He lives in a nice, older suburb right outside of town. While his 1950’s brick ranch is in good condition for the most part, the bathroom was not. Aside from the ugly blue tile, toilet, bathtub, and sink there was really one major problem: mold.
A problem with the vent in the bathroom had led to mold starting to grow on the ceiling. The whole bathroom needed to be gutted.
Over the past week the bathroom has been ripped down to the studs and is slowly being built back up. A complete gut job like this isn’t cheap. Luckily for him he has me on his side.
Here’s how we were able to keep the renovation costs at a reasonable level.
# 1- Set a Budget
If you don’t set a renovation budget you’re going to spend way more money than you intended to.
When you set yourself up a budget you’ll be able to map out where you can splurge and where you should save.
Set a budget before starting on any renovation project.
# 2 – Know When to Hire Help
Since he doesn’t plan on living in this home for the rest of his life we kept resale in mind. That meant things needed to be done right.
There were two things we felt we couldn’t handle ourselves: drywall and plumbing.
A contractor friend of a friend came in and replaced all the old plumbing and put new drywall up. He spent 25 hours total working on the bathroom at $25 an hour.
So while we could have attempted to do the plumbing and drywall ourselves, it was better to have it done correctly the first time around, by hiring a company that offers north Washington drywall installation, or installation near you.
It often makes more sense to hire out the work you don’t feel capable of doing. It will costs you less money in the long run.
If you need repair services hire someone local like appliance repair in Dallas
# 3 – Know When to Do it Yourself
There were plenty of other things we were more than willing to do. Things like painting, installing tile, and hooking up the vanity and toilet were within our skillset.
By tackling these items ourselves we saved hundreds of dollars.
# 4 – Shop Around
I live in a small town. The only home improvement store around is Lowes.
After making a trip to Lowes to look for vanities there was nothing that we wanted that was in the designated price range.
We ended up making the haul to other home improvement stores in the city. We checked out several vanities before finally finding a quality one at a reasonable price.
We wanted to make the bathroom timeless but quality. If he decides to sell his house in the near future new buyers need to like the bathroom.
Don’t settle. If one store doesn’t have what you want for the price you need to check around. Be patient. You’ll eventually find what you’re looking for.
# 5 – Give Yourself Wiggle Room
When it comes to renovations the one thing you can bet on is that something will go wrong. Make sure to give yourself a little wiggle room in your budget so that you can cover the unexpected.
What other tips do you have for renovating on a budget?
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