How do people manage it? Curious and hoping for people to share their stories.
Thanks!
Thanks!
renovation with a f/t job
- Thread starter trinity168
- Start date
Accrue a lot of annual leave, enjoy late nights and no weekends. 
I use to drive back to Sydney every weekend (3 hours each way) for months to do a reno, had the main house rented whilst I fixed up the granny flat (missed a lot of bbq's). Dad helped me by doing some work and managing tradies during the week.
Mate took a few weeks off and I went up for a few days to renovate his place in Tawoomba over 2 weeks.
Another question to ask is, are you handy with the tools? I've had people pay me what I would consider an extravagant and unnecessary amount to change door handles on their cupboards, against my recommendation to just do it themselves... seriously.
Really depends what works best for you. Do the sums, is it worth taking longer and doing it yourself/with friends, or staying at work whilst tradies do all the work for you. That's pretty much all you can do.
Mate took a few weeks off and I went up for a few days to renovate his place in Tawoomba over 2 weeks.
Another question to ask is, are you handy with the tools? I've had people pay me what I would consider an extravagant and unnecessary amount to change door handles on their cupboards, against my recommendation to just do it themselves... seriously.
Really depends what works best for you. Do the sums, is it worth taking longer and doing it yourself/with friends, or staying at work whilst tradies do all the work for you. That's pretty much all you can do.
We are currently doing a renno in Brisbane.
Have flown up about 5 times to spend 2 or 3 days on it, doing demo work, electrical work and painting. Luckily we have help from a carpenter we know up there.
I think if your going to do it make sure you have people who you can trust that can help. Makes it way less stressful
Pick the jobs you can do yourself comfortably. It is good to stretch yourself and learn new things but you have to know when your better off paying a professional
Have flown up about 5 times to spend 2 or 3 days on it, doing demo work, electrical work and painting. Luckily we have help from a carpenter we know up there.
I think if your going to do it make sure you have people who you can trust that can help. Makes it way less stressful
Pick the jobs you can do yourself comfortably. It is good to stretch yourself and learn new things but you have to know when your better off paying a professional
Thanks guys for the good advice.
Am I handy with the tools, to be honest, no. We have one old unit and did some paint work which I actually found therapeutic and enjoyed that part.
I don't think we can tackle anything interstate. We do not have a big network of friends.
If we tackle on a reno job, I think the way to go is to have a builder and we do more the project management. ( all things relative and depending on the scope ). I guess another thing is to come back to the forum for builder/tradie recommendations.
Am I handy with the tools, to be honest, no. We have one old unit and did some paint work which I actually found therapeutic and enjoyed that part.
I don't think we can tackle anything interstate. We do not have a big network of friends.
If we tackle on a reno job, I think the way to go is to have a builder and we do more the project management. ( all things relative and depending on the scope ). I guess another thing is to come back to the forum for builder/tradie recommendations.
1) get yourself a key lock box, leave keys in it and have a combo you can give to trusted trades to work on it during business hours.
2) lots of weekends and weeknights driving to and from if close by.
3) have all your tools organized, I have different big plastic boxes set up. One for cleaning, painting, plastering, tiling, carpentry etc. then when you now what jobs you need to do you grab the correct boxes.
4) lots of youtube video watching on how to do things.
2) lots of weekends and weeknights driving to and from if close by.
3) have all your tools organized, I have different big plastic boxes set up. One for cleaning, painting, plastering, tiling, carpentry etc. then when you now what jobs you need to do you grab the correct boxes.
4) lots of youtube video watching on how to do things.
Hi,
I really think it comes down to how determined you are and how much you want to save so it does not eat into your possible gains.
I few years ago I had 2 reno's going on the same time me and my wife had full time jobs and 2 teenagers and 2 toddlers,got my older kids to babysit evenings why we renovated in the for a few weeks we ripped out old bathroom and kitchen in one repainted both of them,found a really good tradie at the time he did bathroom,tiling and plumbing and we saved a lot then,looking back I think to myself how did we do it.
Can be done, depends on whether its worth it for you or not.
Ive done it 2 times. most recent one was working mon-fri, driving 2.5 hrs fri arvo, and working my **** off until sunday eve, driving home. repeat.
Took 2 and a half months, Girlfriend hated my guts for a while, felt like I was going insane, But because I did the sums beforehand, I made good money, so it was worth it.
I found a local handyman on gumtree who was great, I would work with him the first couple of weekends, then once I trusted him, I gave him tasks during the week (maybe 12 hours of work), and payed him on the weekend when I would arrive and check his work.
Find a handyman you trust and give him a little responsibility and it will definitely help
Ive done it 2 times. most recent one was working mon-fri, driving 2.5 hrs fri arvo, and working my **** off until sunday eve, driving home. repeat.
Took 2 and a half months, Girlfriend hated my guts for a while, felt like I was going insane, But because I did the sums beforehand, I made good money, so it was worth it.
I found a local handyman on gumtree who was great, I would work with him the first couple of weekends, then once I trusted him, I gave him tasks during the week (maybe 12 hours of work), and payed him on the weekend when I would arrive and check his work.
Find a handyman you trust and give him a little responsibility and it will definitely help
We did what most have said - late nights after work, and weekends. We've gotten into a rhythm now, we know we will each get completely knackered, cheesed off, and long for divorce at different stages in the process... but we also know it will only go on for 6-8 weeks, then it will be over - the property will be rented, and we can relax and start catching up on sleep again.
Do what I do,
Take two weeks unpaid leave,
work 85 hours per week for two weeks,
hire 1-2 handyman to do the jobs you arent so good at,
kill two birds with one stone by doing your own work and keeping an eye on it
you can easily do a full cosmetic reno in that time (and some strucutral as well)
Take two weeks unpaid leave,
work 85 hours per week for two weeks,
hire 1-2 handyman to do the jobs you arent so good at,
kill two birds with one stone by doing your own work and keeping an eye on it
you can easily do a full cosmetic reno in that time (and some strucutral as well)
All part of the fun! Weekends and after work. We took on a bathroom with a 3 month old! Then an extension and new kitchen a few months later! You her the most done after bub is asleep from 7 till midnight. Trades, if any during the day while the boss was home, she also ordered and made calls for bathroom fittings etc. it was a nightmare doing it... But we'll do it again! To much free time now!!
