picket fence looks fantastic!

[kylie500]

We are finally getting towards the end of our 6 week turned into 6 month renovation!

We have just erected the picket fence. After a lot of convincing my husband agreed to build it. He just doesn't like picket fences, but this type of fence really suits the house.

Well, it just looks fantastic. The whole fence is up, we just have the gate to go. Hubby is even impressed! I think the appearance more than justifies the cost (around $1000 - it's a big block of land). I'll try to remember to take a photo tomorrow. I've been holding off taking the "after" photos until we'd finished, but this is so impressive I can't wait!

We hired a nail gun to nail the pickets, and it took less than two hours to nail all the pickets on (220 of them). Another thing to add to the tool wish list!

 

[kylie500]

OK here it is - but now that I'm looking back at the before photos I realise that I didn't take a street shot before - it was basically so overgrown with big bushy plants right across where the fence now is that you couldn't even see the house.

Inside will be totally finished in a few more days - then we begin landscaping outside - some turf, some (neat) gardens...

/forums/photopost/data/500/1806house_front.JPG

/forums/photopost/data/506/1806house_driveway.JPG

/forums/photopost/data/500/1806house_fence-med.JPG

 

[Kevmeister]

Very nice. Looks like a good job.

 

[willair]

looks great Klyie,dont take this the wrong way but with so many trees that close to your property,be very carefull with white ants.
good luck
willair..

 

[geoffw]

And I always thought that a picket fence was a receiver of stolen goods on strike

 

[kylie500]

Thanks everyone! Willair, we had a pest inspection done when we purchased which was clear, but you're right, we do need to be careful, especially as we live in an affected area.

 

[DaveP]

Kylie

Well Done

Do you care to share some more information....
The $1000 was that for materials only. Hubby Labour Free...?
What was the Fence Length... $/m?

Whats the figures in you view
$ Purchased
$ Reno
$ New Value?


Well Done

Dave P

 

[kylie500]

Hi Dave P,

We haven't quite finished the reno yet, a few small jobs to complete inside and then the landscaping in the front yard. Expecting to be finished within two weeks. After that I'll have some definite figures that I can share, although at the moment I can tell you that the house is in Tatura, a small country town in the Goulburn Valley, victoria. Although it's only a small town, it shows good growth due to the industry there.

We purchased back in April for $108,500, which was a fairly good buy. Our plan was to renovate and resell, as this is our first reno, and we were borrowing all the money to renovate on credit cards, so we needed to resell to repay those and to give us some money to do another. We planned to do this in around 6 weeks. Also, because our plan all along was to resell, we've spent a bit more money and used higher quality fittings than we would have
if we had planned to rent.

We discovered that the 6 week time frame could be achievable, but not for us! Hubby was working full time night shift, and we have four kids, the 8 and 10 year olds are at school so they are not really an issue, but the 3 and 1 year olds were renovating with us! So that definitely slowed us down. Next time, I'll be more realistic about the time frame. So, because of this, we've incurred quite a bit more interest than initially thought.

Having said all that, a real estate agent dropped in the other day; she was out doing the door to door thing, and asked me how much we were wanting for it. I showed her through, despite the mess and the unfinished parts, and asked her what her opinion was. She said that she'd expect that we could get around the $200k mark for it fairly easily, which was more than I'd expected. If that's true, we will be very happy! I haven't done the final figures on what we've spent yet, but it's around the $25k mark.

I have lots more before photos, and when I match them with after photos I'll post them too.

The fence - yes the $1000 was materials only. I think from memory it's about 24mtrs across the front of the block (it's 1000sqm total size). Because of the size, we have thought about gaining a permit for townhouses before we sell, but wasn't sure exactly what the process was for this, how long it took, how much it costs, and how much value it would add.

 

[kylie500]

I should probably say that for the renovation costs, we've put up the fence and a colourbond double carport, a new bathroom, mostly new kitchen, painted throughout, carpeted, light fittings, retiled all wet areas, and I've included the landscaping in that figure too, which will be turf, gardens, and a paved bbq area. And that figure also includes the interest (which I'm scared to add up!)

 

[DaveP]

Kylie..

Thanks for sharing your experience....
Thats what makes this forum so valuable and interesting.

I did a very similar sort of reno....

You might like to think about siting on the house for 12 months and then selling. If you do this you only pay captial gains tax on 50% of the profit. You need to do the figures and consider the market trends to see what would work best for you.

Possibly you could look at a bit of refinancing to get your improvement costs off your higher bankcard costs. If you bank already has a mortagage on the block its isnt such a big problem.

Good Progress

DP