Hi me
I will try to give a weekly total expenses, but probly not a detailed breakdown until the  end, mostly because I don't want to type it all out every week. Have to be careful not to become so engrossed in PI.com that the rest of life suffers.
So maybe a running total of the reno cost so far, and the total hours so far.
A couple of days ago the total was about $11,700, and the hours were 321. I will update this in a day or two.

HI Coralie. Thanks for stopping by. I did get a renderer to do the front of the house. He seems to have done well so far. Final coat very soon. Pretty cheap too I thought. $1400 +GST for the whole front of house round to the porch.

Apparently the roof tiles got spray painted today. Can't wait to see it and get a photo for you all.

Sat 18th Aug
Another productive working bee. Together me and all the helpers:
-finished staining front fence
-nailed balusters onto deck handrail
-troweled base coat onto blueboard joints
-did 'no more gaps' over whole house
-2nd coat of render on front wall
-undercoat to the remainder of arcs and skirts
-took off the balustrade from front porch
-started sanding all the plaster patches

I have put a few more photos up here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9273576@N06/?saved=1

Hi Don. The market in our area is quite strong. When we started this deal we had a best case, worst case, and likely case sales price in mind. It now seems that we have a great chance to get the best case or better. This is partly due to the market, and partly that the reno is going to be a bit nicer than we originally thought. Because this is our first attempt, we were not confident of the quality that we could produce, and so based our predictions on a good but not great final product. Now that we are halfway through the job, we can see the end product more clearly (in our heads that is), and it is looking lovely. Can't wait to make the vision reality and show you all the photos!
However, we are doing what we can to get the house finished and sold ASAP so that we don't miss out on the current strong market.

Fri 17th Aug
-replaced all the dodgy architraves that I had taken off earlier
-did some more plaster patching
-a roof restorer came and did all the repointing. ( I was going to DIY, buy decided to get some help to speed up the process. I found a quote that is still under what I had budgeted for to DIY, so that's great. I had allowed $1500 for roof re-paint, and this guy quoted me $950. Awsome. I have already pressure washed the roof, so saved him some time. But I had 2 other quotes that were $2250 and $1200 even though I already washed it, so this guy is very cheap. And he was recommended by the paint store that sells roof paint as "the only guy I would trust on my roof", so I think he will be ok quality.
-had a visit from another fellow investor. Hi Troy, good luck with that unit.

Hi crashy
The wagner seems great. It does say "Not for Professional Use!" on the instructions but I am not really a pro painter and will only use it for one house every couple of months, so should last me a while.
It is made as a very good DIY tool, works almost as well as a $2k+ machine, but doesn't have any pressure adjustment. Just fixed pressure, so can't turn it down for doing small intricate work etc.
Today it took me an hour to read instructions and assemble, then at least half hour to clean it out at end of day. Once I am used to it, probly a total of half hour down time each day that I use it, so not good for just little bits of painting.
Tomorrow I hope to spray 2 full coats on the ceiling. I still have to do some prep to the ceiling, and mask up a few places like wardrobes so they don't get sprayed. I reckon it will take only 1-2hours to spray whole ceiling, each coat. I will let you know tomorrow.
One good thing, is that you can leave paint in the machine for a few hours. So I can spray 1st coat in morning, then wait 3-4 hours and spray 2nd coat, then clean out machine at end of day. That is the plan anyway.
I also got a roller attachment for it so I can roll on paint without having to re-fill the roller all the time. Just start the machine and roll roll roll. I will probly do this on walls.

I shopped around a bit, and everyone was the same price – $695. I found a Syndey shop selling online for same price but they had about $250 of extras included, so I got it from them and bought some more accessories as well. Total spend was $869.35. The cheapest professional model is about $1500+. The place I got it from is here: http://www.airless.com.au/
Not sure if they still have the same deal, but they were quite helpful. I called them to place the order, and they talked me through the product and helped me select extras like different size tips. Then I got the package next day, which was very fast service. It was free postage too (for orders over $250 I think). So I would use that shop again if I need anything.

