My apartment Project log

[Dr House]

As promised I am going to post a build log as I go along.

So this is our proposed floor plan
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/2xrhu_8Bm8tTPhdA_3lM4T3JkPHcnxOZcDnldY_-0GE?feat=directlink

We have decided to remove the sloping roof on both ends of the living/ dining room and put in a large floor to ceiling folding sliding doors with a Jolliet balcony on both ends.

In the master bedroom we are again going to knock out the sloping roof, our mattress is 2.4m by 2.4m so we will have a wall behind the mattress and fixed glazing on either side running from the floor to ceiling.

External elevation
This is what the building looks like now
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/P1000032.jpg

This is what it will look like when we have finished with it

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/ki1rnW_uU5qxRN5vnTABQD3JkPHcnxOZcDnldY_-0GE?feat=directlink


Kitchen elevation can be seen here
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/uct89QF6-Umbu3IRvGIASj3JkPHcnxOZcDnldY_-0GE?feat=directlink
We are going to knock a large hole in the back wall (behind the sink) of the kitchen. We plan to fit a 8ft by 3ft fish tank in the hole.

Bedroom 3 will also have a large fixed glass window the same size of the fish tank. This will allow you to look out of the bedroom through the hall way, through the fish tank, through the kitchen and out of the rear window of the kitchen. We want to install active glass which will become opaque when switched on.

Kitchen floor plan
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/U7NMYD5Fm7sh11TxU7Iiwj3JkPHcnxOZcDnldY_-0GE?feat=directlink

I have managed to get most of the kitchen appliances from ebay. This has saved me a small fortune. I also got the mattress from ebay making a considerable saving
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130397902498&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Things we plan to incorporate
Mira Digital shower for all the bathrooms (not going to use the mira shower head)
http://www.mirashowers.co.uk/platinum/index.htm
This will allow us to switch the shower on and off before we get in, it also got a digital controller making temperature control a little easier.

Heating
We plan to use a Mitsubishi Ecodan Air source heat pump. This should give us around 28kw of heating power. We also plan to have solar thermal heating and possible Solar PV system (a company called a share greener are offing to fit it for free).
Underfloor heating through the house

Ventilation
We plan to use a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system, which should exchange all the air in the flat for fresh air every coupe of hours.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IdRX4SKr4Y

Only bedroom 1 and 2 will have AC.

Home automation / Home cinema/ Gym
The cinema will have a Epsom Projector
http://www.epson.co.uk/Projectors/Epson-EH-TW5800
Probably B&W speaker all round
The living room will have a 63” Samsung TV with my Anthony Galloy speaker system

The whole house will be controlled by a system called Control4
http://www.youtube.com/control4fans
This should allow me to control the lights, heating, CCTV, locks, movies, audio and blinds via our Ipod touch/IPad.

We are ready to put in the planning application for the modifications to the windows so hopefully we should start working in the next 2 months. If everything goes to plan I want to be done with the work by Q3 2011.

The only problem we have run into is that I am about 50 to 75k short on the money we need to get it finished properly. My parents have very Kindly offered to give us 25k towards the kitchen as a wedding gift. Our mortgage broker also thinks she should be able to get us another 50 or 60k when we run out of money.

EDIT This is what it looks like now
bedroom 3
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/P1010492.jpg
Kitchen
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/P1010496.jpg
View from the kitchen
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/P1010505.jpg
The lift
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/P1010483.jpg


EDIT
This is the original thread when we bought the space
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18025184&highlight=crunch+flat

 

[Dr House]

Isn't the fact you are £50-75k abit of a massive problem?

Not really, we secured the mortgage on my wife’s income; our LTV ratio is fine the problem is that we could only get 4.5 times her income. However I should be starting work again soon so we should be able to borrow more if we need it.

Wouldn't it be wise to secure this before hand?

Thats not possible becuse the bank wants us to get a lot of the work done before they will give us any more money and I need to start my job.

Or I hope DES and FOGL find oil

 

[Dr House]

Good project, reminds me very much of my Ferrari F430 Aquisition Project, I am also £80k short of that as well.

Why do I get the feeling this won't end well.

The project will be fine but I get the feeling this thread is going to go in the wrong direction.

