House needs lots of work

A question about : House needs lots of work

DH and I are in the wonderful position of his parents giving us his inheritance early so we can get on the property ladder (without a mortgage). We have had an offer accepted on a 4-bed stone built property which last had work done to it in the 70s (downstairs loo is green, upstairs bathroom is pink, there's a blue basin in the master bedroom; there's a back boiler for heating; it needs a rewire and the kitchen is literally a single unit and a free standing cooker).

It has wet rot, damp plasterwork and woodworm, according to the survey (the guttering is shot/missing - some of it is original from the 1880s! - and the windows are single glazed which is how the wet has got in). The walls will need to be stripped, dried and replastered (but we need to rewire anyway), the timbers either treated for woodworm or replaced for wet rot. Once the structure is sound and dry, we will be in a position to get new kitchen/bathrooms and decorate etc.

Despite this, I love the house. It has SO MUCH potential (and I felt at home there three steps into the hall) and I can see myself raising a family there.

It's not in an area where either of us grew up - if it was in my home town (120 miles away) I'd know a few people to ask for tradesmen - we've lived here for about 4 years, currently renting (so we can get the house sorted before we move in, no having to live in a building site).

I have NO CLUE where to start re tradesmen/builders/getting the work done.

Help please?

Best answers:

• Local recommendations are always good. If you can't get any, try:
  www.trustmark.org.uk
  www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk
  My local Age Concern website has recommended tradesmen too.
• Is the property listed? If yes you will need Listed Building Consent
  Possibly lime mortar, plaster, lime wash - if so not all builders and decorators will be experienced.
  A lot of challenges but you will have your dream home
• If youre taking it back to brick or doing serious renovation works, (assuming you can because of LBC issue)
  - consider where/ how youre going to live. zone off 1 room upstairs and 1 of the bathrooms and live like a studio flat. Make it a room where NO works happen (not even taking up the carpets)
  - how will you pay for it? best way for you would have been to keep a lump of money from your inheritance to one side and buy with a small mortgage, and use the money to get it done quickly. nothing more depressing than living in a house with no ceilings/ doors/ walls/ floors because........... youre waiting........ to do the jobs........ one wage packets worth........... at........ a time.
  God bless usury.
• Whete aboits ate you based? Someone maybe able to recommend a builder.
• Ooh yeah, that'd be sensible. We're in Weston-super-Mare.
• jc808 - back to brick is actually serious renovations......
  its gen starting again.
  Emmylou, your not in the cheapest trade area.
  I only know people in the Bridgwater/Street area and chances are they would not travel that far.
  Try some on line trade sites, get a few around to gauge their prices so you can see what the differences are.
  I would say get in different trades for what you need.
  Try and supply all the main products/items yourself (as its your home).
  Many will say they can supply fab stuff as they have trade accounts etc yet many things like bathrooms or tiles and kitchens you source yourself, more selection and a bit of home work you will gain better products.
  Windows, you can get a tarde chap to measure and order on line.
  We did this on 3 houses (one in street) and hired some one to fit them, saved Ј1000's - pm for the people if you want.
• Labour is expensive how much can you DIY? - maybe the demolition work to start with The government gives aid for some work. Parcel it to sections, and get quotes for each section. Anyone can do any electrical work but it has to passed by the council.
• We can't realistically do much of it ourselves - I'm disabled and DH works full time (plus volunteering two evenings/weekends a month) so if we were doing it round his spare time then we'll be lucky to EVER move in (I am still waiting for a mirror to be fitted in the bathroom, we're at 15 months and counting...I'd do it myself except we've got concrete walls and I can't lift the bloody drill without dislocating my wrists).
  We are aware it's serious renovations and that it's going to be basically taken back to the shell and rebuilt (and we may be doing a loft conversion at the same time rather than do it in 5 years when we've got toddlers around the place) but it's a truly wonderful building (on an exceptional plot with all the outbuildings we need) and I got "the feeling" from it as soon as I walked in.
• whatever you do, take what damp specialists say and want to do on old buildings with a pinch of salt.
  whatever you do dont let any concrete or injection methods get done on anything that is stonework or used lime mortar
• Thanks...this is why we went for a damp surveyor rather than a contractor who would have a vested interest in selling us something whether we needed it or not! He thinks the issue is that the cellar isn't tanked properly and the guttering is shot (basically nothing's been done to the house in 40 years and when it was rewired back then they didn't use lime mortar) so once we're dry and water tight we should be OK. It has a slate damp course so that's good.