We had a property that we purchased in an old area and you couldnt see the house … we removed all the trees from the front yard and replanted using cuttings from our own and friends property.
We collected all left over paint from our friends sheds and went to work … other than time the cost was practically nil … we had 6 offers to buy the property within 2 weeks all from neighbours within 4 streets … we kept it …
D
Good work. Often its the simplest things that make the biggest difference. I guess if you have the time, as you say the only real cost, to do these things then they pay off in spades when you're done. A diamond in the rough so to speak.
I did something similar to an old IP I had a few years back, cleaned out the yard, lick of paint new carpet (second hand but good condition) I think the total reno came in under 20K (ok not as cheap as W4L but not bad as far as reno's go) and the reval came in nearly 60K more. Not bad for 3 weeks work.
I always remember Peter Spanns comment: new light fittings, door and drawer handles, paint and carpet, don't go for the most expensive or the cheapest, just something that will last a few years and look good during that time.It might be hard to believe now but you can still find the odd house which has only an instantaneous gas hot water unit in the bathroom & kitchen. It might cost a few $ to install a HWS but it makes finding a tenant a lot easier.
Do a few hours work in the garden (add a few plants, mulch & fertiliser) – makes presentation that much better (for some houses).
We bought a house on a development site 12 months ago for land value only. The house was a mess. The tenant had left crap anywhere. We brought in a skip and emptied out all the rubbish, whipper snippered the property (on 5000 sqm), got a tenant in paying $280 per week and had the bank revalue it 6 months later at $100,000 more than we bought it for. Underneath the crap the house was in pretty good condition with loads of potential that we haven't even tapped yet. I think the skip cost us about $300.
I remember being cranky with the vendor for leaving the property in such a mess but it really worked in our favour. $99,700 in our favour, to be exact!
Cheers
K
not even a contest…….
1. 2 x bags render @ $6, rendered dated brick at front of house (highset)
2. $3 spraycan black gloss, painted aluminium window frames
3. $14 fence paint 10 litre, sprayed on roof tiles
4. front railings….$45 yellow balau timber over the metal…..hey presto, modern stairs
5. floor sander hire $65 & $45 tin of polyeurethane…..new polished floors
6. cut down a few fugly trees…..free
A coat of paint always makes a big difference.
It always confuses me why people think their labour is free.
I've lost count on how many people I give a quote to decide to DIY it themselves as they think the quote is to high.Three week ends later , two days off work , twenty trips to the hardware, two trips to the dump, fuel ,hire and purchasing a pile of rubbish tools that they will never use again , let alone the left over material.
If you added up the 8 days they blew that they could of been paid for usually costs them more then paying a tradie.
Plus the job often looks tacky and often they are screaming for a tradie to fix their screw ups for nothing.Honestly it beats me how they think they saved..lol
I've learnt even if I think I can do it , knowing it will take twice the time , I'm best to get a pro in while I continue being paid for what I know.
This way I'm still pulling in an income and know the job that is contracted is done right.But I guess if you have lots of free time or no job then a DIY could be of value.
thats a typical ignorant, condescending view, and the bias isnt a surprise either being a tradesman.
but the fact remains, there are many people who make far more money than you (a lot of it tax free) by doing DIY instead of hiring tradies.
also, you may want to reconsider just how smart & funny you are after you take GST, business expenses, income tax, savings on CGT & other costs into account.
for example, being a tradesman myself, I could go to work and earn $65/hr. but after taking out GST of $5.91 ($59.09) then insurances, advertising & other business costs, say $20/hr ($39.09) then super ($4.09) this leaves $35. Then I have to pay income tax of about $15 leaving me with about $20 in the hand. now with that $20/hr, you expect me to pay a builder $35 + GST an hour so overall loss is about -$18.50/hr.
this assumes you are a sparky or plumber, not a builder, for whom the scenario would be far worse.now consider how much better off I am to do my own DIY:
I dont have to pay GST since I dont receive payment. I dont have to pay vehicle running costs, advertising etc, super et al. At the same time, Im no longer forking out $38.50 for a builder, I dont spend any time (or money) driving to or from work, I get more time off, I dont spend a fortune on lunch, i get to spend more time with my family, and any profit I make on the property is tax-free, so I come out FAR AHEAD OF YOU!
Down Crashy, down boy! LOL I'm with you Crashy, if hubby and I can do it ourselves, decently, we do it.
How can I debate the point if you are forking out advertising & other business costs, say @ $20/hr.. wow or really care to with that tone.
It was not long ago tradies were lucky to pull $25-30 hr , with your calculations how could they survive?I stated some basic facts , what I see almost every day and not to mention the DIY accidents creating more damage followed by physical accidents.
OooppsTax free , what is tax free , maybe a basic home reno.
using the "six year rule" you can avoid CGT on a PPoR and also an investment property that you have lived in at any point during the six years.
I saw no facts, only smartass comments.
you came on to a thread where people wanted to discuss cheap DIY, and laughed at them telling them what idiots they were and how you were the only smart one….you are too much of a chicken to learn a new skill. and yet you somehow are surprised at the tone you receive? oh the irony….hilarious!
the only "facts" that matter are these:
Ive made $320,000 in the last 3 years TAX FREE by doing my own DIY (not including income from passive businesses). Thats equivalent to taxed income of $540k (or $180k p.a)
how about adding something constructive to a discussion next time?
Doing it yourself is a great way to go unless need someone experienced .
Last time we moved , my poor wifey spent days phoning, quotes of 1000's $, bookings, worrying , whether they'll turn up on the day, the price.
A few days of that I said stuff this I'm buying a trailer and moving us myself , after that I sold that trailer again and we'd moved for free as compared to 3 grand best quote . The ease and lack of worry and hassles was worth much more .Renovating , how many wasted mths and budget blows outs do you hear when someone is 'having' their house renovated . The stress of no one turning up and the hassles and mths of work is usually killing them .
But it never ever ceases to amaze me just what a little bit of your own labor can achieve in property .
We bought a reno that no one would touch and it was on market in the middle of the boom for 9 mths . God knows why looked like a little gem to me . We payed 65k , spent 250$ bucks and resold it for 140 . This place was so just superficial surface stuff , people started dropping in to ask about it and admire the changes.The next was a 7 ac place , what a mess .The first few mths I thought what have I done ! But again just wondering along it gradually came into shape, lot's of tip trips thrown in . Labor alone , not one cent spent apart from the tip trips , totally changed the whole property . It was a totally different place.
Spent 50 bucks on seedlings at a nursery near , would chip loads 6 bucks a load form mill , Some nice rocks. It was mind boggling within 12 mths , with plants and rockeries coming up , property cleaned up . House basically just lightly nailed backed into shape , the difference was just amazing . Even to just nail back on one piece of wood falling off , paint it , what a difference.Now l look for those types of places where labor more than truckloads of money will make the difference and it's so satisfying.
Cheers
gutters
on the old stock pile at a sheetmetal place,original client had not picked them up2c worth on the subplot…..
for most people wrangling tradies is a very difficult task
hired a "real chippie " recently to do work on my own house while i was away earning the bucks
really dissapointed with the result ,gaps and the time and cost blowouts
i will be painting over all his work
the plumber scratched my stove turned up a week late and did very shoddy work
my tools are dewalt and i never skimp on materialspeople have been buying brake pads and oil filters at k mart for years……..
cheers
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
