Selling a house - what refurbs maximise value - white goods?

White goods, absolutely yes if part of an integrated kitchen. Fully integrated kitchens do add value.

If standalone then only if a) brand new and b) a quality brand & product
 
gazref said:
Dining wall is 2.7m plaster board partition. Thinking 2ish k. Not had quoted yet
Boiler install 2-2.5k.
Downstairs loo is small, new toilet basin and flooring. 1k?
Bathroom 3k.
Kitchen face lift , new top and unit doors. New flooring, cooker and dish washer. No quotes yet but
Windows were best quoted at 7k after 2 companies.
Gardener quote was redic , sounds like he's got more than enough work to inflate prices on so that's a maybe.
Door gloss and skirting has yellowed so might set aside few 1000 for decorators to do hallway upstairs
Carpets
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Are you sure the wall is a stud wall? I’d be surprised if it was on a ground floor, normally they are block and support the floor above. I’d it’s stud then that sounds about right, if it’s a supporting block wall then you are significantly underestimating.

Bathrooms seem on the low side, I refurbished my en-suite, bathroom, and downstairs loo over the last year and the materials alone were £2.1k, £2.1k and £625. We shopped around for everything to keep the costs down and nothing we bought was expensive. A trader will be charging a mark up and just get everything from their normal wholesaler. We were quoted for the en-suite (tiny 1.2m x 2.2m) pre-lockdown which was £4.5k.

Boiler looks about right for a straight swap, it might be a bit higher if you need additional remedial works like a power flush and magnet filter installed so they will warranty it. I really wouldn’t bother if the old one if still serviceable.

You’ll probably find the kitchen face lift isn’t that much cheaper than just replacing it like for like. The issue with replacing doors is getting something that matches the carcasses/end panels and they never match, even if they still make the same range due to fading. The risk is that it will just look like an old kitchen with some new doors and isn’t going to fool anyone if not done well.

I really wouldn’t bother touching the windows, just clean them inside and out. If any are blown then just get the glass replaced for about £100 per unit. No one is going to start inspecting the mechanisms to check they are all ok when viewing.

The glossing will have a huge impact and it will cost you perhaps £40 in materials and a few weekends to do yourself. I wouldn’t get a painter in, it’s seriously labour intensive and really not that difficult. It’s not like your going to have to live with any dodgy bits of finish and viewers just don’t look at that kind of detail.

Carpets can have a big impact if they are dirty or thread bear. If there just old/dirty then try a rug doctor first, you might be able to get away with just a clean. No need to go fancy on a replacement and you could do the whole house in something inexpensive for £2k. Just pick a neutral colour like cream, beige or grey.
 
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Clean and reasonably painted is all you need. Any obvious issues like a slipped roof tile fixed. Make sure garden is in good order as well. Non integrated white goods are pointless and add nothing to value abs will cost you money unless you’ve used them for a few years and can sell for £50-£100.
 
You want to maximise profits but willing to pay decorators to repaint skirting?
As others have said, just freshen everything up doing as much as you can yourself, then sell. No point replacing white goods or the boiler if everything works.
 
Thanks for all the feedback I do appreciate it. You've definitely got me pumping the breaks on already moderate cost plans.

The house and fittings are 20yrs old. Flooring everywhere is toast. Veneer off some of the kitchen units is peeling off. I'm not looking for show room finishes but I wouldn't buy the house as is without wanting discounts for work. And I'm sure it's cheaper to rectify and remove those thoughts of "I need a discount for xyz".

If you viewed it you'd definitely not be willing to pay top asking. Know a kitchen and boiler guy so labour rates should be fair.

Yeah pretty sure the kitchen/dine wall is not load bearing. It's unconnected to any other wall upstairs which Google tells me that's usually a sign it's not. It runs north to south and loft has all the support going east to west . To be confirmed though. I'm certain that'll have a big impact on the feel of the house for relatively low outlay. If it's loading bearing not getting done.
 
A lot of good replies here, and echoing that I wouldn't be entertaining splashing too much cash at it in the unlikely event of not recouping the costs. I.e. If you're spending 7k on a new kitchen and it only adds 7k to the price, then it's likely not worth doing. You've also got to consider that your tastes will differ to the prospective buyer. I know personally I'd rather buy a property without a new kitchen, and be able to do the design myself.

If the market in the area is hot then the bulk of things really won't make any difference. The buyers will only be concerned about major things.
 
If it’s an “aspirational” area, you might even put people off by doing a cheapo kitchen renovation. I’d paint, not bother with the layout or kitchen change (unless it’s absolutely dreadful or completely broken) and make sure it’s clean and liveable. I’d be pretty frustrated if someone had put in a brand new bottom of the range cheap kitchen in an otherwise great house. Also, the layout change is not worth it as someone might want to extend or make different changes.

Interestingly there’s a place down the road from us that seems to have been on the market for ages (our neighbours had an offer in 2 weeks, properties do not hang around). This property has clearly been “renovated” but I get the impression it’s been done on a shoestring. This has priced out the developers and also put people off who would expect a better finish.

To contrast this, our EA told us not to touch anything in our flat in Brighton and sell as is. Not a sausage for months and months until we re-did the flooring and re-decorated. It wasn’t terrible to start with but clearly needed something.
 
As above... unless it is a total tip and a developer would be interested, all you need to do is:
1. make it liveable (my house was like this and had £15k costed in for improvements that I made to my taste)
2. make it absolutely show-home like.

Anything in between and you put off everyone.
 
gazref said:
Yeah pretty sure the kitchen/dine wall is not load bearing. It's unconnected to any other wall upstairs which Google tells me that's usually a sign it's not. It runs north to south and loft has all the support going east to west . To be confirmed though. I'm certain that'll have a big impact on the feel of the house for relatively low outlay. If it's loading bearing not getting done.
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I wouldn't trust that google advice, its entirely dependent on how the property was constructed and likely to be wrong. They stopped building houses where load bearing walls go right up to attic level decades ago in the UK.

