Has anyone completely gutted and renovated a house?

[sarmanz_male]

I am in the market for an acreage and recently one popped up in the perfect location and priced at $300-$350k lower than anything with similar sized land and house. But the house would require a lot of work to be livable even.

So I was hoping to get people's thoughts on the idea of buying the place with the plan to completely gut the place and hiring a contractor to do a complete remodel. I would definitely hire a competent inspector to assess the place before buying, but are there many things even an inspector may need be able to see that could cost me a fortune to fix?

The house is a 1315 sq foot bungalow built in 1989. It has a septic tank and well that was apparently 20 gpm before. Even if we had to spend $200k to renovate, it would still be a steal of a price with an amazing location.

[brendan's dad]

$200 is a healthy budget as long as your foundation and bones are good. Make sure the septic system is good.. very big ticket item. Demo it yourself and then act as the general. Very easy to do and it all about price hunting and scheduling. Lots of info online on being a GC for your own project.

Good Luck

[HunterDave]

A couple of years ago we gutted and completely renovated a bungalow slightly smaller than that due to black mold concerns. The word “renovate” is relative and depending on what you want to do the costs will vary greatly. We did a large portion of the work but contracted out some drywall work, electrical and flooring installation. Contractors cost a lot so we found tradesmen that took on the work after their regular work hours (moonlighters). I don’t know the exact cost but I doubt that it cost over $20K even with new windows/doors and kitchen cabinets/counter. For $200K that bungalow should look like the Tij mahal. But, if you want nothing to do and contract everything out and want top of the line everything, you could eat through that $200K I guess.

[ram crazy]

Originally Posted by brendan's dad

$200 is a healthy budget as long as your foundation and bones are good. Make sure the septic system is good.. very big ticket item.

Good Luck

This right here, I do all my own work as I hate paying anyone else to do stuff I can do. I even build my own cabinets as you just don’t get the quality.

[hogie]

Healthy budget, should be able to do if you have a good house to start with. Helped my brother do that with his house . He started with a good house that he wanted to make better. We did all the demolition inside and he hired a local guys that worked on the side to do the rest.

My first step in this would be to find someone who can inspect this house to see if it's a good base to start with. Probably going to have to do something with the septic system, tanks don't last forever. If its original to house its 30 years old. Can get them inspected as well. Check local bylaws for septic. May have changed from when it was originally done. May have to redo it to current requirements which can get expensive.

[Dean2]

I love working on cars, building guns, gun stocks, shooting, fishing and the like but I have always hated doing major home renovations. I always worked full time at demanding jobs and trying to do renovations in my little bit of time off was not something I wanted to do. Having a house torn apart for months just wasn't interesting.

Based on my situation I always hired people to do major renovations. Getting one contractor that can handle the whole job is definitely easier on you but you can figure that it will add about 30%-40% or more to the cost of hiring and coordinating individual trades for the various component pieces.

First consideration, framing a house is not all that expensive, it is all the interior work that costs. You can still build a pretty nice place in the $150 a foot range if you have septic, basement, water etc already in place. This brings you to the current house; is it 2x6 or 2x10 and property insulated, are their mold or termite issues. If not at least 2x6 and pest free, take it down to the foundation and just rebuild. Even a total rebuild will fit within the budget you are working with. The rest is just a matter of working out exactly how much of a "Total gut" job you really need to do. Stripping to the studs is very different than moving a wall or two and redoing floors, bathrooms etc.

The last major renovation we did was to an acreage Bungalow we bought in Calgary. It was 2100' on the main, 2300' fully finished basement that did not need anything but carpet. Real good bones, 2x10 walls, in floor basement heat, 12" thick basement walls with foam outer structure. Main floor needed 2 new bathrooms with all new fixtures, cabinets, tubs, commodes. Rest of the house we ripped out all main floor carpets, floors, cabinets, full house repaint etc but no walls were moved or major structural.

My wife was home to supervise the work so using trades to do all of the work and putting in hardwood floors, marble tile in the entrances, kitchen and hallways, granite counter tops, new doors on kitchen cabinets, new ceiling and pot lighting in kitchen and dining area, redo all the concrete sidewalks around the house, new Duradeck on the rear deck, and the like. Basically all high end finishes and fixtures, the total bill came out to about $60,000. We bought most of the materials direct because I had access to wholesale pricing. Contractor quotes were anywhere from 110,000 to $180,000 for the end to end job.

