As an engaged man, I have lately been looking at various properties up for sale in hopes of finding that perfect home. One major decision for us is whether it’s better to buy fairly new and modern or to renovate and :potentially” save money. I say “potentially” save money because I have known some friends to spend a lot of cash fixing up their botched renovations from the ‘do it yourself’ approach.
Our homes and how we live affect our quality of life. One of the best feelings in the world is knowing that you have a beautiful and tranquil environment to come home to and no matter what is going on in the outside world, there is a calm place to return to in which you have all the power to control. I know a guy who recently decided to do some home renovations. Nothing too fancy, he just wanted to touch up the paint on his staircase. Simple… right? Apparently not! He went to the store and without asking for any advice he bought some paint, returned home and had the staircase (the hand railing) painted in 3 about 4 hours.
Needless to say he was pretty proud of himself as he had not only painted in record time (according to him) but he also saved hundreds in labor. The next day he woke up to find the staircase peeling! He realized that he had used the wrong type of paint for his metal staircase! The end result: he had to fork out more money and so much more time to fix it. The crazy thing is that all he had to do was look for someone with experience (in this case the salesperson at the store) and ask for some advice on the best paint to use. Moral of the story? Don’t just do it cheap! Do it right!
Project Management
No, you don’t need a project manager for your DIY renovation but you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. So for starters, only do one project at a time. This sounds like a pretty obvious tip but once a renovation project is started, things can get out of hand quickly and before you know it, you have taken on a three additional renovation projects.
Seek Sound Advice
The entire point of you doing a DIY renovation is to save money so before you jump in, ask questions. Chances are, your friends or friends of friends have been in the same boat as you. Ask them all possible questions from time and money involved to worst-case scenarios they have gone through.
Staying On A Budget
Staying on a budget is important for your wallet, especially if you are newly weds and establishing yourselves. So it’s important to research all the possible costs involved including having a reserve funds for when things go wrong. And to stay on budget, it would probably be in your best interest if you view YouTube clips of people doing similar projects as well as reading books. If you know what you are getting yourself into, you can be prepared financially as well as knowledge wise to make the entire process speed along.
Building Permits
Unfortunately, some of your renovations may require you to get a building permit. Whether some of these permits are a money grab by the government or not is something I don’t want to get into but just make sure you look into this before you start knocking down walls. Chances are, if you are doing upgrades to a foundation or adding extra living space to your home, you will definitely need some sort of a building permit. These permits can take time so make sure you apply early and your renovation project doesn’t get pushed back.
Time Is Money
Too many times, people start a DIY renovation project and end up hiring a contractor to finish what they started. With proper research, you will know how many hours will be involved with your project. If it’s a full-time project and you are taking time off from work to do it, you should calculate carefully and look at the cost benefit analysis. Is it really worth it to do it yourself and a few bucks? And also consider that fact that if you do the project yourself and something goes wrong, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Sometimes it’s worth it to pay a little extra, hire a contractor, and have somebody accountable should something go wrong. But if you are saving thousands of dollars and don’t mind doing work on the weekends, then go for it!
Worth the Money?
Once you know what type of a budget it needed, you need to ask yourself if it is really worth the time and money? If you are doing this to improve the living space so it’s a nicer and more comfortable environment regardless of whether property value increases or not, then you should pursue the renovation. If you are doing it in the hopes of increasing the value so you can sell it for a higher price, make sure you have the right people who can help make that assessment for you.
Based on previous experience, DIY renovation projects can be very challenging but at the same time also very satisfying. The feeling of completing a project yourself whether it is a home renovation or a car restoration can be very satisfying. My ideal scenario would be having the Property Brothers take care of my home renovation. Now that would be pretty sweet!
