Hi Perky, I'm affectionately know as a bit of a tightarse by my husband.
Although you can get good prices from auctions, there are not many located around where I live, and you have to weigh the costs of time to go to them. Also you may find that you waste a whole day just to get a couple of $ discount. So, no, I don't go looking for actions for materiel, however, if there is one that is convenient I will pop my head in to see if they have something of interest.
My budget to complete the reno was around $30k. While I have been very naughty with keeping my paperwork up to date, I believe that we are quite a bit ahead of budget so far. I spend quite a lot of time looking for materials for the right price and will go with the cheaper alternatives (so long as they are of a reasonable quality) rather than expensive. This would change if the property was in a more upmarket area.
The only large expenses to come will be the deck & french doors. We will be building the deck from Merbau (spelling) rather than pine, as the dining, kitchen, deck will be the main features of the house.
The kitchen is vaccuum formed with granite benchtops and only cost $2000. I found a great little place at Wetherill Park that supplies a lot of developers & do them quite cheap. The tiles are el-cheapo Bunnings ones @ 0.48c each. The stove I got on sale & saved $500. This is the most expensive room of the house as most things are not that expensive, just time intensive (eg. paint, gyprock etc)
At the end of the day, if you can do it all yourself & you hunt for bargains, you will save a lot of $.
Although you can get good prices from auctions, there are not many located around where I live, and you have to weigh the costs of time to go to them. Also you may find that you waste a whole day just to get a couple of $ discount. So, no, I don't go looking for actions for materiel, however, if there is one that is convenient I will pop my head in to see if they have something of interest.
My budget to complete the reno was around $30k. While I have been very naughty with keeping my paperwork up to date, I believe that we are quite a bit ahead of budget so far. I spend quite a lot of time looking for materials for the right price and will go with the cheaper alternatives (so long as they are of a reasonable quality) rather than expensive. This would change if the property was in a more upmarket area.
The only large expenses to come will be the deck & french doors. We will be building the deck from Merbau (spelling) rather than pine, as the dining, kitchen, deck will be the main features of the house.
The kitchen is vaccuum formed with granite benchtops and only cost $2000. I found a great little place at Wetherill Park that supplies a lot of developers & do them quite cheap. The tiles are el-cheapo Bunnings ones @ 0.48c each. The stove I got on sale & saved $500. This is the most expensive room of the house as most things are not that expensive, just time intensive (eg. paint, gyprock etc)
At the end of the day, if you can do it all yourself & you hunt for bargains, you will save a lot of $.
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