Home renovation 101?

I've noticed there's quite a few of you guys who have construction industry backgrounds or experience and hoping that some of you might want to shine a light on the renovation process for a guy who whilst not incapable when it comes to construction, has never attempted a project of this scope before.

My partner and I brought our first home almost 6 years ago, we knew it was in need of work, but operated on the theory of by a rough house in a good neighbourhood as opposed to the other way around.

The place needs to be renovated inside and out. It has some inactive termite damage (far from the worst I've seen), the kitchen needs updating, as do the bathroom and laundry. It'll also need the gutters and facias replaced and either the roof ridging rebedded and pointed (concrete tile roof) or replaced with an iron roof.

My idea is to systematically gut each room, repair any framework damage, add any extra wiring while the dry wall is off, insulate and re-drywall.

It's to big of a project that I'll be able to do it single handedly, but at the same time will need to do as much of the hack work as possible to maximise the budget that I have to work with.

Because of how much there is to tackle on this project I'm feeling totally overwhelmed and unsure of where to start. I need to try and plan an order of events and then try and come up with a realistic schedule whilst ensuring I keep within budget.

I'll add more info as required so this doesn't just turn into a ramble.

Cheapest and easiest first. That way you can gain skills and experience before the more involved stuff.

Start with a small room. After gutting it and putting it back together, I'm pretty sure you will decide to never gut a room unnecessarily again.

In order for me to consider gutting, it would have to be:

• A) Awful. Really awful, like unrepairably awful, but still in a neighborhood that has great value.

• B) A great candidate for total restoration. Historic, Victorian, etc.

There is generally no reason to gut a house. You will add nearly zero to the selling price of the house. Kitchen will add value. Bathrooms add value. Roofing adds value. Cosmetics and design features add value.

Fixed framing does not add value, unless there was a visible problem before you torn things apart (like sagging floors, water damage, etc.).

This will drag on forever (and consume you) if you don't make it a priority to MINIMIZE the effort wherever you can.

Do something small to get started.

Actually, don't start small.

Start with a very thorough inspection/ analysis. Go through the place room by room making a detailed and complete list that you and your partner can agree on, and prioritize it together. It's a communication exercise- you are gonna need the communication skills. The goal with this list should be:

• 1- Assessment.

• 2- Minimize what you can.

• 3- Understand and plan to address the structural issues (foundation, roof, structural).

• 4- Divide it into bite-sized chunks.

• 5- Include budget numbers. It doesn't matter if you are wrong. Put SOMETHING on paper and discuss it together. If prices grow through the first project, adjust your numbers (and scope) later.

• 6- Plan the project to reward yourselves. What did you love about the place before you bought it? What do you dream of? What is exciting? Get one of THOSE things done early, so you can enjoy it and deal with the bigger/ harder/ less fun stuff.

• 7- Plan for breaks in between projects where the house is dust free, and you can reward yourselves with a hiatus from the debris.

• 8- Make the list nice and long, with LOTS of details. Then make the effort to SCRATCH STUFF OFF the list as you go. It will make you feel like you've accomplished things.

It is pretty likely your long list will shorten as you get into this. The first project will take 5 times the time, effort, and money you thought it would, and some of the things on that list just won't seem important enough to fuss with later. That's OK. Scratch them off the list.

Good luck!

In reply to Dusterbd13:

I've already done a few of the smaller, cheaper easier things. Now I've got to work out what order and how to go about the rest.

In reply to SVreX:

Tbh, I'm not exactly keen on gutting the entire house, it just seemed the most logical and thorough way to get rid of any termite damage and had the bonuses of making it easier to run extra wiring and add insulation and sound proofing as well as giving a nice new surface for paint. But yes, definitely means extra work and expense.

Thanks for breaking it down into stages, it seems like I'm at least starting right. I've been gathering all the info I need regarding utilities location, a measure up of the house and starting to price up major materials. My partner and I are looking to try and do a room by room breakdown of what needs to happen over the next week or two before we actually start getting to far in.

