KEEPING COSTS DOWN DURING A HOUSE RENOVATION

January is traditionally a time when people decide to blitz or redecorate their house - me included, I’ve been doing a few bits and pieces on my own house this month!

Earlier this week a friend asked me for any tips on renovations for her new house, to keep the budget down.

Caught me a little off guard; bizarrely it’s not something I’m asked often!

But I do have some tips for keeping costs down during refurbishment project, what with being a tight Yorkshire lass and that - and here are a couple, just to assist you with your own houses! 👍

KEEPING COSTS DOWN DURING A HOUSE RENOVATION

Make a full list of everything you want to do, and be specific about every job required in every room.

Work out your budget for doing this.

What can be done now, what will have to wait?

What’s the priority?

 

Get any ‘big / all over the house’ jobs done first, eg electrics, plumbing, plastering. Get quotes for any skilled works you need doing (and ALWAYS qualified people for gas and electric work!)

If you’re living in the house it whilst you do it up, save your sanity and decide which are the priority areas you’ll do first. Don’t try and do more than two areas at once whilst living there, unless you can handle a lot of stress, mess and chaos… because on the other hand, living in chaos usually motivates you to do the decorating work in the evenings to get it finished!

Project manage yourself, rather than hire an ‘all in one’ refurbishment company, who usually charge a premium for this service. Source individual trades and contractors yourself. 

Recommendations of tradespeople are best, from friends that have actually used their services. Read reviews if you’re unsure, see their work, or pictures of it, then invite them around to quote. Be specific in telling them exactly what you want.

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And don’t just accept the first and only quote, as some tradesmen sadly still like to try it on and take advantage of people and give them ridiculous overinflated prices because they think they can get away with it…and you can rant and rave and complain at me all you like saying that doesn’t happen - but I can assure you it does!

So get a couple of quotes, and don’t book anyone you get a bad gut feeling about, or anyone who annoys you whilst quoting.

For example, patronising, arrogant, unhelpful misogynists who call me ‘love’ and don’t listen are a big no-no for me. You don’t have to book anyone that you don’t like.

Plenty more tradesmen in the sea, we don’t need to employ wretches!

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Also be aware that the cheapest is not always the greatest.

My electrician is not the cheapest in the area, but that’s ok, because he’s the best! It is ok to pay for quality.

After you’ve had any skilled trades in to do work you’re not skilled or qualified for, work out the DIY and decorating things you can do yourself. 

Obviously doing things yourself is much cheaper in terms of cost, if you can afford the time. YouTube and the internet can be a great help in showing you how to do specific tasks. 

But be aware of your own limitations and safety; no silly, dangerous risks, and use adequate personal protective equipment. If ever in doubt, get a professional in!

Decide what items you want that have to be brand new, non-negotiables – for the rest, a lot of good stuff can be found second-hand on Facebook marketplace.

Be wary when buying anything electrical, but things like furniture, mirrors, decor etc can all be considered - and a lot of time, these things are in good condition and sometimes unopened new surplus items.

For instance, there’s masses and masses of internal doors available locally for collection cheaply or free currently, because landlords are having to replace certain ones for fire doors. Doesn’t mean the old ones are no good, they’re just surplus to that person’s requirements!

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Shop around for products, don’t be scared to use ‘trade’ firms like Selco, Screwfix, Howdens; they’re often not that choosy if you’re ‘trade’ or not.

If you find a particular product you like, get Googling the named product for a better price!

For instance, I’m contemplating a wallpaper myself called ‘Superfresco Glamorous Tweed Charcoal’ at the minute - I’m huffing and puffing because it’s £18 a roll in Wilkos - but a quick Google shows me it’s £12.99 a roll at The Range!

So if I go for it, that’s where I’ll go for it!

And yes, it might only be a fiver difference a roll, but I’ll need 3 - 4 rolls – and I’d rather spend that extra £20 on a steak at Miller & Carter!

Decent undercoat is the future on poor or new woodwork before glossing - gloss is dearer, and sits better once on an undercoat paint.

Ditto white matt paint on walls before your expensive colour. It helps your paint hue get the correct colour on the tin. If walls are a bit rough, but not so bad that they need a full plaster, consider a textured wallpaper, then paint a colour on.

Remember we talked about shopping around for the same product?

