The Co$t$ of Home Improvement

“Money, Money, Money, Money, Mon-ey” is a silly little song my father is known to sing… and now it’s stuck in my head.

Today I just wanted to talk about the costs involved with home improvement. I’m not going to get into personal details (like our finances) but I will give some general advice. 

I always wanted a ‘fixer-upper’ and by that I meant a house that needed some updating, not a house that was falling down. Really, if I was being more accurate, I wanted an ugly home, something that needed some work to bring it into the current decade, but not a house that needed major issues fixed. What we found when shopping around is that if a house is really outdated, there is a high chance that there are other problems too. Basically, the type of homeowner that lets their house look old also doesn’t bother to fix the foundation. I’m sure there are houses out there where the previous owner just had bad taste and so the house is been well maintained but needs cosmetic work; but they aren’t easy to find (at least not in our area). Our house needed more than cosmetic work when we bought it, hence the foundation repair and the many issues we haven’t yet dealt with. This means we’re in a little deeper than I imagined we’d be. We wanted to renovate the master bathroom right away, but instead we had to spend money on foundation repair, replacing the pipes, and new flooring for almost the whole house. While I’m glad we did this (for home value and for my own enjoyment), it also means we don’t have that cash to spend on the bathroom right now. It’s not the end of the world, but it does mean we have to live with only one working shower for a while. I say all this to explain that if you buy a ‘fixer-upper’ like ours there will probably be more to fix than you think. So, with this in mind, here is what I’ve learned so far:

1. Don’t buy a house that obviously needs work unless you have disposable income each month.  Any house you buy (even brand new) will have project to work on and things you want to change, all of which cost money. So don’t buy a house that needs major changes unless you are able to put extra money towards home repair each month. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you have a lump sum of cash to spend on home repair you can then buy a house whose mortgage takes every penny you have. That lump sum will always cover less than you think it will so you need to be able to put more money towards repairs as you go.

2.  If you want to fix up a house (and DIY) you will need to be willing to live in a state of construction for a while. We have been walking on cardboard in our halls since we moved in. You have limited resources: money as well as time and energy. It’s really tough to work on flooring during the week because we both work long hours and if we use the saw after dark our neighbors call the cops (true story – even at 9pm). So that leaves all the major work for the weekends… and guess what? We don’t want to spend EVERY second of EVERY weekend doing house stuff… we want to spend time with friends and family. So we’ll be living in an unfinished house for a while. It doesn’t bother me that much but it is annoying every once and a while. 

3. Estimate the cost of a project before you start. I can’t stress enough how many little things you will end up having to purchase to complete a task. So far every project has cost more than expected. So when you plan, don’t start unless you have some extra funds to buy things like a nail gun when the one you barrowed doesn’t work, or extra flooring when the suggested amount you bought is just not quite enough.

4.  Discuss costs/plans with your spouse before you start anything. I hear home improvement can start quite a few fights. I think a lot of them probably arise from lack of communication and different expectations. Remember you’re a team and the house belongs to both of you. LJ and I disagree completely on what color to paint many rooms of the house. We decided that since paint is relatively cheap, I will paint the rooms what I want and LJ will try to live with the color for a month. If he still hates it after a month then I’ll repaint. I’m convinced when he sees the colors I like on the walls he will like them too…but I also know that if he hates them it wouldn’t be fair to make him live in a house he thinks looks ugly.

5.  Last, but not least, track your money. We use an online program called Mvelopes and have for years. I love it. You create a budget and then split your paycheck up into digital envelops. Then when you make a purchase on your credit card you assign that purchase to an envelope and it takes the money out of your budget. It can track all your purchases and run reports that are really helpful. We do an end of year re-cap each December and look at our spending habits to see if our planned budget needs any tweaks. I think it works a lot better than the ‘just try to spend less money’ plan. I don’t know if I’m doing a great job of explaining it, so here’s the overview page of their website: 

 http://www.mvelopes.com/overview/

 

Well, I hope that was helpful. Money isn’t always a fun thing to talk about and it’s the number one source of arguments for couples (or so they say), but I think with a little planning you can avoid a lot of problems/fights. Don’t let the cost of home improvement scare you into inaction. I think it’s very rewarding to work on your house and see the fruit of your labor. I know it’s helped make me feel true ownership of this house in a very short period of time. I can’t wait to be able to point out what we’ve changed to friends that come over. Before and after pictures are the best.