Hi all
I'm interested to know when fixing or renovating who does it themselves or who uses Tradies and why.
My thoughts are you'll save money DIY however I imagine it wouldn't be as schmick a job as a tradie would do. As I'm all about saving the dollars atm my vote goes to DIY.
Cheers, Tom.
In most cases we do everything except electrical, plumbing and waterproofing and tiling the bathroom.
Last one we paid a painter to paint the outside and a builder for 6 days. On one we paid a kitchen installer to install the new kitchen.
If you take care and have a bit of an idea it's not difficult to end up with a quality reno.
We are very proud of our reno's and "experts" have commented on our good finishes.
If you are a hack, then pay someone to do it.
We basically do it ourselves to not only save money but to control the timing. We get in and out with a full reno in 5 weeks. It would be difficult to do that if you had to co-ordinate tradies. Depends how close it is to home also.
And also how much time you have and how good you are. If you are slow and take 3 days to do a job a tradie could do in one day you are better off getting a tradie and going to work.
And some tradies aren't that schmik either.
Hi Tom even just doing basic labour work you can save big dollars yourself , I myself jump right in like catalyst ,( but I do have the lic and exp to do it ) some things you are better paying the tradie and going to work , then you get a good quick job done right , nothing worse than having to redo work – yuck ! Good luck
I use a combination of my own labour and tradies, I also supply my own materials for the jobs I have trades people do (light switches for the sparky, tiles for the tiler etc) I find this saves a lot of money.
ten_burner wrote:I use a combination of my own labour and tradies,, tiles for the tiler etc) I find this saves a lot of money.Providing of course that you can buy just as competitively as the subbie. If you're buying from Bunnings you're probably paying over the odds.
I have hardly met a tradie who passes on there trade discount to their customer, I usually find the opposite, they mark up the materials (on top of labour costs) they get (heavily in some cases). It has worked out cheaper for me to buy light switches etc from bunnings.
That's my experience in Sydney anyway.
With different circumstances you would do different things.
My logic is that if your job hourly rate/business earns more then it costs to hire in labor. Then hire in labor as your better off being at work. If you only earn $25 a hour then diy will be more advantageous. It all depends on where you are at your level of investing. Somebody just beginning might try a lot of DIY and then then start leveraging their time and money into multiple property/renovations or developments at the same time. Which will require trades. I don't think there is any right or wrong answer just where you are at your investing. As hiring trades for a multi million dollar development/renovation ie any renovation project with a end sale of 1 million is really your only option to ensure quality and that it is done within timeframes. Under 300k properties i think DIY can handle. And in between you can use a combination.
I agree with 10 burner that if you can source material and just pay for installation. That you can make significant cost savings. Just the example with the light switches is that you can buy a box of 100 power points on eBay from a wholesaler for $200-$220 which is $2.20 a power point cost… You go ask a electrician for the cost of a power point. Its the cost of them ordering it, holding it, transporting costs and them talking to you on the phone about how much it costs. Proberly ends up close to $10- $20 a PowerPoint.
Down lights is another big cost in multi house developments. You can order 100 down lights from china cheaper then in Australia. Some are quality and some are not, Got to check they comply with aus standards.
By big cost i meant " big markup on cost price".
I've renovated using both options – DIY and using tradies.
I actually enjoy a bit of DIY but just don't have the time to do it anymore so have to use tradies.
I've got a fairly large renovation happening in the PPOR at the moment – and it's not the sort of work I'd be capable of doing anyway. Lots of structural changes.
Cheers
Jamie
Jamie Moore | Pass Go Home Loans Pty Ltd
http://www.passgo.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeMortgage Broker assisting clients Australia wide Email: [email protected]
I'm definitely going DIY for now to save some bucks on my ppor. My father in law is a sparky so that'll be useful. I'll likely only need a tiler for the bathroom and I'm hoping I'll be able to do the rest myself or with a bit of help from some mates.
Good points Wilko about the cost of DIY.
When we reno we generally do nights and weekends so no loss of wages (just a damn hard 5 weeks slog). But if I earn more than a tradie so wouldn't take time off to renovate. Also a tradie can usually get the job done more quickly and you don't have to put up with your hubby nagging. LOL
Even if you just rip stuff out that can be a big saving. You're not paying a tradie $400+ a day just to, for example, rip a kitchen out.
As soon as we sign the contract my hubby makes his list and starts looking. One time we bought a brand new sink with flick mixer for $15. And we bought enough tiles for a bathroom floor and 2 kitchen splashbacks for $70. We bought 2 showers, a vanity and a toilet for $50. We bought a new bath for $10. The list goes on. Keep your eyes open. Problem is finding somewhere to keep the stuff we keep finding before we've bought again.
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