Have you ever wanted to be one of those people who buys an old building, such as a church or cinema, and wanted to make it into your dream home? I’m sure, like many of us, you’ve had the odd thought or two. You don’t have to have millions of pounds to spend, you don’t even have to be a highly qualified architect. All you need is an idea, a building and a reasonable amount of cash. But where do you start? It’s a big job after all. Well you should ideally start with the location and the building.
You want to choose a location you’re happy with, before you choose a building. You can’t let the building determine where you live, the location needs to remain practical for you. Once you’ve got the perfect location you’ll need to create a radius of how far out you’re willing to go from that location. So let’s say you want the perfect location to be exactly where you’re living now. You’ll want to create a radius of however many miles you’re willing to shift to. Once you have your radius you’ll be able to start looking for properties that reside in that area.
You can search for older buildings by checking local listings in newspapers, talking to local estate agents or even by talking to the society for the protection of ancient buildings (SPAB) who frequently publish properties to members that need repairs or need renovating/converting. You can check out various kinds of building, from barns to schools and even factories. Go for whichever building fits your “perfect home”idea best, don’t try and work your ideal home into something too small or too big.
The cost is something that could swing either way, so make sure you check the property over with a professional before you buy. With older buildings, you could find more complications with the structure. Once you’re happy that the building needs only a little bit of work (if you’re on a budget) then you can put down your bids and gain the building. With older buildings you’ll want to make sure you’re following all the rules that come with renovating it, some buildings require all materials to be used or reused so don’t throw anything away without checking.
For more help and advice with converting an older building into a house and home you can refer to the below infographic by MPK Lofts, it gives various tips and information that is essential to building a new home out of an old structure.
