How do you cut the cost of home improvements?

benjus

I just did a little upgrade of the shower in the main bathroom - I replaced a short hair-washing shower mounted low down with a normal shower head on a riser rail and installed a shower screen along the side of the bath. So now you can have a proper shower there rather than just using it for hair washing while in the bath.

I found a shower model that matched the existing taps etc, then managed to find the same model on ebay, new, only 10 minutes' drive away for £40. Then we found a nice semi-frameless screen on gumtree for £30. Add a couple of other bits and pieces and it all came in at about £80.

tea-bag

EBay is your friend, I have just bought a very large 8x4 ifor Williams trailer to save on skips, van hire and collecting bargains. Always drop money on a good trailer as you will sell it for the same amount.

Winterskp

We saved £thousands on a complete refurb of a house we bought from Executors, courtesy of HMRC. No-one we employed was aware of the fact that if a house has been empty for 2 years at the date when work starts, the rate of VAT on labour and materials is only 5%. This lasts for a full year. There are a few things not included, like landscaping (unless it's associated with the building of a new garage and access). Look on the HMRC website for Public Notice 708. All you need is a letter from a competent authority to state/prove that the house has not been lived in for 2 years. Your VAT-registered tradesmen can then charge you 5%, and reclaim the rest from HMRC.

We told one person about this deal when we found out his "new" house qualified, and he was able to save nearly £3000 on bills which he'd paid, but the VAT returns hadn't yet been sent in!

MerlinMags

My kids laugh at me as I eyeball each skip we pass, but approx every six months I usually spot some decent lengths of unpainted timber that make it worth stopping and asking if I can take them. Once or twice I've had an entire boot full.

This is worth is because even the cheapest rubbish bits of pine from Wickes/B&Q/Homebase cost a fortune these days.

My dad does the same. He just found all the waterproof membrane he needed for the roof of his conservatory, and all the wood to mount the tiles on.

I've also looked out for companies with a pile of pallets outside. Sometime they need to send them back to the deppo, but you can often ask for just the broken ones. I got enough to make my daughter a beach hut (playhouse) in the garden. They aren't really suitable for indoor use.

People on Freecycle will occasionally give away large sheets of chipboard or plywood, I have found. Or they sometimes have enough flooring left over (from a large room) for you to re-floor a small bathroom/toilet/study.

Jonesya

For basic items like screws, fixings, plumbing and electrical parts worth looking at Screwfix and Toolstation as they're often much cheaper than the main DIY stores.

busylizzie_2

I often see left over paint being offered on Freecycle which would generally be enough for a small room or feature wall, or could be mixed with other leftover paint to make enough for a large room. On occasion you can get more or less a full pot if someone has changed their mind over a colour. Wallpaper and paste are other fairly common items on offer. It is also probably worth putting in a Wanted request on Freecycle for these and other decorating materials as these are the kind of things people often put away "just in case" and they may be prompted to have a clear out by your request.

duanek

Wilkos do a pick n mix for nuts, bolts, screws, nails, hooks etc. Great if you need a variety but only a few of each. Only costs about 2 or 3 quid depending on bag size.

lammas99

There are tons of places you can improve your house without spending a bundle. The reuse sector is a hidden gem I always use. A place in Walthamstow, east london called Forest Recycling Project is good for cheap surplus paint and there's also the general reuse network where you can get furniture etc just google it

audigex

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

Is that not called Burglary ????

Looking at it is okay ;-) the problem comes when you subsequently remove it.

I've had people ask if they can take something I've left in the garden before, and since it usually saves me a skip or trip to the tip I'm usually quite happy for them to save me the effort

Saving money on furniture by getting it second hand works well, too - most thrown out furniture is in pretty good condition and there are more and more community initiatives based around (usually unemployed people) sprucing around old stuff and selling it on for work experience etc. A lot of it is crap, but a decent amount is in pretty good condition.

phoebe1989seb

Doozergirl wrote: »

Ebay is still a wonderful thing. I have driven a very long way to save money on items. I've had a very expensive kitchen, ex-photoshoot, for £500. A brand new wooden front door for £1 for one house, another bespoke made wood heritage front door worth well over £1000 for £200. We adapted the opening instead of trying to find a door to fit exactly into the existing space.

I don't stick local for the big things. The best bargains are still bargains when you factor in petrol and a daytrip to somewhere random. Sometimes I look for things locally to when we go away for breaks or the husband is working away, if it's an affluent area

It costs time but the satisfaction is immense.

Same here - in our circle of friends and family I'm known as the *ebay queen*

We once drove from our house in Hampshire to Stoke-on-Trent for a very expensive heater that cost us a few £££ on an auction with no reserve. Another time we bought a nearly new Smallbone butchers block on a buy-it-now for £200 (retail price a couple of thousand) and drove from Essex to Yorkshire to collect.

When we were building an extension on one house we drove a few hundred miles to Wales to pick up a piece of granite for an island that cost us £16 At our last house project in Wilts, we got many of the building materials on ebay - roofing slates, celotex, limestone tiles, doors, cast iron rads and some sanitaryware......all at much lower prices than our local showrooms, builders merchants - even with trade discount - or reclamation yards.

During the course of building the extension at that house we had to demolish a stone outbuilding. Apart from a few boulders we utilised in the garden, we traded the remainder for a £700 antique kitchen table at our local salvage yard

Mind you, we've also had less successful ebay adventures, such as selling 100 vintage terracotta roof tiles for 99p - so someone there got a great MSE bargain......