Most modern houses are built with block internal walls which support the upper floor joists (normally I beams). These are topped with chipboard floorboards which effectively make a single platform for the entire upper floor. All the second floor internal walls are normally stud, they can be anywhere and bear no resemblance to the ground floor walls. Its very normal in a house built like this for second floor joists to run both front to back in parts of the property and side to side in others parts of the same floor.

In a modern house, if it's not a load bearing wall it will be stud, its quicker, easer and cheaper to build a stud wall compared to a block one. Modern houses are built with cost and speed in mind rather so if it can be stud, it will be stud. If its a block wall, its very likely to be block for a reason and its holding something up.

There are a few ways to tell if its stud, if there is a door way in the wall it will be obvious. A stud wall will be around 3.5" thick where as a block wall will be closer to 6". If there is no doorway then you may be able to tell by knocking all over the wall. If its 'dot dab' over block you should notice a difference in sound when you knock on a blob of adhesive compared to where its hollow. You can run a magnet over it which will be attracted to the screws holding the plasterboard to a studs (if its a stud wall). You can also just drill a small hole in it, if you hit block its load bearing, if its hollow or filled with insulation, its not.

Hope that helps. :)
 
Don't bother with boiler absolutely zero point.

As for white goods again absolutely zero point you take them with you and if the integrated ones work then leave as is or clean them up to look nice as possible.

Garden I'd clean up and do as much as you can. Proper hard landscaping will cost a fortune and you won't add much onto the home.

You say kitchen needs doing personally I view it as theres two types of buyers. Those that want to put their own mark on the place so pointless buying new stuff that will be ripped out and others who want a home they can move in to which requires next to zero work and they would value a new kitchen.

Problem is that you don't know which will be buying your home. Therefore if go cheap as possible and look to just paint over problems wherever possible. Or clean them up and tidy things.
 
dLockers said:
As above... unless it is a total tip and a developer would be interested, all you need to do is:
1. make it liveable (my house was like this and had £15k costed in for improvements that I made to my taste)
2. make it absolutely show-home like.

Anything in between and you put off everyone.
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This, as a buyer I'd be more interested in the house which was a few k cheaper with a liveable but tired kitchen than the more expensive one with a new bargain basement kitchen to the seller's taste which I'd end up ripping out and replacing anyway. Likewise with washing machine, cooker, etc. I don't want your £200 rental house special beko white goods, and they wouldn't really add any value to me as they'd just end up on gumtree for £50. Conversely if you're putting in top of the range ones, you aren't going to get the full value back
 
Haggisman said:
This, as a buyer I'd be more interested in the house which was a few k cheaper with a liveable but tired kitchen than the more expensive one with a new bargain basement kitchen to the seller's taste which I'd end up ripping out and replacing anyway. Likewise with washing machine, cooker, etc. I don't want your £200 rental house special beko white goods, and they wouldn't really add any value to me as they'd just end up on gumtree for £50. Conversely if you're putting in top of the range ones, you aren't going to get the full value back
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Post is spot on. Spend the bare minimum on paint and tidying things up and forget about buying new things for old ones that work fine but may look a little tired.

My mate just bought a home where some idiot of a woman thought spending lots of money would mean she gets more for her home. She then tried to sell him couches, fridge freezer, etc. I told him not to budge on his offer as it was the highest by a country mile. Long story short she got £10k below what she wanted. He ended up putting a new boiler in after a year as hers was cheapest crap option and thats what she bought everywhere. I can't believe she tried to sell him her second hand fridge freezer for £500 I told him it's worth £150 at best and that's only if it's a decent make and in decent nick. Second hand stuff like that plummets in value.
 
Have to echo what others have said just fix things that are broken and new paint throughout. The only thing I'd consider adding to that is putting down new cheap carpets or at least getting the existing ones professionally cleaned as that won't cost much and will freshen the place up.
 
doesn't look like much is a good investment just to sell:
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I'd clean it up, get the carpets cleaned (if stained or smelly), touch up the paintwork and present it well as possible. If anything really needs doing have an idea of how much it would cost to get done and agree to take half that off if the a buyer asks :D
 
Maybe post pictures of the house gazref?

I'm seeing a similar thread in motors about someone not fixing a "scratch" for a trade in. Turns out said "scratch" was a buckled and folded bonnet with cracked bumper and paint literally missing :cry:

Is said "tidying up" actually a wrecked house? :p
 
Siliconslave said:
doesn't look like much is a good investment just to sell:
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I'd clean it up, get the carpets cleaned (if stained or smelly), touch up the paintwork and present it well as possible. If anything really needs doing have an idea of how much it would cost to get done and agree to take half that off if the a buyer asks :D
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Where did you source that? I've seen stuff like that but included boilers, UVPC windows etc...

The gardener/landscaper, although highly rated, wanted £3600 for 2 days work trimming the bushes and trees (we never asked about the trees). He wouldnt touch the overgrown 2m x 0.5 behind the garage and wouldnt quote for a bit of flagging because he couldnt get the parts. Bought a chipper and telescopic trimmer this morning from the warehouse place.
 
I'd be tempted to see if you can get a cheap oven off facebook / gumtree and maybe some cheap laminate tiles to tidy the floor up. It doesn't need to be perfect but its about making sure people think they could live with it until they can avoid to change it to exactly what they want.

gazref said:
Where did you source that? I've seen stuff like that but included boilers, UVPC windows etc...
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https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...improvements-add-house-prices-investment.html - although its a little old i'd imagine its not changed much.
 
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