Buying a house. How much does stuff cost. (3 Viewers)

[UnicronUnicron is verified member.]

My wife and I want to buy a house this year.

We have a budget in mind. Ideally we'd get a house we really like and is ready to go and has a good BER and if we found something like that then I suppose I'd be OK with commiting the bulk of the budget on it.

However, chances are what we'll get is a place that would need some renovation and that will impact the amount I'd be willing to spend out of the budget.

Clearly the answer is "it depends" but how much does stuff cost? Like if you want to get double/triple glazed living room sized window what're we looking at? How much is a solar panel and associated works?

How much to redo a kitchen or bathroom?

Any recent buyers/renovators done any of this recently and have an idea on costs of this sort of thing?

I'm not expecting to have the ideal place on day 1 and some things might take a number of years toget around to but I'd like heat and energy efficiency to be sorted early.

 

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

How long is a piece of string?

 

[magicbastarder]

Bathroom, you're looking at five figures. My neighbour paid 18k for decent job on hers but I reckon that was several k higher than it should have been.

 

[xsteox]

When I got the windows done here, the glazer said triple glazed is pointless, and that double glazed does the same thing .
Also look at the heating boiler, we got the house insulated, but, you need a boiler under twenty years old. Look for grants for these sorts of work too

 

[Anthony]

Hard figures. We paid €7k for solar panels 2 or 3 years ago. I know people who paid way less than that since.

A grand, everything is at least a grand. We got a new front door a few years ago, 2k. Totally worth is though in terms of drafts etc. We got a roller door for the garage. About €600 i think. Again totally worth it. The best thing we ever did to the house.

 

[magicbastarder]

When I got the windows done here, the glazer said triple glazed is pointless, and that double glazed does the same thing .
Also look at the heating boiler, we got the house insulated, but, you need a boiler under twenty years old. Look for grants for these sorts of work too

Caveat here is that I don't know what I'm talking about but I have a vague memory that triple glazing in Ireland can make sense on north facing windows, for rooms which get no sun.
We entertained it for the master bedroom and front sitting room here for noise abatement, as we live in a busy road. But I was told that double glazing with one laminated pane was as effective and cheaper.

 

[dudley]

My wife and I want to buy a house this year.

We have a budget in mind. Ideally we'd get a house we really like and is ready to go and has a good BER and if we found something like that then I suppose I'd be OK with commiting the bulk of the budget on it.

However, chances are what we'll get is a place that would need some renovation and that will impact the amount I'd be willing to spend out of the budget.

Clearly the answer is "it depends" but how much does stuff cost? Like if you want to get double/triple glazed living room sized window what're we looking at? How much is a solar panel and associated works?

How much to redo a kitchen or bathroom?

Any recent buyers/renovators done any of this recently and have an idea on costs of this sort of thing?

I'm not expecting to have the ideal place on day 1 and some things might take a number of years toget around to but I'd like heat and energy efficiency to be sorted early.

Ugh, as Gary says, how long is a piece of string. Best piece of advise though, is to hunt down a decent QS, to find out any hidden problems. Plenty out there who will tell you what you want to hear for their 200 quid, you need to find someone who's able to deliver the news you don't want to hear. Same with a good solicitor with local planning nous.

Also, BERs have become a little meaningless. They can point you in the right direction, but in reality you can achieve a high BER by simply having ticked a number of options rather than doing what's appropriate for that building. So, ideally, look for external insulation, rather than internal etc. Ask for heating costs. Doesn't really matter how fancy your heat pump is, or how many panels are on the roof, if the airtightness is terrible. Our house was a D2 when we bought it. At the time, didn't bother with new boiler etc., just external insulation. Got the BER done again and it was still a D2, despite being so much warmer, and dropping our heating bill absolutely massively.

In terms of costs, when possible it's way more cost efficient to get the whole job done at once, rather than in an drip fashion. Last builder/architect I spoke to said you can still do a renovation for €3k per sqm if they're really locked in and smart about it. But start with that figure as a worst case scenario and engineer things out, like the grand piano shaped bath, til you make something that works for you. Good luck!

 

[UnicronUnicron is verified member.]

Thanks for all the advice folks. Keep em coming if you've got em.

 

[magicbastarder]

One thing I'll say about house buying (not having bought a house in over 12 years, mind) is that price and condition usually seemed to be mismatched.
In that you'd see two similar houses but where one would obviously need 100k to spend on it to bring up to the condition of the other, but the difference in price would be less than 50k.

