Case Study: How To Make Money On A Renovation

Read article : Case Study: How To Make Money On A Renovation

From the expert

Cherie Barber is a renovator on TV’s The Living Room and runs renovating-for- profit workshops. Cheriebarber.com.au

One of the guaranteed ways to add value to a home is to reconfigure the layout to add an extra bedroom and create open-plan living. These are the two key things on my radar when I size up a property and as I’m studying the floor plan, tapping walls and pacing it out.

When I came across this house in Sydney’s west, in an area that has already demonstrated great capital growth, I didn’t hesitate to snap it up. With a few tweaks to the layout and a better connection to the generous outdoor area at the rear, I knew I could tap into the full potential of the existing three-bedroom brick home. This was a wise investment.

Open sesame

The jumble of sprawling living areas offered abundant space, but no open-plan flow. By removing a gyprock wall between the traditional living and dining areas, the new L-shaped living space is now a free-flowing, light-filled gem that spills into the back sunroom and updated kitchen. With this redefined living area, I was able to eke out a new bedroom in the centre of the house. By closing off the arch in the entry foyer and stealing space from the living room, I created a new bedroom, opening off the hallway. Two vented skylights compensate for the absence of a window. It’s now a four-bedroom house in an area favoured by families. In fact, a tenant was secured on a one-year lease immediately upon completion of the renovation.

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Cosmetic refresh

The bathroom was dated, but its vanity, shower and bathtub were fine, so only a simple makeover was needed. Gerflor vinyl flooring and new tiles for the shower floor were supplied and installed for less than $300, while White Knight Tile Paint was used to mask the decorative tiles.

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Budget-friendly floors

The patchwork quilt of flooring left by the assortment of old rooms certainly couldn’t stay. Durable laminate floorboards in a honey colour called Chestnut now unify the whole house. They’re a fraction of the cost of hardwood floors, yet still provide the warmth of timber.

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Window to the world

The rear of the house was blessed with an abundance of windows, wrapping around two sides of the sunroom and offering a restful, leafy view. However, the addition of new bifold doors off the living area and sunroom has created a seamless indoor/outdoor flow onto the large verandah and sprawling deck beyond. Not surprisingly, the garden needed just as much TLC as the house, and nearly $3000 was spent on plants, turf and landscaping supplies.

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Kitchen central

Putting in a brand new kitchen would have totally blown my target of completing the renovation, inside and out, for as close to 10 per cent of the total value of the property as possible. That’s my recommended budget for any cosmetic renovation, but it was an ambitious target in this case, as there were also structural changes, like the bifold doors and creating a new bedroom. By keeping the kitchen cabinets but replacing the fronts and benchtop, I was able to complete the kitchen – including new appliances – for about $3000, plus labour.

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Colour my world

Now for the wow factor! I decided to marry the beige tones of Taubmans Penguin March with a blaze of punchy blue wallpaper. The entire length of the living area and one wall of the long hallway are now decked in Lines wallpaper. The large master bedroom at the front of the house basks in the luxurious blue of Taubmans Shindig.

The bottom line

It was three weeks of intensive effort to transform this rough diamond into the inviting family home it is today. But the ultimate sign of the successful renovation of an investment property is whether the numbers stack up. With a total interior/exterior renovation cost of $67,760, it came in at just a whisker above 12 per cent of the cost of the property – a fantastic outcome. But did it turn a profit? The triumphant answer is yes, it certainly did. I purchased the house for $550,000 and it was revalued post-renovation at $690,000. This is a gross profit of $72,240. That’s the kind of outcome an investor seeks.

