x 3
• Signs of internal wood and plaster damp due to points above
• Signs of woodworm that may require some timber replacement and checmical treatment
• Requires full heating system and electric combi-boiler (only electric storage heaters atm)
• Requires full rewiring
• Wooden framed double glazing
• Requires some rooms to be stripped back and replastered (possibly replacing damp/damaged timbers)
• Rebuild an external soil retaining wall around 2 sides of the house and add a dpc (wall is about 1.5m away from the house.
• Update & upgrade bathrooms
• Fit new kitchen
• Remediate or replace fireplaces

The structure of the property is sound.

I am also aware I need to maintain breathability for old house, manage getting qualified tradespeople, manage getting quotes and contracts and manage delivery milestones and project plan.

The kinds of questions I have buzzing around my head is:
 

• Can all the issues be fixed?
• Should I use a Construction Consultant to guide me, help with contracts, help me assign a lead construction firm, insurances, check trades peoples accreditation and provide project management type services for the list above?
• Should I consider just using a lead construction firm and let them quote and do the work without the above consultant?
• Are there some jobs on the list that are more suitable to being managed directly between me and an installer, like the kitchen or bathrooms?
• At what stage do the tradespeople ask how I want the electrics or plumbing to look? Is this done up front when costing the work?
• Do I need to spec the level of work I require? I'd rather pay a bit more for a quality job with guarantees.
• In home remediation terms is the above list easy everyday stuff for good tradespeople?
• What error of margin can I expect in the quotes I receive? Is 20% error normal? I have no idea.

• The final one for me is what should I be asking a Construction Consultant to actually do beyond guide me and ensure the work is a success?

 

Can you share any lessons learned or any advice you think I need to know at this point?

 

Apologies for the long post and thank you if you take the time to reply to me.

[Onoff]

Welcome!

 

Knock the ****ing thing down and start again! ?

[dnb]

Welcome! Is it a listed building or is there a threat of this in the future? This can make life interesting.

It does look like there are a lot of issues. (Watch the 1980s film "The money pit" for inspiration ? )  Sadly the cold hard financial reality might say that starting again is the cheaper option. Certainly something to keep in mind as an alternative hypothesis when pricing the renovations and working out your upper limit on the offer.

 

I can't answer all the questions, but my take on the whole thing is yes, anything can be fixed. But price everything carefully. 20% cost error from my very short journey into old houses is going to be very much the best case - I would want a siginficant fighting fund for finding out bad things, probably at very short notice.  I got very close to buying a large 1760s house a few years ago. We had enough money for one "blank cheque" issue. We had a survey (from an expert in old churches and houses) and he informed us that there was potential for two. It could have been worse of course. It didn't appear to have many of the problems you list, but potential for dodgy foundations, and removal of some key supporting woodwork from the cellar by the previous owner and grade 2 listing was sufficient to put me off - it could easily have eaten £200,000, look no different, still cost £4000 in gas to heat each year and not be worth £200k more than when we started. It was still a beautiful house when all said and done.  It was one of the big drivers for me to want to do my own new build.

 

I'm sure that in the daylight the real experts here will have some more useful advice.

[Onoff]

5 hours ago, dnb said:

Watch the 1980s film "The money pit" for inspiration

 

Only time this house has actually made money when Tom Hanks etc chose it for the film's location...

 

?

 

The being swallowed by the carpet actually happened to me here but downstairs and to a lesser extent.

 

 

[Roundtuit]

Our last house was an 1820's 4-story renovation job starting with the roof and working down, and yes, everything can be fixed, its just a question of time and money!  Initial thoughts are as follows;

 

-  I wouldn't look for a 'construction consultant', I'd look for a good builder who's experienced and sympathetic with old buildings,  assuming you want to maintain the character of the building (if you don't, then probably best buy something newer). 

 

-  A Listing, or Conservation area adds an extra degree of complexity and cost.

 

-  Assume the worst from a budget perspective.  Quotes will always have a built-in safety margin to cover the inevitable surprises.  I had a lot of work done on day rate; it de-risked the job for the builder and ensured the job was done right with no shortcuts (so important to choose your builders carefully!).

 

We ended up with a beautiful house, but it wasn't easy (or well insulated, or warm, or cheap to run and maintain...).  Good luck!

 

 

[Ferdinand]

I take it you have a full structural survey in your hand?

 

If not it is a small (relative) amount of money (£400-£700?) to have done - and if you are commissioning it you can ask for information on particular questions, recommended repairs and their costs, and a formal valuation taking this into account.

 

Ferdinand