was supporting a roof that they didn’t even know was there. ayers of ooring were removed to find rotten oorboards that had to be replaced  these things are all extra costs. “When budgeting we factored in the lowest estimate for everything, only to realise later that our personal tastes required us to pay a bit more – we didn’t want the most basic kitchen, windows, ooring etc. So, you’re kind of just feeling your way one step at a time and you are taking a bit of a leap of faith that things will turn out the way you envisaged.


“I do feel a bit lucky because our builder quoted for the work and then wasn’t able to start for nearly a year through no fault of his own, but held his price even though the cost of materials had gone cray. If we were looking to do the job now we’d probably be paying 20% to 2 more.”


A mortgage has helped fund the renovation but Claire’s confident the improvements have had a positive effect on the loan-to-value ratio: “We’ve not had an official valuation, but we know people in the industry and we look at other comparable houses, so we think the value is about 1. to 1. million now.” More importantly, Claire and Marco are pleased with the end result of the renovation. Says Claire: “You tend to be more critical of something when you’ve seen it built from scratch because you have a memory of perhaps the shortcomings in the way it was done, whereas anyone else coming into your house would just see the finished product and think it was lovely.” Claire’s favourite part is the open-plan kitchen


area as it’s where they spend so much time with it having great access to the garden. “Our neighbours and friends love it too.” She adds: “Our neighbours have been here 20-odd years, so they knew the old house prior to its


58 www.sbhonline.co.uk


“The old


CLAIRE’S TIPS FOR SELF-BUILDERS


conservatory has been replaced by a single-storey glazed garden room with a pyramidal roof lantern”


‘rebirth’ and they’re very appreciative of what we’ve done.” The renovation has also reaped other results too: “It’s given me a completely new perspective on my ability to do something like this,” says Claire. “I recently helped to renovate another property and I really enjoyed doing that.” The couple are now thinking about buying somewhere as an investment in southern Italy  “We’d buy it as a shell and then bring it to a standard so we could it rent out as a holiday let,” says Claire, “but that’s just an embryonic idea at the moment.” Alternatively, it could be something closer to home – they’re certainly interested in property as an investment, buying something, doing work on it and then reselling it.


ooking back on the renovation, Claire says: “After owning new build properties, it was hugely intimidating to take on this project and I don’t really know how we had the gumption to do it really. My husband has a very can-do attitude and he said, ‘well, if other people can do it, I’m sure we can’.” They certainly did! 


• “I’d urge people to take the chance and just go for it! At first, I was against the idea of a project hav- ing previously owned two new builds and having two young children and a career! But I got the bug, and the possibility to cre- ate something that was totally ours was irresistible.” • “Choose a builder who comes recommended lo- cally. We had five quotes for the work but just two were recommendations, so we only really consid- ered those seriously. See- ing the finished standard in someone else’s home is a great endorsement and takes away the scary unknown dimension.” • “Always have a contin- gency pot – you never know what additional costs will arise. In our case it was rotten oor- boards under layers of later materials.” • “Check and check again what’s included in the quotes you get for work to be done. or example, bathroom fitting doesn’t necessarily include the cost of tiling too  as I discovered too late!”


sep/oct 2023


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