Estimate renovation costs

Hello everyone,

a terraced house from 1962 with about 110 sqm of living space has caught my interest and I am seriously considering entering into negotiations with the seller.. Of course, I would like to roughly calculate my renovation costs beforehand...

The roof is converted and tight. The basement absolutely dry. The seller gave me information about when the roof, the water pipes, the heating system (gas boiler) etc. were renewed.. (Unfortunately, I don't have the note with my notes on hand) However, I cannot estimate when the gas boiler needs to be replaced again, when the roof should be renovated again... Is there an approximate guideline by which I can estimate this?

In addition, the interior of the house is from the sixties...

[*]Wooden panels on the ceilings
[*]The floor completely tiled

[*]Brown doors
[*]Green tiled guest WC
[*]and the electrical system from 1964...

Accordingly, we want to renovate completely inside:

[*]Rewiring electrical lines (I will probably do the wiring myself, so only material costs will apply)
[*]The water pipe to the kitchen (ground floor) is still made of lead (all others plastic)
[*]Replace door leaves + frames
[*]Completely renew the guest WC (approx. 5 sqm)
[*]Remove the floor tiles and replace them with parquet
[*]Remove the wooden panels from the ceilings and plaster smoothly

How do I create a cost estimate for this? Are there any reference prices for this? I don't want to call all the companies now to ask, as the answer is always "we need to take a look"...

Get a building surveyor and calmly go through the property with him. Then have him create a renovation plan. That way you have something solid in hand.

Flatly difficult to say or almost impossible. We had a cost estimate from architects of 150 - 200 K€ for a 1957 settlement house with 130 sqm (as a reference). However, that included insulation (which is missing from you) and basement renovation (20 K€). Without knowing anything, I'll throw 120 K€ - 150 K€ into the room for you...

Hello,

How do I make a cost estimate there? Are there maybe standard prices for that? I don’t want to call all the companies now and ask because it always says "we need to take a look"...

"I would have answered you with 'we need to take a look' as well – how else do you want to get reliable figures?

I would strongly advise you – before you enter into further negotiations with the seller: go through the property with an expert. What looks "decent" to you can in reality be just well-hidden damage. It wouldn’t be the first and surely not the last time; I have seen painted-over mold. So be careful!

This expert will not only give you a recommendation to buy – or not – but also provide a rough cost estimate.

"Roughly" and if indeed there is nothing more to renovate, you should get by with EUR 80,000.

Best regards from the Rhineland

Without an on-site appointment, it is not possible to provide a qualified comment on the condition and the renovation effort. I definitely advise you to conduct a property inspection with a building expert (architect/civil engineer), also in terms of real estate purchase advice, and to obtain an initial rough estimate of the renovation and modernization costs at the end. Ideally, it is an unrenovated old building, without messed-up DIY work, which the realtor/owner likes to advertise as a "core renovation." For the renewal of the building services, bathroom remodeling, and modernizations, at least €50-60k should be budgeted. For a complete energy-efficient renovation, which is definitely advisable, another approx. €50-60k.

Oh ok, I probably expressed myself a bit awkwardly. The most important and expensive things like the roof, the water pipes, the heating system, and the windows were all renewed recently, about 5-10 years ago. The roof was extensively renovated around 2006, the windows were replaced with double-glazed ones in 2011, and the water pipes (lead) were replaced with plastic ones in 2006. Except for the water pipe to the kitchen, which is still lead, but that shouldn’t be a big deal since it’s on the ground floor above the gas boiler.

So these points would be excluded, and we would really only carry out the work I listed second in the initial post... My cost estimate was more in the range of €30,000 - €40,000.