We staged the work so that the house was still easily livable, and had all the work done over the period of a year, starting with doing the bathrooms, then floors, kitchen, deck, walks. If we weren't living there, even using trades we would have been able to do it in 4 months quite easily.

There are so many factors that go into looking at what you are doing it is really hard to provide good general advise. Hope the above is of some help.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Dean, has good overview and advice. Also as others have mentioned the finishing materials eat up most of the cash$$ in a reno, especially the bathrooms and kitchen. Painted drywall in rest of rooms is dirt cheap especially if you also buy dirt cheap painted doors and mouldings.
Lastly would not get to hung up with 2x6 walls, Jayman homes adds 2" of styro on outside walls, actually better R value than 2x6 on their new homes.

[KGB]

If you don’t have to touch the outside walls and foundation, budget for $40-60 per sq.ft. Add another 10-20 bucks if you are looking for a high end tile, hardwood etc etc.

[fishtank]

Originally Posted by Dean2

I love working on cars, building guns, gun stocks, shooting, fishing and the like but I have always hated doing major home renovations. I always worked full time at demanding jobs and trying to do renovations in my little bit of time off was not something I wanted to do. Having a house torn apart for months just wasn't interesting.

Based on my situation I always hired people to do major renovations. Getting one contractor that can handle the whole job is definitely easier on you but you can figure that it will add about 30%-40% or more to the cost of hiring and coordinating individual trades for the various component pieces.

First consideration, framing a house is not all that expensive, it is all the interior work that costs. You can still build a pretty nice place in the $150 a foot range if you have septic, basement, water etc already in place. This brings you to the current house; is it 2x6 or 2x10 and property insulated, are their mold or termite issues. If not at least 2x6 and pest free, take it down to the foundation and just rebuild. Even a total rebuild will fit within the budget you are working with. The rest is just a matter of working out exactly how much of a "Total gut" job you really need to do. Stripping to the studs is very different than moving a wall or two and redoing floors, bathrooms etc.

The last major renovation we did was to an acreage Bungalow we bought in Calgary. It was 2100' on the main, 2300' fully finished basement that did not need anything but carpet. Real good bones, 2x10 walls, in floor basement heat, 12" thick basement walls with foam outer structure. Main floor needed 2 new bathrooms with all new fixtures, cabinets, tubs, commodes. Rest of the house we ripped out all main floor carpets, floors, cabinets, full house repaint etc but no walls were moved or major structural.

My wife was home to supervise the work so using trades to do all of the work and putting in hardwood floors, marble tile in the entrances, kitchen and hallways, granite counter tops, new doors on kitchen cabinets, new ceiling and pot lighting in kitchen and dining area, redo all the concrete sidewalks around the house, new Duradeck on the rear deck, and the like. Basically all high end finishes and fixtures, the total bill came out to about $60,000. We bought most of the materials direct because I had access to wholesale pricing. Contractor quotes were anywhere from 110,000 to $180,000 for the end to end job.

We staged the work so that the house was still easily livable, and had all the work done over the period of a year, starting with doing the bathrooms, then floors, kitchen, deck, walks. If we weren't living there, even using trades we would have been able to do it in 4 months quite easily.

There are so many factors that go into looking at what you are doing it is really hard to provide good general advise. Hope the above is of some help.

excellent break down , dont put too many thing on your plate, do one thing at a time and schedule it out each trade , cross your finger you have a good knowledgeble tradesperson doing the work .

[Cement Bench]

Originally Posted by hogie

Healthy budget, should be able to do if you have a good house to start with. Helped my brother do that with his house . He started with a good house that he wanted to make better. We did all the demolition inside and he hired a local guys that worked on the side to do the rest.

My first step in this would be to find someone who can inspect this house to see if it's a good base to start with. Probably going to have to do something with the septic system, tanks don't last forever. If its original to house its 30 years old. Can get them inspected as well. Check local bylaws for septic. May have changed from when it was originally done. May have to redo it to current requirements which can get expensive.

County may have you update the septic system if Reno over 15% of house, varies from county to county

[Cement Bench]

R U west of Edmonton town may have a name for you

[Cement Bench]

security while building renovation as well

[sarmanz_male]

Originally Posted by Cement Bench

R U west of Edmonton town may have a name for you

No closer to Calgary actually.