Hi, Following Jase and Flic’s first reno, I thought i might try a similar online entry to maybe get a bit of extra advice with my fiirst reno project.
So here goes:
3 weeks ago I bought my first reno property. I attended the Dean Parker conference in Melbourne a few months ago and decided I had enough to finally stop reading and surfing and have a go. The plan is to buy, reno and sell, with holding for 12 – 18 months as a fall back if cannot achieve desired end price. I have no property or handyman skills but am the planner/paper shuffler/chief organiser and my hb is a fencing contractor that can turn his hand to almost anything.
The house is a 3 br, 1 bath post war weatherboard about 55 years old.
‘So far have gotten the pest and building inspections done with good feedback. The house is restumped recently, the structure is really sound and the re were only a couple of minor issues. Roof is good. Has a double (old but solid) garage.
The finance is approved and awaiting the banks leisure to actually set up the loan.
House insurance is in place.
Plan to update kitchen and bathroom, repaint interior, polish floors, update light fittings, window trims etc, restore rear deck area, replace front fence and modify the layout slightly to improve house layout (will go into reasoning later if anyone interested).
Have done some prelim costings but finding hard to get a really good idea as COULDN’T GET HOLD OF RENO TOOLBOX.
Using Dean and Elise’s formulas (go to the seminar if you want them – not really mine to give), I have estimated I have budget in mid 20s, to hopefully achieve a selling price that allows ~$27,000 profit (including all acquisition, holding, selling and reno costs).
Wish me luck.
Melanie
Good Luck Melanie
Keep us posted, and well done for not following the herd and doing something different
regards
I bought the house in the first week of school holidays and, having young children, asked for a 6 week settlement to allow 2 weeks holidays, 4 weeks organising. Well hiccup no 1 has been hand and mouth disease – so after an extra week and a half of settlement time at home with the boys sick, I decided they’d just have to come with me.
2 slushies later- no there’s no coke ones, it’s raspberry or nothing – from Maccas, off we went to Bunnings to check out the flatpax kitchens and various bathroom fittings, lights and door furniture. I was surprised at how good the kitchen display models looked.
Money spent: nothing deductble (although the $16 I had to spend on the worlds most expensive feather duster to get my 10 yo son with DS to stay near me should be an allowable deduction in my books).
Will look at some costings tonight. I’m thinking with a polished wooden floor I’ll probably go with a dark laminate top and white cupboards. My bro-in-law who is a cabinet maker is coming to help measure up and design on weekend. Not making it for us as his kitchens are stunning but out of our price range.
Not much, but at least can work out a rough kitchen estimate and see how compares to Ikea’s. (Are the cafeteria meals at Ikea tax deductible?)
Today: debated paved area vs decked: paving doesn’t need railings and would come up nice and keep open feel in smallish yard?
Planned kitchen design.
Contacted carpenter/builders re removing walls between kitchen/hall/living area.
Contacted asbestos removalists to get idea cost as one wall asbestos. Less than expected.
Showed house to hb to get idea of costings for his bits ie front fence, front steps, rear patio area.Realised most of the windows are frosted type so less light thru. I wonder whether this would be an issue for potential buyers. Personally don’t think I would like it but my budget wouldn’t extend that far.
Already realising that keeping to essentials and to budget will be very challenging.
Measured up the house as is no existing plan.
Counted the little things (thtat I think will add up quick) – power points, light fittings, light switches, door handles, cupboard handles etc
Had a builder in for a quote to get remove 2 walls. Debating whether really need to remove cupboard in bathroom as it really is small room. Problem is would then lose only built in robe.
Drew up house plan. http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo359/mstoakes/scan0002.jpg
When you walk into house has a really weird feel as virtually walking into main bedroom, so want to make that the lving space and vice versa and open up the walls between kitchen and (then) living. Any opinions would be appreciated.
Read up (on here) re removing the cover strips from walls.
Forgot to add – dimensions in bath and bed 3 – hall not accurate ie bathroom is wider than that, but small
hi
the very best of luck with your project. my thoughts;
if you open up the living/kitchen area (currently the kitchen/main bedroom), you will have a largish living area. then you need to consider whether your target market are likely to prefer a dining room or an extra bedroom. will the home have more appeal as a four bedder than a 3 bedder with dining?if you decide to go with the 4th bedroom, it would be easy to put a door through from the entryway into the area currently designated as a living room and to close off the dining (new 4th bedroom) room. this would create a large 'main' bedroom.
you also have some space on the front of the house beside the front door. a new dining area or 5th bedroom could be created with a stud wall across.
currently your laundry is larger than your bathroom. perhaps you could cost swapping them over. either way, i think that any home with several bedrooms needs a second toilet. one could go into the laundry easily. alternatively, if the budget allowed you could put a modest ensuite in the new main bedroom on the wall currently adjoining the dining room. the sizes of the rooms are not clear so i cant' really see whether there is sufficient room there. i do mean modest by the way, just a shower, toilet and basic vanity.
in terms of your budget, can i suggest that you leave things like light fittings, door handles etc to last. pay for the big ticket items first and if you have money left go hard. chances are that your reno will cost more than you think. not casting aspersions but have done it a lot.
have you been around the traps of the second-hand building suppliers? some of them are very expensive so be careful but it is possible to save loads. also garage sales can be worth it sometimes, depending on whether you have time and inclination.
one final thing; leave any old carpet in place until you have finished all the painting/sanding etc. protects the floor. less sanding to do if no paint on it. i always hire the floor sander and do the floors myself but it takes a bit of practise and professionally done floors look fabulous. you need to weigh up the cost of diy versus paying someone; whether the degree of better finish is worth the outlay. it is certainly not rocket science. one hint though, don't hire the smaller edge sander at the same time. i find floor sanding to be failry strenous and i need a couple of days between attempts usually!
the last final thing!; if you enclose the front and visible sides (preferably the whole house if budget allows) with lattice it will instantly make the house look more solid and larger. it will also have a more 'finished ' look.
all the best
graceThanks Grace, REALLY appreciate the advice. Your comments are also very much along the line of what we are planning, so that is heartening.