BUDGET BREAKDOWN

Labour carpentry & building $19,420
Electrician $3500
Plumber $635
Roof spraying (done by painters) $1500
Painting $2000
Wallpaper installer $880
Garden excavator $750
Cement renderer $2640
Construction labourer $675
Rubbish removal $4425

SUBTOTAL: LABOUR COSTS $36,425
Materials timber & all hardware $9539
Flooring (supply & install) $4450
Bifold doors $6363
Kitchen doors & panelling $1585
Kitchen benchtops $645
Kitchen appliances $975
Bathroom flooring $160
Bathroom tiles (supply & install) $100
Curtains & blinds $1718
Wallpaper $520
Paint $1480
Skylights $800
Equipment hire $260
Turf, plants & Landscaping $2740
TOTAL $67,760

How I remodeled my bathroom for just $2,400

Read article : How I remodeled my bathroom for just $2,400

By: Amy Fontinelle, July 21st 2013The average cost of a midrange bathroom remodel is $15,782, according to Remodeling Magazine's most recent cost vs. value remodeling report. While the conventional wisdom says that bathrooms and kitchens sell homes, such projects typically only recoup 65.2% of their cost in the home's resale value in today’s market, the report shows. Even so, that return makes bathroom remodeling one of the most valuable home improvements on our list. Of course, averages can be misleading. People who do expensive projects push the averages far beyond what the typical homeowner spends. Despite the high cost and negative return on investment, Consumer Reports says bathrooms are second to kitchens on homeowners' lists of rooms they want to remodel. The guest bathroom was high on my list of things to remodel in the fixer-upper home my husband and I bought in 2008. How we budgeted We weren’t about to spend $16,000 to remodel the bathroom. We were thinking more like $1,500 to $3,000. We faced a much lower potential expense because our bathroom is only 5 feet by 7 feet. That’s about the smallest space into which anyone outside of New York City can squeeze a bathtub, toilet and sink. We decided not to touch the bathtub, the surrounding tile or the shower doors. We don’t love them, but we also don’t use them, and they can be hidden nicely behind a shower curtain. We also wanted to reduce our risk of experiencing a bad remodel with an expensive leaky shower problem. To avoid laying out a ton of cash at once to pay for the remodel, we bought things gradually over five months and stored them in our garage. This strategy also let us take advantage of sales and coupons as they came up, which saved us $150. Time and money trade-offs Our plan was to hire a professional contractor to do everything. We had waited so long to remodel that we didn’t want to mess it up with an overzealous attempt at doing it ourselves. After some difficulty in finding a reliable professional, we learned that an acquaintance worked for a general contractor. The catch? We would have to take a chance on someone less experienced. But then, we only had to pay $600 for labor, or 25% of our total cost. What we didn’t foresee was that our contractor would need a lot of help from my husband. He didn’t have a crew. We ended up with a combination of professional help and DIY. The project was supposed to take three days. It took much longer, but we were happy with the finished product. Here’s what threw off our schedule: The bathroom vanity we so meticulously picked out didn’t match up with the sink plumbing. We had to shorten one of the drawers and cut out an extra notch in the back of the cabinet to make it fit — a multiple-day project. We had to replace the piece of wood flooring that transitions from the hallway to the bathroom. That meant two trips to the store to find a matching piece and a lot of woodworking to make it fit. After the first intense week of renovation, we dragged our heels finishing up out of sheer exhaustion. All in all, we didn’t have full use of our bathroom for three weeks instead of three days. Total cost Fortunately, we didn’t have any significant unforeseen expenses. What really added to the total bill were all the little things we didn’t think about budgeting for: tile spacers, caulk, a mixing bucket, assorted plumbing parts. All told, the remodeled bathroom cost just under $2,400, including tax and labor. Here’s how we spent our money: Bathroom Budget Breakdown

Item	Cost
Professional labor	$600
Floor cabinet	$318
Granite counter top with built-in sink and granite backsplash	$240
Toilet	$231
Wall cabinet	$173
Ceramic floor tiles	$130
Light fixture	$113
Grout, tile spacers, floor base, thin-set mortar, trowel, bucket and sponge	$90
Sink faucet	$85
Paint, primer, sandpaper, paint samples and paint tray liners	$59
Plumbing supplies	$55
Toilet seat	$32
Wood floor trim	$29
Trash can	$27
Shower curtain	$27
Granite samples	$26
Mirror	$26
Towel ring	$20
Shower curtain rod	$19
Caulk and liquid nails to seal toilet and counter	$17
Light switch and electrical outlet covers	$15
Toilet flush handle	$12
Baseboard	$7
Pull chain for bathroom vent fan	$4
Total	$2,355

If we hadn’t already owned tools like a screwdriver, level, drill and wrench, we would have spent a little more.