We are currently trying to get rid off stuff we don't need, and are considering storing non essential items off site for at least a couple of months to cut down on double handling and damage.

A bit more info about the house/project.

This Reno isn't to build our dream house, its to make as much money as we can from the place so we can give suburbia the flick.

The house is a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, brick veneer house with attached double garage (if you drive compacts, 1 car plus all my tools etc otherwise) It's on a full concrete slab, windows are extruded aluminium frames, roof is currently concrete tile.

Median house price in our area is around 520k. we owe, including our Reno budget just under 300k. Anything sold in our part of the suburb over the last 12 months has been getting 550k+, quite a few of those haven't been renovated. We want to walk out of there with a minimum of 200k in our pocket, more would be awesome, less and we'd be looking at renting it out for a few years till prices go up more.

Advice regarding project planning/management, finding good reliable tradespeople/contractors, what should be outsourced vs diy and any other wisdom that you may have is very welcome.

Both my partner and I are OK with roughing it and living with the bare minimum for a while if it gets things done cheaper/quicker.

If you are trying to flip it, then I DEFINITELY would not gut it. I wouldn't ever open a wall if I didn't have to, nor do any wiring. I wouldn't insulate it either (I might blow insulation into the attic).

Did you get a home inspection when you bought it? Were there things on the list that would scare off the average buyer? Address THOSE things, and ONLY those things.

Scope creep is the death of all flipping projects.

You need to add curb appeal first, then appeal as you come through the entrance, then a good looking (but not expensive) kitchen with a few doo-dads (like slide out trash bins, and lazy susans), and maybe a couple feature spots. THAT'S IT. (Unless the bathroom looks like crap- then go ahead and do that).

DO NOT let the scope creep. It will:

• A- Cost you money

• B- Not increase the resale value

• C- More importantly, cost you time.. LOTS of time. A couple month renovation could easily turn into years and years.

• D- Most importantly, cost you relationship. I know, you guys are in agreement now. EVERYONE is in agreement at the beginning of a project like this. But it will NOT last. The longer this takes, the bigger the mess, and the more money, the more stress on a relationship. I'm not kidding- I've seen it for 40 years.

You can listen to me and this could end well, or you can ignore me and try to do everything "well" ("perfect", "nice", "right", whatever). It won't end well. Your choice.

You are obviously not experienced at flipping houses. Don't believe the crap you see on TV. Do the least amount you can, with the most visual impact, then STOP.

BTW, your numbers are a little bit questionable.

You could dump $50K in renovations in a heartbeat. You want to sell this a little under all the other houses. So, maybe.

But the catch is your "minimum $200K" statement. That's nice, but if someone walks in with a check that allows you to clear $175K after a year of effort, you'd be batE36 M3 crazy to rent it out waiting for prices to go up. Take the money and run.

OK, I see you are in Australia. Things may be less volatile there, but I still would not have a firm inflexible bottom margin number. It's called flipping for a reason. The money is in turning it fast, not waiting for the market to change.

daeman wrote: In reply to Dusterbd13: I've already done a few of the smaller, cheaper easier things. Now I've got to work out what order and how to go about the rest.

Fix the roof, paint the ceilings

+1 on the relationship thing. A long, drawn out and over-budget renovation of my ex's house was one of the issues that caused our split. After a year-plus, it felt like I was busting my ass for zero appreciation, which made it harder and harder to keep working.

Don't underestimate how physical the work can be, especially if your regular job doesn't involve much (I sit at an office desk all day). I over-exerted my shoulder carrying wall panels up stairs. It essentially put me out of action for almost 6 months. I'm a competitive cyclist and in pretty decent shape for my age (45), but I just spent the weekend building a new shed and I am totally exhausted. Used a lot of muscles I forgot I had...

i would not open a wall. that which is buried and you don't know about can not bite you in the butt at sale time. that which gets knowingly buried has to be disclosed at sale or you could get pounded.

you can run electric without opening walls, but do you really need additional receptacles? messing with wires can be a can of worms leading to rewiring the whole deal when you start finding illegal junctions, questionable routing, etc.

how are the walls? it's much easier to fix beat up walls than it is to rip it all out and start over.