Paint varies vastly from store to store, even the exact same brand/type, so keep your eyes peeled! Also look out for offers, deals, coupons and such like.

And just gerronwi’it, don’t put it off and off once you’ve got the stuff, as well as being an annoyance, you run the risk of your materials going off or spoiling.

I once put off wallpapering my bay window wall for aaaages after it had been damp-coursed. Then when finally got round to it, I was very annoyed with myself for putting off for so long a small finishing task that literally took me an hour to do.

You’ll never finish if you don’t start...just gerronwi’it!

So there’s a couple of tips to get you started… and don’t forget to take ‘before and after’ photographs so you can see the transformation, and give yourself a pat on the back for your hard work.

Also follow various DIY / project / refurbishment groups for more tips and ideas, as well as inspiration… my favourite at the minute is a Facebook group called ‘DIY on a Budget’.

 

Good luck, and happy renovating! 👍

Kellyann x x x

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Kellyann is a property investment strategist from Leeds. 

In her work she creates wealth for private investors through refurbishing properties. 

Visit her website for more details:

https://kellyannmartin.co.uk/investment/

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A PROPERTY INVESTOR LANDLORD

Here’s a little insight in what happens during a typical day for for me.

And of course it is not the same every day, some days I am lucky enough to be able to not do anything!

But here is what I did today:

I got up and ready, and then walked my dog Jerry Lee around his favourite park.

Then I went to my latest refurbishment project where a handyman came to look at my outstanding jobs, with a view to giving me a quote for them.

After that I did a bit of DIY myself.

I had been desperate to have a go at renovating a fireplace in a bedroom which I’ve been boarded up for years. And with masking tape and spray paint, I sprayed the fireplace a gloss black, and I was very chuffed with myself seeing the finished result, which was actually very good!

I don’t normally do a lot of the DIY myself in my projects, bar a bit of painting - because it’s a longstanding joke with my refurb works and houses that anything I touch, I inadvertently trash or destroy.

So the fireplace outcome was a nice surprise!

Then I spoke to a plasterer on the phone, as I need someone to take over the kitchen ceiling, after yesterday’s fiasco, where yesterday’s plasterer had a tantrum with his own work - ie plaster not sticking to the ceiling - got himself in a strop and walked off the job.

After that the solicitor rang me, informing me that completion was due to take place today on a remortgage I have been working on for months, but suddenly at the last hurdle they haven’t got my ID, and can I fill in some bizarre online app? 

I informed him that this app wouldn’t work because I had already used it with another colleague of his firm on another mortgage case, and could he access my details in that same firm?
Apparently not, common sense would not prevail, I was sent a different app for ID checks, as if I hadn’t already sent them proof of ID via email months ago.

Then a roofer came to look at my project roof, as again I have been unlucky with contractors this time around, as the roofer that had been booked in for weeks and weeks last week turned around and said he didn’t want to do my job and here was my deposit back.

After that I left my project and drove to another property I have close by, to check on how the plaster was drying for the insulation and plasterboard work on the external walls. I had managed to get these works through government grants.

I also put the surplus electric wall heaters in my car to get them out of the way, as the plasterers had removed them during their work, and the government grant also includes installation of first-time central heating, so the heaters are now obsolete at this property.

And then I got annoyed with myself for forgetting to bring the tenant the plug-in electric heater I had promised to fetch as a temporary measure until the gas central heating is installed.

After I left, the mortgage broker rang me to query the ID kerfuffle and then yet again I had to scan and send my driving licence. For the record, the Tiny Scanner app on my phone has proved very useful very often, well worth the money!

Then I went and viewed an off-market property in my patch, arranged through a contact I have. This property had been abandoned 10 years ago, as the couple had disappeared off to Thailand to live in his wife’s native country. The house was reasonable, still needs a fair bit of work, but there is a derelict garden of chaos and a dodgy lean-to at the back which is a real concern, along with some structural crack worries, which make me nervous.

It’s not my usual type of house - it’s in a very nice area, and the end value will be much higher that every other rental house in my portfolio. It is probably more suited to a flip project, because of the area and end user, so I’ll have to have a serious think about that one, because flips are not my usual strategy.