Let me just be clear, yes I am 50 to 75k short but in the overall scheme of things its not that much. We should be able to get money from the bank when we need it. If not I have access to other funds, both of our parents have offered to help us should we need it (I do not want to take it unless we have no other option), If everything goes wrong we can still sell our watches and car.

Also If I cant get the money we can save a lot of the in the bathrooms.

I'm slightly confused...

The picture you posted seems to show a very new build looking apartment complex, yet you are intending to spend at least 100k to modify it?

Aside from planning permission, I assume it's leasehold so it also has to have the go ahead of the property/land owner, not to mention you must have neighbors also who may object to it... which is there right given that you have to go through council planning permission.

I've also got to agree that it seems like a very expensive project to embark on if you don't have the funds.

Sorry, I had another thread when I bought the space.

Basically we bought the top floor of the building as a shell, ie no floors, no walls or anything else. This is what it looks like now

bedroom 3
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/P1010492.jpg
Kitchen
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/P1010496.jpg
View from the kitchen
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/P1010505.jpg
The lift
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/P1010483.jpg

Yes it’s a 999 year leasehold however before we bought the space we had our solicitor put a clause in the contract to allow us to make the changes to the roof.

 

[Dr House]

I think you guys are reading into his life too much. If he wasn't confident that he could complete such a project in the first place, he wouldn't have started. I look forward to reading this thread over the next year!

On a side note: Why is there always an underlying tone of pessimism on these forums when something "ambitious" is posted? Everyone is quick to shoot people down.

I do agree but to be honest I have posted a few threads that sound quite strange at time, my life has not been as normal as some of the others around here

 

[Dr House]

Looks like it could turn into a nice apartment!!

I really do hope so. I have always wanted to build my own home. This is the next best thing.

The total floor area is 6400 sq Ft so its going to be HUGE (but a lot of space is lost becsue of the roof)

 

[Dr House]

Looking superb, will have to call up when it's done ( assuming its the one near us you were talking about )

Ype its the same one, You should stop over if you are in the area.

Don't get it twisted, I enjoy this project. I'm sure you'll do well and I'm sure the outcome will be brilliant. But as with all discussions, I'm sure you'll agree a good discussion is one is where we discuss all aspects of the project. Especially with a project like this, finance is the key.

Banks are known to lend less especially in this climate. And hopefully this isn't the case, but your parents (and inlaws) circumstances can change. My advice is to get a written letter from your bank stating their commitment to lend you money in the future. Sure it's no guarantee but it would work in your favour should they want to pull out.

Its not a huge issue. We have borrowed enough it get it finished but the extra money will just let me take it to the next level. Our LTV ratio will be very low after we have finished the work and I will have a second income to secure the mortgage against. If everything goes wrong I still have access to funds from other sources.

 

[Dr House]

Have you got planning permisison for any external alterations? As its a flat you have no Permitted Development rights, So replacement windows, and any roof alterations will require planning permission.

We have not got planning yet but we are going to apply for it next week.

I think it is simply jealously.
When someone says 'I am about £50-75K short, but it isn't that much'
People often react, as that is a fair bit to most of us.


Good luck with the project, we'll be wanting plenty of pics and a diary of what was good, what was bad, and what to avoid in the future.

its still a lot of money to me however this is going to be my home for a long long time so I dont want to cut corners. Relative to how much the whole project is going to cost an extra 50ish K is not a huge issue.



Thanks for the kind words everyone. I will post pics as we go along

 

[Dr House]

Hi.

Now I don't know you, or how much your incomes are, but the above comment is a dangerous one, if you intent to borrow even more.

I assume your income is also factored in on this mortgage?

It is a lovely looking apartment by the way so all the best.

4.5 time is just my wife's income. I have not factored my own income into this which is why we can borrow more if we need to. Also in 3 years my wife's income will triple as she will be a consultant.

My only concern is that you appear to be going very high end in terms of finish, long term you will not see a return on this additional investment. I would personally downscale and eliminate that shortfall.

Will follow with interest

This is true but we plan to live in it for a long time.

 

[Dr House]

You got it for a really, really good price I think?

