Ok so my wife and I renovated an old house. We bought it knowing it was borderline knock-down, but we loved the style of architecture (mid century modern, was a mater prize home in the 60s). We knew it had some termite damage but didn't know the extent. We knew it had a few issues. And I'm an engineer so went into it with a pretty informed position.

There were a lot more issues once we opened things up, termite damage was extensive. There was some significant subsidence issues so we had to re-level and re-stump part of the house. All the plumbing & electrical had to be replaced. New roof & gutters. Etc. Ended up spending nearly $300k restoring it.