Old building renovation, house built in 1916, multi-family house converted to single-family home, experiences

By the way, friends have just bought a house. There was one among them who supposedly knew something about it. He practically talked the house down to being ready for demolition. And that is simply complete nonsense, which fortunately an expert (and before that me^^) clarified. Meaning: Always question everything thoroughly.

We are currently involved in two renovation projects of old buildings from before WWI. One is at the beginning, the other halfway through. My impression is that renovations of old buildings are even more affected by price increases because the shortage of skilled workers and rising labor costs hit even harder. And in proper renovations, materials in old buildings are generally more expensive. Plus: you practically have to pave the way to the house with banknotes for the tradespeople, from the structural engineer to the installer, because there are so many easier construction sites than old building renovations.

So far, these are own cost estimates and therefore not yet valid. But the architect said you won’t get there with 300k€. The house has many windows. One could say the basement is damp, but the beams are eaten away and not rotten. As mentioned, the carpenter thinks it’s fine. I’m just scared that the house will eventually collapse because people thought it was okay now. I think I’ll know more in a week because we will sit down together again. Unfortunately, I’m currently rather negative. Roof 80k€, electrical/heating/plumbing ~90k€, basement ~15k€ (without beam replacement), facade 20k€, interior ~85k€ (drywall, floors, etc.)

I just want to write here because we also started our project in summer/autumn 2021 and in my opinion it is strikingly similar to the project presented here.

We are also dealing with a former two-family house (built somewhere between 1900 and 1920), which is to be converted into a single-family house. The living area is about 160m². We are working with an architect, initially we had set a budget of 300,000. Meanwhile, after a more detailed cost estimate, we have arrived at 470,000 (without kitchen, exterior facilities, and basement). It is also practically the case for us that we are currently advancing the demolition down to the brick walls throughout the house as self-performance. Afterwards, when laying the floors and doing painting work, we want to take on self-performance again. The structure was really no longer good, so roughly the following measures are planned (a KFW70 house is planned):

- Change of floor plans on the ground floor and first floor
- new roof
- New installation of fresh and wastewater
- New electrical installation
- All windows (about 20 pieces) + front door new
- complete facade insulation
- insulation of the basement ceiling
- new floors everywhere
- photovoltaic + heat pump + central ventilation system
- etc. (I have certainly forgotten something)

Our basement is also completely damp (to wet). I had already created a thread in the basement area about this. We are now of the opinion that it will stay damp. Therefore, we will probably even leave the raw brick walls there because the basement does not have to be dry for our use. However, according to the structural engineer, the basement ceiling is still in good condition...

Many questions that have come up here in the course of the thread also concern us, such as waste separation and managing the containers again and again. I will keep an eye on this here and am curious how things go for you. From my previous experience, however, I would also estimate that you will not make it with 300,000.

Until a year ago, I would have said €1500/m² + planning would actually be enough, but the market has gone crazy.

We are currently involved in two renovations of old buildings from before World War I. One at the beginning, the other halfway through. My impression is that renovations of old buildings are even more severely affected by price increases, since the shortage of skilled workers and the increased labor costs hit even harder. And with proper renovations, the materials in old buildings are also generally more expensive. Plus: you practically have to pave the way to the house with banknotes for everyone from the structural engineer to the installer, because there are so many easier construction sites than old building renovations.

That’s unfortunately indeed the case. We renovated (partially) in 2017, and even though the situation regarding skilled workers was already tense, it’s simply not comparable to today. “Pave the way with banknotes” hits the nail on the head. Because the figures being demanded nowadays are sometimes simply just utopian. I wrote here at the beginning of the thread that Corona and the rest of the overall situation make it virtually uncalculable, and unfortunately, that assessment seems to have been correct. In new construction, prices are also just outrageously high nowadays.