Not sure what else to tell you. I guess after I use it more I will have a better idea.
The rafters were quite easy because the existing fibre glass roof sheets are still in place, so I could just spray all rafters from standing on the deck, and any overspray hit the roof sheets. We are changing the roofing anyway, so it is a useful "dropsheet".
It did waste a bit of paint doing it this way, but I sprayed the whole roof structure in less than 30 min each coat. It would have taken probly at least 2 hours per coat by hand.
I will get a photo tomorrow if I remember.
Cheers

Teus 14th Aug
-finished nailing on blueboard
-called some more trades to get quotes
-had a visit from another PI.com member
-a glazier came and replaced glass near front door. (Changed it from frosted to clear.)

Hi debra, thanks for the tip. I will go have a look.

Hi nicole
The render is going to cost me about $1540 for 2 base coats and 1 top coat which is coloured already so I don't need to paint over it. I am not sure how many square metres is being rendered so I can't tell you the per metre rate, but it is the front of house right around to the edge of the porch. I will try to work out the metres this week – if I remember that is!!

Sat 11th Aug
Hi everyone
Re: the wraps, sorry I know nutting.

Re: working hours: I am currently a subcontractor, so I can sort of choose my own hours. So since July 16 I have decided to work full time on this house. I have some other work coming up in about a week, so that will slow down the progress a little, but I still hope to do at least 3 days per week on this reno.
If I was still working full time this reno would take a very long time. My business partner still works full time though, and helps at the house on w/ends, so spare a thought for him.

Today we had heaps of helpers- total of 47.5 man hours done on the house today, excluding subcontractors. We:
-got most of the cement sheet cladding done on the deck.
-undercoated the rest of the arcs, skirts & doors
-2nd coat on the balusters
-1st coat on the deck handrail
-started staining front fence
-started sanding outside window frames
-looked at 2 more houses

Also sparky's came and roughed in; renderers put on first coat.
A couple of progress photos are uploaded now http://www.flickr.com/photos/9273576@N06/?saved=1

Thurs 9th Aug
-finished pressure hosing the roof
-cleaned gutters also
-started framing up for cement sheet cladding on deck area

RE: pressure cleaning roof and gutters
I had an unexpected problem when the hose hit the gutters. I suddenly noticed a series of small holes in the bottom of gutter. Guess there was rust under all those rotting leaves!
At first I thought I would have to replace all gutters (ouch!) but spoke to a plumber mate and he suggested look at bitumen paint.
So went to Bunnings, found several brands, and selected one that says it is designed for metal roofs and gutters. The instructions also said to get some rust preventing primer if the surface was rusty. Also got some bitumen putty.
So plan is to pressure clean gutters thoroughly to remove all loose rust (already done), then after gutters are dry apply a coat of the rust preventing primer, then bitumen putty over all holes, then 2 coats of bitumen paint over entire inside surface of gutter.
This should make gutters quite water tight, and I think it will last for a few years at least.
At first I thought it was a dodgy idea, but after seeing that there are products designed for it I think I would do the same thing to my own home, because all the materials only cost me $76, so to extend the life of the gutters for a few years that is quite good.

elkam wrote:

Excuse my ignorance as it's a long time since I did any hands on renovations. 

Does the turps work as a drier for the linseed oil. Is that it's intention? 
I used to use 10% Terebin (I don't know if this is how it's spelt) which is/was a paint drier for this and it was great . 
I used to paint 1 or 2 coats on woodwork which I had stripped of all paint (in terrace houses) and it really brought up the grain a treat without being oily.

Hi elkam,
I don't really know for sure. I just heard from somewhere ages ago that a 50/50 mix of linseed and turps was an oldschool method of weather proofing timber. I often use it for handles on garden tools etc, and anything else that is not good quality furniture. It lasts about a year.
I think the turps makes it soak into the timber more, and possible helps with drying too.
I know people use straight linseed oil on cricket bats too.

Hi crashy
Sorry, I don't really know what goes into normal deck stain. If it is a water based product then it would not have linseed oil or turps in it, but if it's oil based then who knows? Maybe we're onto their big secret recipe?!

Tues 7th Aug
Thanks Mrs Bushy! And Mr too!
-ordered timber for carport and deck handrail etc
-bought new arcs, some cornice, plaster etc
-replaced a rusted downpipe
-patched up holes in plaster
-framed and plastered the fridge opening (it was too short, so made it higher)

I was at Bunnings. I am there almost every day. It only takes about 3 minutes to mix up stain anyway.