Decide on your budget. Then start with a professional home inspection including tests for lead paint inside and out. Talk to a licensed contractor about what is realistic for the changes you want to make. Include costs for lead paint remediation and professional asbestos removal or remediation.

As for the fun stuff, find a professional interior designer with experience in very old houses, who has great recommendations, and who works in your price range. If there are structural changes, you'll probably need an architect and structural engineer.

Wow lucky you we have done this a few times always a rewarding journey all the above info is right on the only thing i will remind you of is your budget will never be enough so be prepared for many surprises as you go along. A really good designer is a must and make sure the one you hire has done old houses and clicks with your vision but has some real input not just nods and goes along with you all the time

Make sure you have experience and a good budget before you buy an old house to do rehab work on it.

"Repair and Major updating" can go a long way in this industry and if you plan to act as a GC, you need a good budget, prior experience and knowledge... If you don't have that, you could be in for a long and expensive haul.

If you not in the business, and you feel there is structural issues,i.e rotted wood, sloping floors, etc get an Engineer and a Home inspector and have them check that house from the bottom up you will get a structural report and everything else from a Home Inspector. The $500 it will cost you it will be the money well spent and you will know what you have to deal with.

When you have that, put your budget together and and don't forget to take into consideration the unforeseen issues (which they didn't see or have access too) and you can easily add a 1/3 for that, because you will have them... start looking for a good GC, the one with experience remodeling old houses ( he will tell what to expect based on the experience). In addition if you doing this DIY and you get a GC or anyone else for that matter any contractor, etc ask them for "the worst case scenario" and ask them to base their quote on that...this way you know what to expect if you do run into this issues, you not gonna cut yourself short... Because there are many lowballers who like to get a foot in the door thinking of making it up along the way especially on jobs like this.

One example... I was pricing out a bathroom remodeling in 1920's home. My price included demo and everything else 14k.

Someone came in with 8k (I found out a year later) and that job end up costing them almost 20k and a second contractor was hired to tear out the previous work and finish up the job. I met the husband a year later in Home Depot and he was telling me all this. I told him they should have called me, but they felt uncomfortable doing that since they gave the job to someone else. He said it took almost 6 month to do that one bathroom... So you have to be careful who you hire, especially on projects like that.

With that said, Good luck and if you have questions, just ask away.

@ GN Builders: that was truly excellent, practical advice.

I agree with all the above advice. One more thing I would add, make sure you find an interior designer and a contractor who will work together. Make sure too, that you decide who will bring in each resource, such as cabinetry, flooring, painters etc. Good luck with your project.

This is not to discourage you, but just to show you no matter what remodeling project you doing you can find anything.

This was a bathroom remodeling in an old house. We opened up the ceiling below to see what was leaking and why the floor was sagging, and we discovered this, they cut most of the joists.

In the back behind the pipe, we took down paneling so the wall can be painted, and we found windows, they took the sashes out, put some styrofoam in it, some blocking and put the paneling over it,,, On the outside they put siding right over it when they re-sided the house.

This porch supporting a roof was more or less hanging in the air, not to mention it was improperly framed and the homeowner is lucky the porch and roof didn't collapse.

This was addition, some of the studs supporting headers were cut in mid span and have no bearing.

This started as a simple kitchen remodeling and the Homeowner complained, the drainage was slow and they had a plumber to snake the line but a week or so later it would back up again.

Since there is no basement, I used a camera to see what can be blocking the line, and here is what we found... so the floor had to be open and there was a cracked pipe and I think it was cracked from the day the house was built.

As you can see the pipe is deteriorated being open for so many years.

Since there was no bathroom on the first floor and we did all that demo, I suggested that now would be a good time to add a bathroom in the adjoining room and the Homeowners agreed. So more demo to get a drain pipe to the next room. :-)

Of Course after everything is completed and you can enjoy the things that took a tough road to get there, it's all worth it.

Here is that kitchen which is being templated for a backsplash

This is the porch after everything was redone and just waiting for railings

This is the back of that addition with cut up wall studs.

With that being said, working on Old houses is definitely not a job it's an adventure, and no matter how simple it looks, you never know what you will find or run into it during the course of the job.

Good luck.

You've gotten some great advice so far. There's nothing more exciting than bringing an tired house back to life! Old houses are a love affair so approach your project with care. Understand that your budget will likely expand with unexpected discoveries, but that you have committed to the relationship for the long haul. Be flexible and willing to change gears as things come up but stick with your vision. A master plan is the backbone of a successful project so enlist the right professionals to guide you. I would suggest contacting an architect and interior designer to help you access the viability of your vision.