Yes correct we got it really really cheap because the seller wanted some quick money. This is why are LTV ratio is very good, plus we had a huge deposit from the sale of my Prague flat

Really nice looking apartment. Is it is London?

Lol no it is near Sheffield, if it was in london we would not get change of 5 million for it.

I think a lot of people in the start of the thread were confused by you not saying it was the whole top floor and that the property was not completed yet. Really clears it up as now it doesn't seem like some crazy dream project.

Same question as nexus really, how did you arrange the half finished floor? Was it prior to the building or did you find it in that state and say "I'll take it"?

Also, get the walls all CAT5'd up

That clears it up somewhat.

But why was the whole upstairs space left unfinished?
Did the developer run out of money?
Had the developer not finished yet and you approached them?

Ok so this is how it happened, the developer is a local guy, he has build all the apartments to quite a high specification and because its in a very desirable location is trying to charge a huge premium for the flat, the 3 bed we looked at was 455k. At the time he had only managed to sell 2 out of the 20 completed flats. Because of this he did not want to invest more money into the building so he decided not to finish the top floor for the time being.

I was not interested in the 3 bed (it was very nice but at 455k overpriced) but I told him if you decide to sell the top floor as a shell he should give me a call. 5 months later I get an email from him saying he was willing to sell it for xx amount. I was in Prague at the time so I sent my wife to have a look around, she loved it so I offered 70k under his asking price which was rejected. I came back 55k under his asking price and he accepted it.

I still had not seen the flat at this point lol.

We had lots and lots of legal complications so it took us around 11 months to complete but its ours now.

Sounds like you're both doctors. Are you concerned a little about all the "austerity" stuff down the road? Hospital near me just cut 100+ staff, although they were mostly admin.

Im not too worried, if you are a qualified doctor its not hard find a job.

FOGL's first well was a duster.

Yah it was a bit of a shame really, XTA is my big holding as long as they do well I will be fine.


I plan to run lots and lots of cat5 all over the place.

 

[Dr House]

Small update,


We got the planning permission today to make the changes to the dorma windows. So we will be knocking out the roof / dorma windows at both ends of the living/dining room and replacing them with floor to ceiling folding sliding doors with a Juliet balcony.
We also got permission to knock out the sloping roof in bedroom 4 and replace it with floor to ceiling windows.

We have managed to get most things past the fire regulations officer now; we have had to install a domestic sprinkler system throughout the flat and a automatic opening ventilation system in the roof to vent smoke. We still have some major problems with fireproofing the floor because the developer has only put a single layer of plasterboard on the ceiling underneath so we are trying to arrange something to get around this.

We also have to isolate the mezzanine level from the rest of the house so that in the event of a fire it would not fill with smoke, we are again going to try and use fireproof glass.

We put the tenders out for the plumbing and ventilation/heating system which have just come back in. Things are moving albeit a little slowly.

Budget wise, after talking to the bank we should be able to secure another 70k if we need it, a few bad debts paid up recently also and another company that owes us quite a lot should be paying up soon so the financial side is getting better. However I have lost a lot on the stock market which is not going to help.
The bank of dad will also step in if things really get tight.

On a personal note, we bought this apartment in this area because my wife was going to be made partner in a local GP surgery (family business) however it looks like that is not going to happen due to health problems of the owner so we will probably end up selling the place and moving back down south or out of the uk in the next couple of years.

SithUK, no I have never done anything like this before however I did own part of a company that bought and renovated old apartments in Prague a couple of years ago and learned a few things but not much.

 

[Dr House]

Why do anything if you have to move out, just sell it now?

1 its almost completely unsellable as it is.
2 it will be worth quite a lore more finished
3 we are still not 100% that we will have to move, it all dependent on my wife’s job but if we stay in the uk we will probably be there for at least 3 years and possibly more if I like the area.

 

[Dr House]

My wifes dad has his own single handed practice, he is getting on in years and kept working so he could give the practice to my wife in 3 years. However it looks like he is going to have to retire and close the practice. This is why we may not need to stay in the area anymore.

 

[Dr House]

Not much as my wife and are travelling around asia between 11.12.10 and 07.02.11 however the architect is in the process of preparing the tenders which will go out to the contractors in the next week or so.

