Money Saving on Renovations and Property Development - DIY

bobsa1

Just got a fab white, built in basin, basin unit and built in loo from freecycle for nothing.

Got a £700 brand new bath off ebay for £20 and hence fab new bathroom for my house total £20 plus taps and fitting!

HugoSP

When ripping out timber etc from properties, bear in mind that if you are undertaking any concreting, you may need shuttering.

Bear this in mind when you are disposing of any timber products. I did some underpinning and needed to retain 3 ft high concrete piers whilst they set. I used anything from old 30mm kitchen worktop to ply offcuts, all strengthened with salvaged bits of 4x2.

rizla01

Some very valuable tips here.

Some of which are new to me and a few that I already practice but there is one small consideration when thinking about 'seconds'.

They are very valuable and cannot be replaced!

And using some of these methods will have quite an impact on that very valuable commodity.

In otherwords you need to consider the time factor when saving money because time = money, too remember.

HugoSP

rizla

I had to re read your post to understand the pun!

You are quite right. Shop soiled fittings are only any good if they don't cost you more to fit than the money you've saved on them.

Obviously there are several items that you would not even consider using unless you knew they were A1 condition - I would stay away from suspet electrical fittings for example.

However, a boiler with a small dent in the casing that represents a huge saving would get my attention.

louise_1981

this is fantastic and deserves a bit of a bump!

HugoSP

One cost saving that may not be obvious to all.

My next door neighbour wanted to set some posts in concrete to take a wires to train a creaper along.

He priced it up as a DIY job and reckoned he would need to spend the following:

Postmix £70
Posts £22

Total £92

I was asked to quote and came up with the following:

Total including supply of posts, concrete and labour £80.

Thus saving him £12!

The charge was made up out of the following:

Labour £50
Posts £20 (I passed on my discout to him)
Cement and aggregate £10

So how was I able to do it cheaper?

The answer is simple. I have a cement mixer and I buy my cement and aggregate in bulk (not that the latter has much to do with it). Hence I don't have to spend a fortune on expensive products designed to make it easier for those who don't or can't use cement mixers.

Hence he saved himself £12 by sitting on his backside and watching me do it for him:D.

The truth is that there are loads of instances where getting someone to do it can actually hit the pocket less than doing it yourself. The trick is to recognise when such an instance arises.

One giveaway that you may see is the presence of expensive looking DIY consumables to make jobs easier. Another is the cost of tool hire needed to complete the job.

Example 1

A plumber I know was asked if he could fit a sink for someone who had been trying in vain to leakproof the plumbing connections. He (the plumber) immediately set about by binning those expensive copper bendable pipe connectors that the customer had just bought in Do It All, along with other naff stuff used to attempt the job on a DIY basis.

The client stifled several moments of fustration at seeing his money literally being thrown out by the plumber. This fustration subsided when the client go the bill - it was less than the cost of the rubbish used for the DIY attempt!

How was that possible? Well the plumber is a skilled man who can use a bit of copper pipe and an end feed elbow costing pennies whereas the DIY freak needed to spend up to £5 on a bendy bit of copper

Example 2

I have just cast a concrete step in two stages over a few days (weather). If the client had attempted the job himself hiring a cement mixer and a vibrating poker, he would have paid more in tool hire than I would have charged for labour to do the whole job.

Why? because he would have probably needed both items for 3 days a piece. I charge by the hour worked. So the fact that the job was done over 3 days rather than in the same day costs him no more.

HugoSP

Mixing your own paints can be very reasonable on cost, or even free if you do what I did for a flat I rent out.

We had just bought the flat and it needed a lick of paint. One of our neighbours was about to take a boot load of paint to the tip when I asked if I could have it.

The problem is that it was mainly small tins of different colours

However, there were a couple of large opened tubs of white emulsion so we did the following.

Decided on a broad colour scheme for the two main rooms (living room and bedroom).

The bedroom was to be a light peach and the living room was to be a very light lemon. We weren't into garish colours at all.

We sorted the coloured emulsion into three main colour groups. One was pinks, peaches etc, one was based on yellow shades. The third was colours that didn't fit either of the first two groups.

We then applied the first two groups into an opened and partly used 10 litre tub of emulsion until we got the colour we needed. We knew we would need around 8 to 10 litres to do each room. The third group of paint was set aside for future projects for us to pick from when we need colours that some of these can give us.

