Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea!! We had a builder come round to Waterloo Farm today (John the Builder!) to give us a rough estimate for some of the work we’d like to get done eventually if we can afford it. Well, about double our budget later and the upshot is none of the work is impossible, but just very messy, time consuming and expensive because of the age of the property. To start with, we asked about renovating the outbuilding which we intend to use as Nigel’s home office. It’s a fantastic old stable and tack room made of clay lump with a red pantile roof, but totally dilapidated, overgrown with plants and full to the brim of ’stuff’.
Anyway, £12k was what John said it would cost to sort it out (gulp!) because it would basically need to be taken down to its bare bones and virtually started again as it’s in such a state of disrepair! What was funny was, when John had left we stood and had a chat with Mr P and he said he’d just knock it down and build it again from scratch. He was going on about materials costing around £4k, a brickie could bash up some basic walls in a few days, wouldn’t need scaffolding as it’s only single storey … he was thoroughly helpful which is beginning to be a trend! I can see he’s going to be a fantastic neighbour!
We took John round the rest of the house and stopped asking him for rough estimates in the end as it was just too scary to contemplate. He didn’t think any of it would be impossible but his advise was that we should get an architect to draw up proper plans so that a builder can use them to quote for the job(s) and then measure the job(s). We had thought we’d probably get an architect in right from the start to give us some ideas as we reckon this would be money well spent since we intend (in the long-term) to give the place a bit of an overhaul.
All the time we were going round the house with John, he kept raving about the place saying how wonderful it is and how lucky we are to be buying it. He kept shaking Nigel’s hand and saying that maybe that would make him as lucky as us 
. What really made my day in particular was when he asked about children, we said we have 3, and he couldn’t believe it saying we didn’t look old enough to have children – he thought we were in our late 20s – new best friend, thanks John!! I told him to add 10 years and he’d be nearer the mark!
Anyway the bottom line is, despite the flattery, that the plans we have may just be way beyond our budget. With the help of an architect I guess we’ll figure out what the different elements will cost and then we’ll just have to prioritise, as don’t forget there’s 5 acres of ‘land’ to worry about too!!
Tags: Clay Lump, Norfolk, Outbuilding, Waterloo Farm
Categories: Finding our Home in the Country, Posts with Photos