renovating a house, so expensive

[macafee2]

my daughter bought a house end of last year. She has decided to have the central heating boiler replaced and relocated. The house also needs a rewire. Due to the type of floor coverings upstairs the ceilings downstairs have been pulled down. Daughters boyfriend and I have down the pulling down of ceilings and the channelling of the walls for the rewire but I am shocked by how much the quotes are for.

rewire, £3k, replace boiler 2 quotes of just over 3k, one just over 2k and one just under 3k. The boiler quotes include fitting a mixer shower.

This is money she just does not have and I know that when starting out it is hard and as I sit here typing this post feel I could step in and lend her the money to cover the renovation.

She hopes later in the year to rent the property out, this is a change as the house was not bought with the intention of renting. New boyfriend seems very keen on her. If property is rented out then in time all the money will be recouped I'm so out of touch with how much things seem to cost when you pay other people to do the work.


well worth having a mate that's a sparks or plumber that will do things for beer money.

If she was not renting and I had more time a lot of the rewire and plumbing I could do. as certificates are required and sparks wont certificate work done by me she ha to pay them to do it. I can see her spending 10k doing it up. Peanuts to what I have spent on this house but it still feels an awful lot for the work being done.

macafee2

[ratchet]

There may be grants available for the boiler and renovation work. Your local council might pay for the renovations to be done if she agrees to rent it to them for a set time............. but she would have no say on who the tenants are

Policies obviously vary between councils, but it must be worth the price of a phone call to find out.

[DragonFly]

Probably the same for plumbers...

See if you can find an electrician that will allow you to do "1st fix", this is where the majority of the labour (and therefore the bill) comes in.

By completing the 1st fix yourself, you're not making any connections (and therefore not breaking any 'part P' regs), you may have to pay them a fee to come out and guide you or to inspect your work, but that'll be a lot cheaper than having an electrician & a mate, coming in to do it all.

A mate of mine did this and knocked about £1,800 off the bill!

[macafee2]

the sparks have all said no to me running cables. the channeling wwe have done will save quite a bit.
i think my daughter has asked about grants but she is in full time work and earning "to much".
I will suggest again if there is any help if she were to rent it to council. thanks for the tip

macafee2

[MSS]

If you (yours) are going to let the property out, my advice would be not to take any chances and get all the cabling etc. done by a properly qualified firm who will provide safety certificates when the work is completed. Also include wired smoke/CO2 alarms.

We renovated my later father's house 2 years ago in preparation for letting it out. For a 3-bed 1930s property, it cost £4.5k for a boiler replacement/relocation with full system powerflush etc. and the rewiring just over £5k. The work was done by British Gas and Southern Electric respectively. Not cheap but you really do get peace of mind with quality work and meaningful warranties.

[macafee2]

mss, she is having qualified people do the work. I have had a qulified plumber work in my house. Had to have him back for a poor job. As you say, not taking any chances when it comes to renting out.

The quotes do as you suggest include interconnected smoke alarms and co2 alarm.

it's still a lot of money for her. some of the bopiler people wont provide a breakdown of costs and as they are so expensive and with theior replies they wont be getting the work.


macafee2

[freck]

I'm currently having to do similar work as we've inherited a house and are going to be renting ours out.
As a time served electrician I'm going to be doing the work myself. Although I'm not Part P certified it doesn't stop me, or anyone doing the work themselves and just having it inspected and certified.
If an electrician won't let you do the work yourself and just inspect and certify it, I'd tell him to sling his hook and find someone else. There's no law saying you can't and I'm sure you'll find someone who will, for a fee of course.

It's the same with a boiler. I'm going to resite mine and install a new one (it's a back boiler at the moment) and will get a Gassafe plumber to do the final gas connection and commission it. I've already found a plumber prepared to do this.

As long as you're adhering to applicable regulations with the installations then there's nothing stopping you from doing the work yourself and saving a lot of money.
I would also rather do the job myself as I won't cut corners to maximise profit like some would.

Some of these tradesmen just put the wind up customers telling them that they're not allowed to work on gas or electricity installations just to get the profitable jobs but what some charge is just extortionate.
I was quoted £4K for my boiler job, that's over £2.5k in labour for less than 3 days work! That's almost a months wages for me.

[MSS]

Originally Posted by freck

I'm currently having to do similar work as we've inherited a house and are going to be renting ours out.
As a time served electrician I'm going to be doing the work myself. Although I'm not Part P certified it doesn't stop me, or anyone doing the work themselves and just having it inspected and certified.
If an electrician won't let you do the work yourself and just inspect and certify it, I'd tell him to sling his hook and find someone else. There's no law saying you can't and I'm sure you'll find someone who will, for a fee of course.

It's the same with a boiler. I'm going to resite mine and install a new one (it's a back boiler at the moment) and will get a Gassafe plumber to do the final gas connection and commission it. I've already found a plumber prepared to do this.

As long as you're adhering to applicable regulations with the installations then there's nothing stopping you from doing the work yourself and saving a lot of money.
I would also rather do the job myself as I won't cut corners to maximise profit like some would.

Some of these tradesmen just put the wind up customers telling them that they're not allowed to work on gas or electricity installations just to get the profitable jobs but what some charge is just extortionate.
I was quoted £4K for my boiler job, that's over £2.5k in labour for less than 3 days work! That's almost a months wages for me.

The difference is that you are a "time served electrician".

The question is, would you want to certify an unknown person's car repairs for a relatively small charge e.g. clutch change on a CDT or brake changes?

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by mss

The difference is that you are a "time served electrician".

The question is, would you want to certify an unknown person's car repairs for a relatively small charge e.g. clutch change on a CDT or brake changes?

I would say no, unless I had supervised the work or all the work was easily inspectable.

Could you offer to work as an assistant to help cut the costs?

[freck]

Originally Posted by mss

The difference is that you are a "time served electrician".

The question is, would you want to certify an unknown person's car repairs for a relatively small charge e.g. clutch change on a CDT or brake changes?

I served my time over 25 years ago and haven't worked in the industry for almost 10 years so things have changed.
However, there's lots of information, advice and instructions online to help anyone who has a modicum of practicality about them, which I think many on here have.
To be honest, house wiring is very simple really if you follow the regulations set out and use common sense.

I'd be happy to offer assistance or advice to anyone who wants to dive in themselves. Just a shame I'm not nearer to you Ian.