Balancing full-time job with a reno?

[Eug]

Hi all,

I've always been intrigued by how other forumites have managed a successful renovation within time and budget particularly if they also have a full-time day job as well.

I'm exploring the idea of renovating a 2 bedroom apartment to add value in the shortest possible amount of time to get it rented soon after settlement.

• What challenges did you encounter balancing a full-time job with such a reno?
• How did you overcome or manage those challenges?
• How successful was your renovation?
• How did this experience affect your performance in your full-time job?

These are very broad questions, but am interested in hearing your experiences.

Cheers,

Eug

 

[goonandtell]

its all up to your boss, i have already made sure i had a good working relationship with my bosses and a decent level of trust. the idea being he doesn't manage my work flow simply the tasks he expects me to complete.

A trade off is that i can take an hour or two out of my schedule to meet someone but if work needs doing i stay until its done at work.

If you had fixed 9 - 5 and couldn't work around it you will need leave there is no getting around it.

 

[Propertunity]

I did a lot of mine when I was working fixed 8:30am > 5:30pm.

I met subbies at 7am > 7:30am
Painted from 7:30pm > 11:30pm under spot lights
Worked all day Sat & Sun on the reno
Made a few calls in my lunch hour for materials & deliveries.
Had Mrs Propertunity meet others during the day with a key for access to measure up etc.

Tried to time the renos during winter so it is easier going working up a sweat in the cool rather than during the heat of summer.

 

[Cherry Pro]

Hubby and I took a few days off (combined with long weekend) and reno'ed / managed renovations to a 2 bedroom unit in April this year. We had early access so got quotes a fortnight earlier.

Now have to do the same with the 3 bedder next door and will do that over
another couple of days tagged on to the October long weekend.

We have to drive for an hour to get to our IP so meeting tradies on site before/after hours is just not a possibility.

We even roped our teenagers. I'm not hands on so it was tiring but the end
result was very gratifying.

You have to have it all planned out sequentially before you begin.

Good luck, Eug !

 

[daniellee]

Hi, Eug

I am currently doing similar to what Propertunity has said, renovating a 2 bedroom unit.

Meet tradies at 8am or after 530pm.
Paint for 2 hours each evenings and whole of weekends
Used work time to organise quotes and tradies
Threw in a couple of sickies

It was a good idea at the time to do the painting ourselves, but there is a lot of work and time involved. If we had the budget, we would be hired people to do the painting instead and spent more time managing the reno than actualyl doing it.

With that said, if you really enjoy the physical work, then go right ahead.

Regards
Daniel

 

[RedPanda]

Hi Eug,

I'm not sure you can always afford to do the way Propertunity did. If you are living in the property while renovating, yes that's fine. But if you are purchasing a property, planning to renovate immediately after it and get it rented, that won't work as you would want to finish off reno asap. I think the only solution in that case is to have your annual leave accumulated and then take a leave of a month or so and do it (add in a couple of unpaid ones or sickies as req). Can work well if you intend to reno one property a year. Meanwhile you can also add in a reno while living in it if you want to do more than one property in a year.

Cheers.

 

[JamesGG]

There was another thread recently about someone doing a reno in under five weeks whilst working full-time. http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53813

I know another guy who did it in two, but took the time off work to do so.

 

[Eug]

Thanks all for your responses. Really do appreciate them.

At this stage, it sounds like taking a chunk of annual leave to get the reno done would be my preferred approach.

That being said, I admire the tenacity and hard work from Propertunity and Daniel's approaches. I do agree with the your tip to complete work during the cooler months as I have painted internally an entire 3 bedroom house during the height of summer and lets just say the heat is one less battle you need when trying to focus on completing a reno!

Cherry Pro, the reno you did in April must have been incredibly intense if you completed it in less than a week! What was the extent of your renovations?

 

[Andrew L]

Well I'm smack bang in the middle of a reno. I've been doing 20-30 hours over the weekends, roping mates to help and have another annual leave day tomorrow to really kick it up a notch.

All internal walls have been stripped of the wallpaper, the carpets & underlay all removed = 2 days on its own + 3 full days to prime and paint all walls.

Tomorrow is touchup the ceiling, remove the underlay staple and punch down the nails + general clean up.

This weekend is hopefully finishing touches like - replace leaking taps, fit new toilet seat, mow lawns, chop down ugly tree, wash all of outside walls and sort out all the things of buggered up or forgotten.

 

[mja]

I leveraged my recent Stafford Reno (search the forums) by outsourcing the whole lot, apart from making some decisions on materials, colours and so on. Property is 1000km from me you see...

Boss-man didn't mind me taking phone calls from tradies in between doing work.

 

[Nathan]

Jus took a labourer out with me, for a 5 day reno.

Came in under $5k thats me getting hands dirty aswell.

Place was a disaster, walls kicked in, windows blown out (them replaced by vendor) syringes in wall cavities, doors exploded open, kitchen destroyed, flooring gone.

I have attached links to my facebook page.

www.facebook.com/binvested

Took massive strain to my schedule, and overwhelmed with amount of deals/stuff to sort out, and very reluctant to have done it. If wasnt so busy with other things itd have been ok, but 1000 things going on no good. I dont have a team of people established in this location therefore decided to get dirty. (doing the reno i mean )

Can be done, annual leave i guess if 9-5 job, sub contract work, dont reno it.... all different options, but as the saying goes, what the mind can concive and belive it can achive.

 

[tarah]

Hi Eug,

Just finished a 6mth reno and worked full time! Worked all day and night every weekend and most nights during the week. It's hard work if it's a big house. I worked 10 hr shifts so did the same hours per week but went to work less, worked perfectly. Can you do longer shifts and have more days off?

Annual leave or living in the property is much better. Renos are a lot of fun if you have the time.

Have fun
Tarah

 

[jos]

This reminds me of when i did the timber floor while working on nightshift, after it was sanded down on the weekend...first coat sunday night, sand down and paint monday morning, before going to work sand and paint second coat monday night, then come back tuesday morning to finished the last coat.... it wasn't easy especially with the sanding part but its very rewarding when its done....

First of the you need to know what needs to be done to the apartment! second work out which part of the renovation you can get your hands dirty, how long approximately is it going to take to complete it, work out what you need to buy and sort out which tradies you need to see. These are probably the time you need to be away from your work.


Good luck

 

[quoll]

I got a hell of a lot more work done when I was doing arvo shift. Could get up, get ready, go and reno for a few hours, eat quick lunch while working, come home shower get ready for work.

Summer is always easier, the longer days and more daylight helps a lot.

Working 8-5 now with 1 hour commute to and from so not getting much work done on the reno.

Having tradies not show up to quote or do work sucks as well. You spend time phoning and finding people who might be able to do the work, it just takes so much time to organise stuff.

Give yourself a good break between reno's.

Cheers
Graeme