As per the title really, have a really interesting opportunity though would mean taking the Zed off the road for the next 12-18months.

 

Would be interested to hear people's thoughts and experiences.

Spent 30+yrs in the restoration of period property , loved the work but mostly the heritage and listed property's , sold up in 2002 now just advise

ive worked on a few over the years . theres a lot of work and regulations to follow . depends very much on any listings placed on the biulding regarding materials etc to be used . if at all possible the cheapest way depending upon planning permission is to knock down and rebiuld . which ever way you go , good luck and advice is only a pm away

talk to your local planning conservation officer, he will be your best friend, believe me.

I worked on someone else's barn conversion. They converted an out building into a granny flat. Seemed like a good idea until they took the roof off and the whole gable end slipped about 18 inches away from the rest of the building. Turned out there was no foundations at all.

 

To cut a long story short, the original builder was bankrupted by it and the second company I was working for charged the insurance company twice what the property was worth to put it right. The conservation officer made us strip the building brick by brick (all labelled up like a giant jigsaw) and was very pinickety about putting it back together.

 

End result - customers wish they'd never started - took years to complete and simply wasn't worth the hassle.

 

When these things bite you, they bite you big time. Do plenty of research and have a big contigency (at least 30% of your budget). Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

 

Tales of woe aside though, barn conversions look great and have real character - well worth the effort - in most cases.

As per the title really, have a really interesting opportunity though would mean taking the Zed off the road for the next 12-18months.

 

Would be interested to hear people's thoughts and experiences.

 

Whatever you do, don't piss off the conservation officer. They can be a great help or a massive PITA.

cheers guys, will be in touch as things progress :)

I live in a Grade 2 listed property, I am also in the process of buying a Grade 2 listed Church to convert into offices. Generally its a real pain in the ass, expect everything to take twice as long to do and cost twice as much. Even silly stuff that your neighbour could do without permission could cost up ending you a lot of money in planning and consultancy fees.

 

As an example I am replacing an old summer house in favour of one that has a piched roof and is basically a log cabin. It looks nicer and should last longer, my neighbour who could throw the thing up without consent would just need to pay the 9K for it and build it.

 

I have to pay for an Archietect £4500 to do a site plan, drawings, building report etc. In addition I have to pay a planning consultant £2500 in fees to do all the paperwork and meet the conservation guys and planning ****s. I then need to have a report done on a tree in my garden and a load of other stuff. So it very quickly gets real expensive and time consuming.

 

The church I am just buying is a "national treasure" or some crap so we are not allowed to put plug points on the walls and all wiring and heating has to be run and suspended under a false floor. Its another Architect and planning consultant job!! happy days!!! same for extra car parking spaces etc.

 

Another thing mate, any oak you need to replace is REAL expensive, I could not believe how much it cost when we were replacing our A frame upstairs we spent nearly 18K just on bits of wood. Another thing is working with oak on stuff like this can be quite expensive on the labour side as well as it is so hard.

 

Edited August 23, 201015 yr by madmax

That is a lovely looking house there max,

 

I would put up some pics of my 1950's ex-council house just to further embelish your pics, but fearful of embarrassing myself I won't.

 

It does go to show that period properties (even if not a barn conversion) have oodles of character in comparison to modern properties and therefor much more desirable.

 

Just don't be surprised if Hansel and Grettel turn up unanounced asking if your house is made of candy:laugh:

 

Also max, a lawn that well manicured should have a croquet set - fact. When i was at college I got all my too-cool-for-school mates hooked on it for ages. Befor I moved somewhere where such addenda would get hoofed through my window!

 

Best of luck - doing up houses is nearly as much fun as doing up cars IMO