Where we didn’t skimp

We could have saved money by purchasing floor tiles that were sold by the tile instead of by the box. We weren’t able to return six unused tiles worth about $20.

We also could have purchased less expensive tiles, but since we had such a small space to cover, we didn’t mind splurging on a pricier choice.

We could have spent $100 less on a toilet, but we hated our current toilet and didn’t want to repeat the experience. We went with a highly ranked, best-selling model.

The plastic seat that came with our toilet looked and felt cheap, so we shelled out another $30 for a nice enameled one. Same goes for the toilet flush handle.

We didn’t buy apartment-grade fixtures. We knew from experience that they aren’t a good value in the long run.

Had we been on a tighter budget, we could have cut our expenses.

But it was worth saving for longer to get what we really wanted.

How to make your own remodel affordable

If you’re planning your own remodel, here are some tips for cutting your costs without sacrificing quality.

• Don’t borrow money. Paying interest adds to your cost. Save up and pay cash.
• Do anything yourself that you can. Most people can at least paint.
• Design your project yourself, if you have a decent eye.
• Buy nicer stuff from the big-box stores instead of high-end stuff from a specialty store.
• Pick out what you want, then wait to see if it goes on sale or you find a coupon.
• Don’t rent a trash container. Instead, gradually throw out the waste with your regular trash.

Whether your goal is to remodel a bathroom for resale or for your own enjoyment, doing it the way we did makes a lot of financial sense because you may never see a financial return on your investment.

Making Bifold Doors Into A Screen To Hide The Water Heater

Read article : Making Bifold Doors Into A Screen To Hide The Water Heater

We know this was supposed to be the final chapter when it comes to our big basement makeover, but because we tackled two different DIY projects (making a screen to block off our fugly water heater and frosting the windows for 100% privacy that still lets in the light) we realized it would be crazy to try to squeeze all those step by step photos and instructions into one post… so we’re breaking it down to two. Just look at it as twice the fun. So without further ado, here’s how we made a custom screen to hide our eye-sore of a water heater with $18 worth of secondhand bi-fold doors and a quart of punchy bright green paint (stay tuned for the window-frosting tutorial coming soon).

Before we get into all the nitty gritty details, we should remind you what the aforementioned water heater looks like. Remember this guy?

Of course the room has come a long way from that point (we added a rug, brought in a bike rack, upgraded the the lighting situation, papered the insides of the armoires, hung some art, brought in some storage, and organized our paint). But the frighteningly gross water heater remained… taunting us with its hideousness. We debated springing for a tankless variety, but because we’re big fans of working with what you have (and didn’t want to cart off our fully functional water heater to a landfill) we opted to create a screen that will block off the water heater along with the ugly trap door in the wall behind it (which leads to the crawl space under the house). And when this water heater finally breathes it’s last breath we’ll definitely consider upgrading to a tankless one (and we’ll still be able to use the screen to hide the unsightly trap door in the wall behind it).

But how did we end up with a giant screen without blowing our meager basement budget (many store-bought ones are in the $100-300 range and a bunch of those weren’t even tall enough to work for our space)? We just brainstormed materials that we could use to whip one up on the cheap. Here’s how it all went down.

