Promise of a beautiful added value, total personalization … Buying a good to renovate more and more French. But the real estate dream can quickly turn into a nightmare of the work.
Buying a good to renovate is often the perfect opportunity to get a good deal. A roof to be redone, electricity to bring standards to standards, poorly insulated walls and now the sale price becomes more accessible. You can negotiate up to 10 or 20 % less, keep a margin for the work, and say that at the end of the site, there will be a house in its image. Because that’s also what attracts: the charm of the old, addresses in the city center, atypical volumes. Where new, more expensive and more standardized housing, often extend on the outskirts, the old promises cachet and potential. Personalize each room, add sockets where they are missing, rethink the spaces according to their lifestyle: on paper, everything seems possible. And as a bonus, well -conducted work can increase the value of the property, especially if you improve its energy performance. It is certainly for all these reasons that 82% of French people in 2021 indicated that they were ready to invest in a property to renovate in a study by Sow. But we still have to know what we are committed to. Because behind the beautiful promises, there are deadlines, technical choices, unforeseen events and sometimes, errors that we pay dear.
Finding the right budget for a renovation is often a challenge. And faced with the cost of the workforce, some decide to do work themselves, thinking of carrying out good savings. But beware: this choice can quickly prove to be misleading. Without experience, without support, errors can be expensive, lengthen deadlines, and forced to start all over again. What was to lighten the invoice can end up weighing it down. This is exactly what Florent and Julie, a couple of thirty-something in Tarn-et-Garonne experienced who bought an old farm to retype.
Unfortunately, the beautiful project went wrong. Motivated, passionate about DIY, they choose to do everything themselves: masonry, insulation, electricity. “”We wanted to do, but we got lost in tutorials, contradictory opinions on the forums … and we had no more budget to correct our mistakes “. Result: the site was stopped, 18,000 euros in corrective work was necessary and they lived 6 months in a caravan. It is at this stage that they appeal to Sylvain Gruelles,, Project manager in the South West, which takes up the entire project in hand, structures the priorities, coordinates good trades. “”In 8 months, we rebuilt the house. But above all, we have recreated a coherent, humanly and technically project. “
Before embarking on a site alone, it is imperative to wonder if you really have your shoulders to manage everything: time, standards, unforeseen and above all, errors that may be necessary to pay twice. Conclusion: Better to be well accompanied.