We hope to start the building work in the next 4 to 6 weeks

 

[Dr House]

Ok small update,

We got the tenders back last week. I have not been able to go through them in detail yet however we have a problem.

http://imageshack.us/f/69/0389108dbuildingregulat.jpg/



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

The most pressing problem is that the local building regulations officer is putting lots and lots of hurdles in my way. Which has resulted in me having to do a lot of extra work, including lifting all 6400 sq ft of floorboards and painting all the I-beams with fireproof paint and then relaying the floor again. I also have to install a sprinkler system in the whole house. Putting in automated roof windows that open in the event of a fire

My original renovation budget was XXXk and the tenders have come back at 200k over budget. I obviously do not have this so I have come up with the following plan.

1 I am going to have to chop out a few details and arrange for some cheap labourers to do some of the more tedious work (such as painting the I Beams) I am hoping this will get the build cost down by upto 100k.

2 I have arranged an extra 75k from the bank

3 My parents are going to help us with 25k towards the kitchen

4 my wife’s parents are also to help us with 25k

5 I am selling one of my cars which will give me another 20k

I have lost around 27k on the stock market in the last few months (paper loss) but that means that some of the cash is stuck for what may be some time.

Also I have temporarily financed the purchase of another property at auction so I will not be able to do a lot of the work until some of that money has been freed up which will take upto 12 weeks.

So things should start moving when the bank give me the money and the auction propery is sold.

I will post updates when we have them.

 

[Dr House]

Thanks for the comments.

I had also been thinking about a double door, I will look into the extra cost next week.

We have a study room on the mezzanine level so we did not think there was much point in trying to make extra rooms. Also my wife has a lot of shoes!

The kitchen plans are still not final but this is what we last came up with.

 

[Dr House]

thanks very much but we are really not that successful, I made a few good moves when I was at university and have taken on quite a large mortgage to get this done, also because we are a long way up north the actual cost of the space was not that much.

Its going to be a hard year now to try and get every penny together to get this finished.

 

[Dr House]

Loving the plans, only thing I wonder is how you will ever need 4 cookers?

Jcb33.

lol

one microwave, one coffee machine, one oven, one steam oven

 

[Dr House]

Just thought I would post a update.

Things have been a little slow because we are negotiating with the developer to contribute 30k towards the fireproofing costs. Its a long story but basically some work was not done when the building was originally built which has resulted in us being stuck with around 30k worth of extra costs. I think we have quite a strong case if it ends up in court.

I should have a cash injection in the next 6 weeks now from the sale of a London property so hopefully I can start some of the work in the next month or so.

I have been busy buying little toys for the house such a a Miele island extractor hood the moves up and down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXc14M2KaB8

Its actually very impressive in real life.

I am also thinking about buying this for one of the bathrooms
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jacuzzi-Estea...r_Units_PP&hash=item35b10bd7a0#ht_1398wt_1086

I have also bought this switch to control the lights and blinds in the living room
http://www.lutron.com/Products/SingleRoomControls/GrafikEyeQS/Pages/Overview.aspx
It may not look that exiting but its really a fantastic product.

I also bought a 91cm wide (2.1m tall) fridge, I have not ordered the freezer yet but I am going to find a matching freezer also. You could actually store a dead body in there lol
http://www.viking-europe.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=123&Itemid=95&lang=en

 

[Dr House]

Isn't that what you pay an architect for, to adminster these kinds of shenanigans?

Yah he is doing most of the work. It was the architect that spotted the mistakes in the constructions. This fireproofing has put us almost 10 month behind

 

[Dr House]

Just out of interest, are there any websites worth monitoring/looking at for non-standard property opportunities (i.e. either unmortgageable or going to auction so the money has to be ready to go...)?

I keep in eye on Right move and auction websites, I often search for land there as sometimes agents list dilapidated properties under the land section.

It is sometimes worth checking for unsold lots at auctions
http://www.barnardmarcusauctions.co.uk/Unsold_Lots.html

EDIT: part of post removed

I know that feeling im 14 months behind on a 10 month project, is that even possible.

Tell me about it, the whole project should have been 6 months long, 3 months planning and 3 months building. One year later and we still have not done a thing.