 

[ann post]

My 3 bed averages 2600 a year maintenance. I DIY everything i can.

My general approach is all jobs in this order

Structural
Efficiency
Aesthetics

But I'm not sharing the space with anyone so those things would need to be talked about.

 

[UnicronUnicron is verified member.]

My general approach is all jobs in this order

Structural
Efficiency
Aesthetics

I would tend to agree, but there'll be some weighted blending of them.

I'd hate to spend that much on a bathroom.

 

[egg_]

A grand, everything is at least a grand.

Nothing takes less than a day, nothing costs less than a grand

 

[egg_]

We spent the guts of 20 grand on our kitchen 18 years ago. It is a little bit fancier than your standard kitchen though - 6 burner cooker, deeper-than-normal countertops, 2 sinks

I highly recommend this book if you're doing up your kitchen and you cook a lot Kitchen design with cooking in mind

 

[ernesto]

bought a house 3 years ago.
DIY is the only way we can afford to remedy the maaaany issues we’ve faced bar
the solar install
major woodworm treatment
Boiler servicing

 

[rettucs]

My wife and I want to buy a house this year.

We have a budget in mind. Ideally we'd get a house we really like and is ready to go and has a good BER and if we found something like that then I suppose I'd be OK with commiting the bulk of the budget on it.

However, chances are what we'll get is a place that would need some renovation and that will impact the amount I'd be willing to spend out of the budget.

Clearly the answer is "it depends" but how much does stuff cost? Like if you want to get double/triple glazed living room sized window what're we looking at? How much is a solar panel and associated works?

How much to redo a kitchen or bathroom?

Any recent buyers/renovators done any of this recently and have an idea on costs of this sort of thing?

I'm not expecting to have the ideal place on day 1 and some things might take a number of years toget around to but I'd like heat and energy efficiency to be sorted early.

moved house a year and a half ago and needed a tonne of work done on it. We had money from the house sale in Dublin and I sunk about 120k into getting everything done.

paid 50k for building work and about 20k on materials to convert a garage and attached shed into a utility room and office. Got new doors throughout the whole house, got wooden floors in the living room and hall, and tiled the floor to the utility and kitchen. Also got a second bathroom installed downstairs (there was only 1 bathroom upstairs before). They also redid the upstairs bathroom. Ripped out the bath and put in a walk-in shower. New jacks and sink. Redid the hotpress. New radiators, etc. Got a new boiler in the hotpress and a new outdoor oil boiler. New carpets on the hall, stairs and landing. Completely new kitchen and sink and units for utility (which was 15k)

New windows throughout the house, new front door, new back door and french doors from the kitchen to the garden were 16k. Could have gone cheaper or dearer, depending on what you choose. ie: different window frames, triple glazing instead of double glazing, etc.

They also had to widen and re-concrete the driveway, as well as re-concrete the side of the house.

Also got a new shed (adman) and an outdoor cabin that we use for a gym. Was about 10k for those. Then also got mostly all new furniture.

For a kitchen, go to someone like cash and carry kitchens and get them to do up a design for you. Then you can pick what kind of finish you want and that'll affect the price a lot. The kitchen installer won't clear the old kitchen for you. You'll need to get a builder to do that.

Get the same builder to do the bathroom. They'll clear the old stuff out and will organise a plumber, tiler etc. You pick the new stuff out, supply it to the builder and they'll manage getting everything done.

If you can manage it, get as much shit done as you can afford while you have the builder there. Once they move to another job it can be poxy hard to get them back again.

 

[Cormcolash]

My 3 bed averages 2600 a year maintenance. I DIY everything i can.

My general approach is all jobs in this order

Structural
Efficiency
Aesthetics

But I'm not sharing the space with anyone so those things would need to be talked about.

It's probably more expensive to maintain in the bogs too mind

 

[UnicronUnicron is verified member.]

First offer went in today.

I don't think we'll get it at this price.

 

[Reets]

I’m in the same both as you. Is it online bids or through the agent?

We’ve bid on 2 places so far but both went more than 30k over the asking price. Third time is the charm though.

 

[UnicronUnicron is verified member.]

I’m in the same both as you. Is it online bids or through the agent?

We’ve bid on 2 places so far but both went more than 30k over the asking price. Third time is the charm though.

Good luck.

I've already been outbid on this one.

I'm going to give it a couple of days to think about it.

Went through an agent.

 

[Reets]

Our last one was online and I ended up going about 5k over our agreed max.
It’s dangerous.