Dream house.. or a nightmare?

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Do your sums before you take on a massive revamp

Ever viewed a house which required “a degree of upgrading”? That’s estate agent talk for “needs completely done up”.

If you’ve ever taken the bait, like I have, you’ll know how much time and money this involves.

So, before you buy a beaten-up property with your eye on a Grand Designs-style revamp, make sure you’re being realistic.

Remember – once you have committed to a renovation project, there’s no going back.

Make sure you know about damp or rot problems before you buy as these can throw the best-planned budgets into total disarray.

And it’s worth bearing in mind that your initial cost estimate will always be lower than the actual bill.

So your first job should be to make an exhaustive list. Failing to do so will put you under pressure when the money starts to run out. Too many times I have seen people buy their dream home but the euphoria wears off once things are not going quite to plan.

You might be better to accept reality before you buy than realise you can’t afford it halfway through the work.

Extensions and conversions require detailed drawing to be submitted to your council’s building control and an architect or surveyor can do this for you, for a fee. The architect will be able to give you a ballpark figure for the project on your first meeting.

The chances are an old property will need rewiring, as 25-30 years is about the life span of a rewire.

To fully re-wire a standard threebedroom house will cost £2000- £3000, depending on whether you have to replaster or redecorate.

Heating often needs replaced and the cost of this is similar to that of a rewire. But you can get real bargains out there by searching the net.

Plumbers’ merchants are not always the cheapest places to go. If you have the time, buy your own boiler and radiators, leaving the heating engineer to supply pipes.

A new bathroom can cost anything from £1000-£15,000. It basically depends on what yo

u go for. Likewise with a kitchen but to be honest it should cost between £3000-£5000. IKEA are a great starting point and you can plan your kitchen at the store.

As for windows and doors, plenty of companies offer deals on UPVC windows and again £2000 is a starting point. If you have timber windows, they are worth salvaging.

You can have a three-bedroom house skim plastered for £1500 and doing your own painting and decorating is worthwhile.

Then nip into a carpet dealer and you can have a price for flooring within a couple of hours.

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