We are getting quotes on opening up between the kitchen and main bed, which will become the living. The current living will become main bed.
Hadn’t considered making the front room a bedroom – will have another look. Current budget doesn’t allow much reconfiguring but will check to see what endprice might be achieveable with 4 br.
Also hadn’t thought about swapping bathroom and laundry – would people prefer a larger bathroom that is off kitchen or a smaller bathroom near bedrooms? I was thinking if we got rid of the cupboard in the bathroom would give more space, then put some cupboard space into laundry to replace.
Another question – has anybody been using wallpaper at all? Or do people just want painted wall? Was wondering as thought a plain wallpaper would cover the removed/filled cover strips well. We are looking to modernise the interior and maintain a bet of the feel of the style.
Ta, Melanie
re kitchens
Ive used both bunnings flatpack and Ikea kits. while Ikea kits are a bit more expensive, they are a hell of a lot quicker to assemble than bunnings flatpacks. also, Ikea sells a kitchen door for $5, its 700 x 300 flat white. you can build an entire kitchen from these. the cheapest bunnings door is about $25. I also buy kitchen carcasses from the Ikea "as-is" dept. you can usually get half of what you need @ half price, and buy normal ones for the rest. Ikeas hinges are cheaper than what bunnings has and they are far easier to fit & adjust, and Ikea also has cheaper door handles. Ikea sells stainless legs @ $25 for a set of 4, great value. Its possible to do a complete stunning Ikea kitchen for under $1000 if you follow these tips.
I use 600 x 600 gloss black tiles as a benchtop & a piece of stainless for a splashback.
good luck
Thanks Crashy. I will definitely take a visit to Ikea.
Re: using tiles for a bench top, I have seen that suggested before but doesn’t it then look like tiles on a bench top or do you not notice the joins?
Also spent a fair bit of time trying to organise tradesmen today. Agent says is happy for me to access house as often as need which makes easier.
Melanie
it depends on the tile. the ones I use are from Metro tiles, they are called "Marrazzi". I pay $30/m but the RRP is $60.
if you butt them together there is a very small valley which I filled once and couldnt tell the difference, so I didnt bother after that.
first, realise there wont be many joins as they are 600mm wide. from a distance you cant see any joins, and Ive never had anyone say to an agent "oh, these are tiles? look at the joins!" but I have had quite a few who said "nice granite benchtop" & the agent shut his mouth
in photos it honestly looks like granite.crashy, have you got any pics of your tiles. i looked up metro tiles to see what they looked like but the site maintains that Marrazzi tiles not found.
Got quotes back from builders for removing and supporting walls between kitchen and living room – $2450 (extra support put within celiling) + get asbestos remoed first and $2300 with beam below ceiling – bulkhead style. Think will go for latter.
Already allocated nearly $15000 of budget and still need to cost bathroom, laundry and outdoor stuff. Trying to start from largest expenses.
Debating whether to have a go at the painting to save a bit, far from pro but my husband has come home from work on occasion to find the colour of a room has changed!
Melanie
I would spend the extra $150 if I were you……..
re tiles, the spelling may be wrong
More like $1250 – first guy has included asbestos removal (diff company) and other guy wants me to do on top of that amt.
Rang to discuss with preferred builder and recommends beneath celing as (a) extra costs incurred to get beams into ceiling – remove some of aluminium roof and (b) doesn’t feel could get adequate support.
Still waiting for banks to get get going and set up my supposedly preapproved loan. I almost think our first bank wants to make the sale fall thru because we got 2nd mortgage thru diff bank. With less than 2 weeks b4 settlement, the first bank has rung today to say they have to do a driveby valuation b4 will agree other bank being 2nd mortgage. A bit over the top since a quick look on the internet would tell them more and our total borrowing/value will be less than 50%. They also told us they can’t guarantee approval will be given b4 the settlement date.
Been busy getting quotes and costing the renos. An idea of the plans so far:
Kitchen – L-shaped kitchen, including benchtops and wall cabinets $1850
Tiler – best quote (not necessarily cheapest) $800 to tile the bathroom – need to work on this one I think but a lot of the tilers are fully booked until well after new year
Painter – ~$5500 to do whole house including sealing the laundry walls that are currently unpainted fibro
Painter suggested the raw laundry floor would look fine painted and I think will go for that – is smooth cement floor.Plumber is still ongoing – first quote was around $2000 when all doing is replacing toilet, moving vanity and dishwasher plumbing – the house is wooden floors and easily accessible – seems ridiculous to me
Also sourced 2nds pavers for the patio area, looked for tiles – need to find a place that has bargain area, selecting paint colours
Gradually getting there
Crashy – did look at kitchen options you mentioned but still came out more expensive from Ikea
Finally settled 2 days ago. Began demo/clean up today – a big old green house, old pavers, carpets, lino, curtains etc. The boards under the covering are in awesome nic. One truckload down ..???? to go.
be careful not to burn out………
dont work every day, take some time out.
keep us posted. good luck.
in photos it honestly looks like granite.You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