Step 1: Locate three adequately tall bi-fold doors that are sturdy enough to stand on their own and will easily obscure a 6′ water heater. After debating the use of everything from all-weather curtain panels hung from the ceiling to bookcases on wheels (which could be pushed aside for water heater access) we finally decided a screen was the perfect solution for our space. And what’s an easier way to make a screen than hinging three bi-fold doors together and calling it a day? At first we thought about cutting a full sized door in half but bi-folds are like pre-cut doors, so they’re ready to go. Even better. Plus they’re easy to move, relatively simple to find, and definitely would add some playful color to the room if we opted to paint them a bold hue.

So a plan was born. For just $18 we snagged these three bi-fold doors at our local Habitat For Humanity ReStore (they were having a 40% off door sale when we went in- uh, awesome!). Plus they already came with enough hinges to join them all together and create one large screen. Jackpot.

When we got to the checkout the lady was like “um, you’re missing a door” (since there are supposed to be four) but we explained that this wonky set of three bi-folds was actually perfect for us since we were going to make a screen by joining them together and didn’t need a fourth. She seemed excited for us until we mentioned that we were going to attempt to shove them into our good ol’ Nissan Maxima. Then she just shook her head and muttered good luck. Of course we took it as a personal challenge…

That’s me flashing my victory smile. A lot of people write to us and ask how we take on so many projects with such a small car. We’re just like anyone else with a modestly sized ride… we squeeze things in when we can and call John’s sister and beg to borrow her Ford Explorer when we can’t. In a pinch we’ve even been known to rent a pick-up truck from Home Depot for a few hours, just to cart something around. It’s all about, in the words of the ever-fabulous Tim Gunn, making it work.

Tip: when you recline the front seat and place large objects in the car as we did above, you can actually fasten the passenger side seat belt across them, which can help keep things safely in place so they don’t slide around and encroach on the person in the back seat- especially when she has an ever-expanding belly full of baby to protect).

Step 2: Place bi-fold doors on cardboard (for painting) and hinge them together in the room where your screen will be living (to avoid the annoyance of building it in one place and then moving it halfway across the house afterwards). When we finally got our precious cargo home we placed the doors on a large piece of paint-ready cardboard, hinged them together with the free hinges that we inherited with the doors, and stepped back to take a look. By golly this just might work. We also did a bit of puttying/sanding to fill in any recessed parts of the doors and smooth out anything that wasn’t exactly ready for paint (but for $18 pre-used doors, they weren’t bad at all).

Step 3: Paint your newly made screen. That’s it. You’re done. I guess we should elaborate a bit. We used one quart of semi-gloss latex paint by Behr, which we had color matched to Benjamin Moore’s Bunker Hill Green 566. Two coats later John was finished. I love this whole being pregnant thing. No painting for me (of course for the impending bathroom and nursery projects we’ll be using no-VOC paint so I’ll be back on painting duty, but for the separate entry basement we figured low-VOC Behr paint worked for us- and at just $14 for the quart it put our total cost for the entire screen project at… (drumroll please)… $32!

We love the happy burst of emerald green that it brings to the space (it complements the paper behind the armoire doors, the large green tupperware bins we brought in, the storage boxes in our Ikea workstation, and even the subtle green stripes in the rug). And the function is great. It definitely hides the ugly stuff but still makes it easily accessible. Best of all, there’s still more than enough room- over 35″-  to walk to the other side of the basement, roll out our bikes, etc.

So that’s how you give an old set of bi-fold doors a whole new life on the cheap. We’ll be back with a window frosting tutorial followed by an entire basement project wrap-up (complete with photos from start to finish and even a budget breakdown for your viewing pleasure). And while we’re on the subject of repurposing bi-fold doors, have you guys reused doors or windows in any interesting ways? We’d love to hear how you’re giving old household staples a second life with a bit of DIY determination so do tell.

Psst- Want to look back on our big basement makeover from start to almost-finished? Here’s the first post, the second post, the third post, the forth post, the fifth post, the sixth post, and the seventh post. Ah memories.

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