Considering a project - Is there a definitive reference?

[plasticpigeon]

I think the date of construction of my house is in the deeds. I think owners get sent the deeds now that everything is held electronically. Maybe not and they sent them to me mistakenly but even you don't get the deeds, the house history may come up when the solicitor does the searches. As said in the previous post if you send a picture, I'm sure that people on here will be able to date it to within 10 years of so!!!! Which part of the country are you in??

 

[Zebra]

I've managed to do mine a lot cheaper than some describe above. I rebuilt two single storey extensions for around £7k each, although that only includes the structural work not any internal finishing which I will do myself. Kitchen and bathroom I'm sure I can manage for around £3k each, although that won't include appliances (continue with the bucket... :roll.
Buying an old house can be such an unknown quantity, if there were a definitive reference, then surely just about every other property would be an exception, making the reference meaningless. You don't know what you're going to find! Isn't that part of the joy of it? I'm taking four times longer than I thought, have done so much more to it than I imagined, and my original £30k budget will run out on just the structural external work without any kitchen, bathroom or internal work but don't wish it otherwise....

 

[Flyfisher]

I think owners get sent the deeds now that everything is held electronically. Maybe not and they sent them to me mistakenly but even you don't get the deeds, the house history may come up when the solicitor does the searches.

For new purchases, it's true that original deeds are no longer required to be securely stored because it's now mandatory for the titles to be registered at Land Registry. But for existing owners who may not hold the original deeds, it's worth enquiring with whoever is holding them because I've read of deeds being destroyed as solicitors clear out their storage archives, which obviously reduces their costs.

I'd like to think owners would always be asked before such documents are destroyed but I also wouldn't want to rely on it. Such documents may no longer have any legal value (unless the title isn't yet registered) but they are certainly of significant historical value and it's such a shame that so many are being lost forever.

 

[Pford75]

Excellent advice on this thread. I agree that the budget required is a function of 'state of dilapedation' * 'DIY skills' * 'Spare time' * 'Patience'. Some really good advice from Joce about the need for couples to embark upon the project with similar expectations and timelines.

I would regard our family as pretty 'hands-on'. Mrs F, teenage F's and myself spent an entire Winter stripping the Sandtex from our house ourselves. We've done some small patches of lime plastering, we do all our papering/decorating as well as the general tiling, repairs, rendering, repointing etc. that the project has entailed. We've demolished a porch and replaced with steps/railings. We've built a greenhouse.

However, we couldn't have done any of this without substantial funds.....

Roof work - £26,000 to date (and not something I could do myself given the need to get repairs completed quickly)
Flint walling - £12,000 (Excluding section built at insurers cost) - Too specialised for me to do
Rewiring - £14,000 (We saved some costs by lifting boards ourselves - but the need to have a specialist here is unavoidable)
Replumbing/central heating - £22,500 (New boiler, completely new pipework since old was leaking all over, radiators etc.) If you want cast iron rads, they are expensive.
Scaffolding - £7,500ish (We purchased our own tower, but there are some bits/jobs which need permanent scaffold.
Insulation - £6,000 on materials only

That's just the 'big' jobs without accounting for someone actually limewashing the house when we had stripped it (couldn't face doing it ourselves at that point), without the materials cost of the decorating, greenhouse, gravel (for driveway) and general decoration costs (By my estimate we've probably spent £25k+ on curtains and wallpaper!). So much will also depend upon the finish level you are aiming for (eg. B&Q kitchen vs. Local Joiner vs. Clive Christian)

The point of me mentioning all of this is to emphasise that projects can vary - so much depends on the size of the property and the state of repair.

We are sometimes guilty on PPUK of assuming that it is a case of either DIY or Money...the reality for many of us is needing to do both. I hate it when tradesmen assume that we do none of the work ourselves - we simply couldn't afford to have taken the property on without being willing to get our hands dirty.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Well that just goes to show that even the most affluent are giving their all to a huge labour of love. Good post, Pford. I think it's nice to do what you can yourself and have that level of involvement, and I always feel that making my own curtains, painting and wallpapering ourselves means the money saved on tradespeople can go to the more sumptuous ranges of materials. And it's absolutely true that with the best will in the world some problems just need a whole load of money throwing at them - like our water supply one.

It's interesting that the inside of a building - the decorations, furnishings, and fittings, can add up to vastly more than any building or repair work. If the home-owner isn't really interested in that side of things, then fine, but to me the whole point of saving the outside is to make it lovely and liveable on the inside. It makes sense to be continually on the hunt for the right pieces and have a good eye for a bargain, as well as developing an ingenious sense of how materials might be sensitively reused. The pillars supporting the finial on the dome at Portmeirion were originally made from the cardboard insides of carpet rolls.
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