In reply to SVreX:

First up, thank you. Answers like your providing are exactly why I started this thread.

Am I handy, yes, can I do frame work, electrical, plumbing etc in small quantities, you'd better believe it. Have I ever tried to do a whole house, no way. Am I deluded enough to think this is all going to be easy and go smoothly, not on your life.

Kitchen is a must do, as are bathroom and laundry. I have to do something with the roof and gutter situation. Past that, most things are more preference than requirement.

I realise I need to get out of the mindset of renovating to how I'd want it, or to my standards. I realise I can't treat it like when I redo an engine. Houses have a lot of room for error and I just have to get myself into that mindset.

I'll be making a point of hitting the open houses in the area so I can see what's selling for what and at what standards. I'm lucky that the local area has a very good reputation, and houses clear like Crazy.

I can appreciate what your saying regarding my figures. I've been fairly conservative though. We owe 230, and have 70 set aside for renovation. (Remember, Australia, E36 M3 costs more). I don't want to use past 50k, but I'm also not stupid and know that having a larger buffer is necessary. As an aside, at no stage will I be letting any contractors know what my budgets like, if someone knows your budget theyre sure to spend it.

In reply to Ian F:

I agree, any major process can be hard on a relationship. We've been together quite a while and have dealt with plenty of adversity throughout, including living in our construction site of a house for a few years already. She's no princess and does very well taking life as it comes, I don't think a less robust woman would tolerate me the way she does.

Hard labour is my game, and being just shy of 32 can pull my weight with the best of them. but I've at least matured enough to realise burnout can and will happen and how to recognise the warning signs. If there's a massive amount of labour in a particular task I'll be looking at getting a day labourer or two to offside and take up some of the strain.

We just need to keep our communication open and adapt and overcome like we have for everything else. (There will be fights and arguments no doubt, but we both recognise nothing is worth throwing the relationship away over)

In reply to patgizz:

Problem is, I know there's damage, and I'd rather avoid it biting me in the ass later..

Elec in the place isn't to bad really. I need a couple of outlets and a couple of relocations. Other than that it's just changing election fittings.

The walls are ok, looks like I'll only be disturbing what I have to.

I missed the part where you had already included the Reno costs. I thought you had $300k in it already.

That's better. ( I would still not be fixated on a $200k bottom line).

Carry on!

Just curious here, you say the houses in the area are selling for 550K and you only owe 230K on the place. How rough is it that you couldn't sell it for say 500K or so and just not worry about the heartburn of a reno? Just thinking aloud here because your time is worth something too.

In reply to SVreX:

No worries, I probably didn't do the best job of initially getting all the info out.

Your right, I can't fixate on final price. But I've got to have a goal worth shooting for.

In reply to bmw88rider:

The place is OK, its just two little words that unless I can get rid of it will kill my sale prospects. Termite damage. Its on the minor end of the scale damage wise, but it'll be picked up on an inspection. Kitchen and bathroom are areas where the damage is present and both being updated will do alot to help the sale price. If I thought I could cash out without dramas and get close to my goal I would love to.

bmw88rider wrote: Just curious here, you say the houses in the area are selling for 550K and you only owe 230K on the place. How rough is it that you couldn't sell it for say 500K or so and just not worry about the heartburn of a reno? Just thinking aloud here because your time is worth something too.

That's a really good point.

Sounds like you bought right. Most homeowners undervalue the improvement costs.

If you could sell at a discount now, without doing any work, you may be able to offer it as a bargain to a DIYer who considers the value of the work to be about $50K, instead of $70K.

In fact if you find the right buyer, you might be able to make more money without doing anything at all.