First real project.. Any advice??

[wipeoutdude]

Hi All,

First post here so be gentle!!

I am about to complete on the purchase of a 1950's bungalow in Bournemouth.. It basically needs complete renovation internally.. So new electrics, plumbing, heating, boiler, bathroom, kitchen, flooring and general decoration..

As the reality is setting in on the amount of work to be done it's becoming quite a daunting thought..

Some of the work I will do myself because I am on a tight budget, some of the work I will get people in to do because I am also on a tight time scale.. The trick will be balancing that to keep as close to the budget I have as possible..

So any advice for a renovation project newbie?

I guess electrics, plumbing and heating would be first on the list, can these generally be done at the same time or is there an order to these jobs?

Would a general contractor be best to sort out the jobs I can't (who will probably sub-contract the work) or should I get individual contractors for each task?

Sorry if these are totally basic questions..

Thanks for any advice.. I am sure there will be lots of questions along the way..

 

[footprints]

I guess it depends on whether it's a minor refurb, decorate rewire, heating, kitchen + bathroom, or you are knocking down walls and building extensions.
If it's the first I employ separate contractors, why pay a mark up to the builder? Chances are if something goes wrong he will blame the subby and try to squirm out of it anyway

 

[geraldthehamster]

If it does need a complete re-wire then that's best done in one go. Other than that, try to keep a good part of the house to live in and do it room by room, rather than ripping everything out and going ahead slowly on all fronts at once, having turned the whole house into a building site.

Especially if you don't live alone

Cheers
Richard

 

[kbdiy]

Also do your homework on what is and isn't notifiable work. For example you don't want to rewire the whole house and then find out that no sparks will sign it off as they didn't do the install or go knocking walls down and then find out that Building Control need to be informed and regulations followed. Whilst it might not be an issue now, just wait till you try and sell the property in the future.

 

[wipeoutdude]

Thanks for the comments.. Will definitely check with the planning people if the internal wall alterations I am planning will have any issues..

@Richard - In this scenario its fortunate I am single.. The other good news is that my Brother lives about 15 min away so until there is a room that is habitable I will be crashing on his sofa..

 

[footprints]

When having rewiring work done draw a nice clear square on the wall where you want the point, light etc, penny to a pound if you just wave vaguely at the spot it will be in the wrong place!

 

[wipeoutdude]

When having rewiring work done draw a nice clear square on the wall where you want the point, light etc, penny to a pound if you just wave vaguely at the spot it will be in the wrong place!

At this stage the plane is to spend a few days stripping out all the carpets, old kitchen units, bathroom, basically everything.. Will get it back to a shell..

Then I will basically draw on the walls where I want everything.. I guess reusing as many locations as possible should help a little??

Then I will get the electrician and plumbers in to quote on the work.. Hopefully that will make it easy enough to get a fairly accurate quote..

The tricky part will be the kitchen.. I need to work out what I am going to do with it so I can have an idea where the sockets and pipework need to run..

Looks like I might be able to get in and start stripping as early as next weekend..

 

[geraldthehamster]

Remember you can never have too many power points.

Cheers
Richard

 

[eddieed]

Remember you can never have too many power points.

Cheers
Richard

Agree with this. When we had our dining room built I had 3 double and 2 single sockets put in in a space only 15m square.

Within a week I had to change one of the singles to a double and then after buying our furniture I soon realised we had no socket in the correct place to put a lamp on our new side board!

Then we had a garage and home office built. I thought I had learnt my lesson so put 3 double sockets under where my desk was going to be. I could have done with 5 and now have to use an extension lead when I was trying to avoid it.

Best way in a kitchen is to think about where your sink will go and then work from there. You don't want your kettle too far from the tap etc... Also think about what you may need to plug in...

Where you will put your TV in the lounge...think about all the other devices that go with a TV and have a socket for each. If you are completely gutting the house then also think about network cabling as well. While Wireless is OK wires are always better if you can. A lot of electricians will now do CAT6 cabling as well!

Good luck with it all...you will enjoy it for the most part and the reward at the end will be worth it in those bad times.

 

[Wicksee]

Agree with the advice about sockets - the last thing you want is wires all over the place because your sockets aren't where you need them so think carefully about where you'll have furniture with lamps on etc. If in doubt, put a couple of extra ones in.

When it comes to the kitchen, plan around the golden triangle of sink, cooker and fridge with your worktop areas or island between these points.

 

[wipeoutdude]

When it comes to the kitchen, plan around the golden triangle of sink, cooker and fridge with your worktop areas or island between these points.

Thanks, the Kitchen is going to be a tricky one too.. It's a little "quirky".. I have discovered that the gas meter in in the one corner of the room, it has a box built over it and the previous owners had a small fridge/freezer on top of the box.. Then on the other side is a huge recess where at one point in time there was a solid fuel burner or something similar.. Plan on this is to get all the dimensions of the room then head to B&Q and see if their designer has any good ideas on how best to use the space..

 

[geraldthehamster]

then head to B&Q and see if their designer has any good ideas on how best to use the space..

Splutter. I was following you up to that point

Cheers
Richard

 

[wipeoutdude]

then head to B&Q and see if their designer has any good ideas on how best to use the space..

Splutter. I was following you up to that point

Cheers
Richard

Calling a proper kitchen place seems to quadruple the price especially because I plan to fit it myself to keep the costs down and the kitchen places want to fit it all for you (which is where they make their money).. If there is somewhere better to get self fitted kitchens I am all ears..

 

[paulc2]

then head to B&Q and see if their designer has any good ideas on how best to use the space..

Splutter. I was following you up to that point

Cheers
Richard

Calling a proper kitchen place seems to quadruple the price especially because I plan to fit it myself to keep the costs down and the kitchen places want to fit it all for you (which is where they make their money).. If there is somewhere better to get self fitted kitchens I am all ears..

Me too, I'd be interested to hear recommendations of affordable self fitted kitchens. I've Googled the obvious but if there's any others etc...

 

[footprints]

No harm in letting B&Q give you a quote but leave accepting it for a while chances are they will ring after a few days and offer a discount, do Wickes too and let them know about the other one quoting

I like Magnet if you can get a "special offer deal" out of them they are ready assembled saves a lot of time and they are much firmer and better quality than the flat pack ones.