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I wouldn't have sent a message about it but I did note it when I read the thread as well, and yes, made assumptions about the beliefs of someone who would use that expression.
But this is getting way off topic. Bottom line, if you include renovation costs in your budget, then you can do them when you want to. I considered myself fortunate to find a house in my budget that I could put in the upgrades I wanted, either through the builder during construction, or on a planned timetable afterwards.
Location: Los Angeles>Little Rock>Houston>Little Rock
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We did about 22k worth of work on the house before we moved in, so we are good for a while. Next will be to redo the downstairs living area where Son stays.
We did about 22k worth of work on the house before we moved in, so we are good for a while. Next will be to redo the downstairs living area where Son stays.
I have spent about 17k since I bought my house last summer. I was lucky, because the house was less expensive than what I had budgeted to spend so this has not been a financial hardship for me.
Depends on the renovation. Some of them were budgeted in when we bought the house and some of them will be done on an as-we-are-ready basis. We both are both handy and will do much of the work ourselves, except as code requires here and there.
If I had to pay someone else to do everything then yes, we'd be putting it off, but then I wouldn't have bought this house if I didn't think we couldn't do nearly all of it ourselves.
i been doing it since 2002, when i built my house, still dont have brick, or tile bathrooms, my kithen is plywood. you can build a house cheap. all the extra like floor, paint tile trim is where the money is.
Yes. We can't afford to do everything we want to the house all at once, so it's an ongoing project. The first order of business was to convert the garage into a den, because we really wanted the extra living space. Next, we replaced the living room floor (it was carpet) with laminate flooring. Not our first choice, but it's what we could afford for now. We have a large dog (who will be our last dog) and we didn't want hardwood to get scratched up anyway... for what it cost, it's no problem for us to let it be for 5 years, then replace it with what we really want later.
On the list of things to do are rescreening the lanai (this is probably next up), repairing a wall in the living room and repainting (the dog ran full-speed into the living room and shoved a chair into the wall, making a big dent, so that piece of sheetrock needs to be replaced, plus I'm not thrilled with the dark shade of the living room anyway), and doing something about our extremely plain landscaping. By the time those are done, we'll want to do some work in the kitchen, I'm sure. And by then, it might be time for a new roof or air conditioning unit or who knows what else.
We just got this house 3 months ago and we are putting off redoing anything right now due to how costly everything is , anyone else noticing this trend of how things are going up and up and yet salarys and paychecks stay the same ? I mean really one can barely afford to live anymore . I do think we must be living in the end times and things will only get more exspensive and frankly we can barely afford to paint and it is just not us . I see other folks having a hard time as well . Have any of you put things off in redos because of the cost ?
BINGO!
The new trend toward "service economy" has "Europized" the US. These skilless clowns want $50 - 80 an hour! My Mexicans now want $50 an hour to trim shrubs! Sucker public is all I can say.
Just a few years back, I was up for buying a fixer upper. I could do a good bit of the work myself, and hire out the more skilled stuff like drywall finishing. But age caught up, and today, I have to hire out just about anything. But despite my wealth, I'm done doing that - and strictly on principle.
The prices these people charge! YIKES! And crappy work, to boot. You've got be kidding me!
I've decided that anything I buy from here on out is going to have to be just the way it is. I've even given up the home with grounds (previously an absolute requirement) simply because the cost of having anything done is exhorbitant. Screw that! These unskilled tasks like trimming shrubs, weeding, cleaning the house, detailing the car...all want, like, $80 an hour. BS! I ain't paying that. You want $80 an hour? Fine. Learn electrical or tool & die. Or AC and heating duct installation. You ain't getting $80 an hour out of me washing my windows.
Sucker people are fueling this over priced service industry stuff. If you'd just not hire them, they'd have to do something else for a living, and Mezz'can senoras could once again be widely available to do these unskilled jobs for the $10 an hour they're worth.
Last edited by TwinbrookNine; 02-03-2016 at 08:12 AM..
Yes. We can't afford to do everything we want to the house all at once, so it's an ongoing project. The first order of business was to convert the garage into a den, because we really wanted the extra living space. Next, we replaced the living room floor (it was carpet) with laminate flooring. Not our first choice, but it's what we could afford for now. We have a large dog (who will be our last dog) and we didn't want hardwood to get scratched up anyway... for what it cost, it's no problem for us to let it be for 5 years, then replace it with what we really want later.
On the list of things to do are rescreening the lanai (this is probably next up), repairing a wall in the living room and repainting (the dog ran full-speed into the living room and shoved a chair into the wall, making a big dent, so that piece of sheetrock needs to be replaced, plus I'm not thrilled with the dark shade of the living room anyway), and doing something about our extremely plain landscaping. By the time those are done, we'll want to do some work in the kitchen, I'm sure. And by then, it might be time for a new roof or air conditioning unit or who knows what else.
The joys of home ownership.
I could never give up my garage! And my wife knows it.
No.
Not cost.
Just the PITA it is any time someone comes to do work here.
I'm doing all the work myself (because I used to be an electrican/contractor before) and my biggest hassle is finding the time to do it. It's tough to find the time to get to things after a long day of work. Come home, play with the kids a bit, help with dinner, get everyone ready for bed and then decide if i'm going to crawl up in the attic and run the wire I need to install the recessed lights.
But we fit it in.
Budget wise, we've been fortunate. We set some cash aside for weekly projects and some for long term projects. Right now, i'd like to take down about 5 large Oak trees in the backyard. I'm budgeting $5K for that alone. I'd go chop them down myself, but they are huge.
Need to do it soon because I want to build the kids a swing set/slide in the spot that one of the trees is currently sitting on. I'll be building that one myself as well.
I prefer to do things myself not because I can't afford to hire out, but because .1) I can, and .2) i'm a perfectionist.
Last edited by BostonMike7; 02-03-2016 at 09:05 AM..
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