The colours were perfectly reasonable. The coats went on without any problems and there was more than enough to finish each room except the ceilings, which were painted white. The remaining paint in each tub was kept for touching up etc.

We have attacked a number of projects in this way. We made the mistake of buying cheap 2.5litre tubs of emulsion that dry to darker colours than we needed, hence we did the same again. This time we had to buy the 10 litre tubs of emulsion but did not have to buy the paint dye.

This type of mixing also significantly increases the volume of the paint. Those syringes you can buy do not.

ormus

hugosp, is correct in that are times when a quote off the local builder chap is the best bet.
when i had the flat roof done, i priced all the stuff from wickes, labour was free, ie myself and my son. ended up with the bitumen chap cause his total bill was only 250 quid. the diy saving wasnt worth getting me neck broke!

but these events are very rare indeed.

HugoSP

ormus wrote:

hugosp, is correct in that are times when a quote off the local builder chap is the best bet.
when i had the flat roof done, i priced all the stuff from wickes, labour was free, ie myself and my son. ended up with the bitumen chap cause his total bill was only 250 quid. the diy saving wasnt worth getting me neck broke!

but these events are very rare indeed.

But they are more common than you may think.

Often you have to buy a minimum quantity of materials to do the job - what are you going to do with the leftovers?

Someone who has these materials in stock is well placed to do the job for a competitive quote.

Sometimes it is a good move to get contractors in if only because you don't have the time to do the job yourself. I have done this with the fitting of boilers. Although technically I can do everything except the gas connection, it's usually economic for me to get the plumber to do the whole lot. This is because I spend the time I have saved here doing other things around the house, and we're not tripping over each other.

HugoSP

You need a 18v cordless drill to put up some shelves.

You'll buy it because you can get them for around £35 upwards. You'll use it again and it will last you a few years, and see you though several other similar jobs.

You need a mini digger to landscape your garden, dig some trenches and pile the surplus earth behind those raised flowerbeds you've just built.

You'll hire it because they cost several £k and at £100 for the weekend you'll be organised so you'll only need it once.

These are the two extremes faced by many home builders and renovators. These are what are known in the trade as 'No Brainers'

However, what about such items as cement mixers, acrow props, Makita angle drills and even trailers?

I have a broad rule: If I am likely to spend a large proportion of its purchase price hiring the item in a short space of time, then if I can afford it, I will buy it. This way I have the item in my hand and can sell it on when the project is finished for most of what I paid for it. Such makes that would qualify would be DeWalt, Makita etc. I may even buy a second hand tool if the economics stack up.

If I am likely to spend the equivilent of buying a cheaper version that will still do the job, in hiring the top of the range equivilent, then I may consider buying said cheaper version, if it suits me to use it. I expect to have little or no residual value left when I have finished with it. These would tend to be non branded tools that are very often so cheap that it would not be worth buying a used item of that brand.

A few examples:

Acrow props or builders props. It rarely makes economic sense IMO for ANYONE to hire these. The do sometimes appear in the local freeads etc for around £10 to £20 each for the 6 feet ones.

Weekly hire often comes in at around £5. At this kind of rate, daily hire would probably not be entertained by the hire shop.

So, what do you do if you need them?

1) If you're one of my friends, you ask me. If I have the number you need available for the short time that you need it I'll be happy to lend them to you and would be glad of a drink in return. I'll even drop them off to you if I'm passing your place.
2) If you're not one of my friends, ask a builder and offer him a drink in return.
3) Buy them new. I can get new 6 feet ones locally for £23 plus VAT, less if they have been left outside and the paint has rusted off. Use them once maybe for a few weeks and move them on again for a slightly lower price. They hold their value very well. Not having to take them back to the hire place will save time and money.
4) Buy them 2nd hand for £15 if they're reasonable. Grease them, use them, grease them again and sell them on at the same price!

The hire shops do well because some people just don't want the hassle of storing/handling them, or don't know where to get them locally, they may be tradesmen working out of their local area. They will make the purchase price back in aroun 4 to 5 weeks of hire, the maintenance costs are minimal, and with few moving parts they last indefinitely! Talk about a rate of return on investment.