On my way home I decided to call off at a sandwich shop for some dinner. I was going to go get some bacon from the supermarket, but decided to support a local business instead during this difficult time. I wish I’d gone with my first idea; when I opened my sandwich to discover a measly two rashers of bacon! 😤

After dinner I dealt with an email, leading me to an ID app which required me to scan my passport, and then shock of horrors, to take a selfie to compare. This horrendous selfie looked nothing like my passport photo, I am sure that the solicitor had a right good laugh at the dreadful shot the app captured!

Nevertheless, a short while later, the solicitor rang to say that the remortgage had completed. So now I will have a cheaper mortgage on a house I have owned over three years, with a better rate - and a nice little surprise was that the remortgage released some funds I was not expecting, so that was a nice Brucie bonus!

Then I remembered I’d not yet put any content on my social media platforms today, so I fashioned a little video out of some photos of the fireplace I took earlier, and uploaded it to my Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter accounts.

After that I tried to deal with another email from the eco-grant company. I must admit, I hate dealing with emails and admin, especially when it involves doing things like printing off boring forms, filling them in, signing them, only to then scan them and send them back online.

I tried to do this, the printer wouldn’t be recognised on my phone to print the documents, then I realised my WiFi password had changed recently and that was probably the problem.

I then got distracted by a message on my SpareRoom account, a lady wanting to discuss moving into my empty HMO room.

I was keen to ring her, until I realised she was still in Poland; my tight Yorkshire phone bill also doesn’t like being ripped off! 😆

Potential HMO tenants don’t ever get a viewing without me speaking to them on the phone, and indeed I have probably turned away 20 potential people in the last six weeks for that room because they have been unsuitable candidates.

So am now awaiting reply from that lady in request for an online video call to discuss.

Tried to call a contractor to discuss his emailed quote, no answer. This is not uncommon. I spend half my working life trying to ring around and chase up people who never get back to you.

Then I remembered that there were still those wall heaters in my car boot. Brought them into my house; need to work out what I will now do with these surplus items, because my shed is now overrun with surplus furniture items and refurbishment materials.

I also then remembered that I had left the bedroom window open at my project, like a buffoon, from when I was aerosol spray painting earlier.

So went back down to the house to shut the window and by that time it was teatime, and thus, time for a Friday night takeaway pizza! 🍕

Things I didn’t yet get done:

⁃ Print and complete those boring forms
⁃ Manage to get chance to watch my online property group meeting
⁃ View application forms for potential tenants for another house I have coming empty
⁃ Email that tenant final details for check out
⁃ Manage to speak to any contractors after their visits
⁃ Speak to potential HMO lady
⁃ Take that tenant plug-in heaters
⁃ Check progress of other mortgage currently ongoing
⁃ Check figures and comparables for the house I viewed and make offer

Busy busy busy!

My business is growing at the rate where soon I won’t be able to do everything myself.

Another couple of houses and I reckon I’ll be overwhelmed if I don’t outsource!

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS! 👊😁

MY IDEAL PROPERTY PROJECT 😍

 MY IDEAL PROPERTY PROJECT 😍

If you’re reading this right now, you may have met me at some point, either online or in real life - and you’ll probably know that I’m a property investment strategist.

In simple terms, I’m a property investor, who buys houses, using private investment finance.

But what sort of properties am I actually looking to buy? 

I’ll tell you... because perhaps if I tell you, then you’ll know exactly the sort I know of house I’m looking for, should the opportunity arise within any of your networks.

The type of properties I buy is no secret at all, so I’m quite happy to share my very specific criteria. And if anyone mentions any of these keywords, please bear me in mind! 

Here’s my criteria:

⚫️ Local to Leeds 

I live in Morley, Leeds, and all my properties are within a 20 minute driving range of my house. 

I do this purposely, because I like to be able to keep a check on them myself. 

I’m sure there are lots of lovely areas in the UK with fabulous returns and great houses and lovely tenant... but for me, no Leeds, no point!!  

#mybeautifulLeeds 🌃

⚫️ 1-4 bedroom house 

Flats are not for me, thank you very much! Give me a nice lovely stone or brick-built house, ideally with more than one bedroom, but I will look at one-bed houses, if I think there is a potential to magically make more bedrooms out of it 🏠

⚫️ Has become unloved and in need of modernisation 

I love it if a property needs work; that’s exactly the type of house I am looking for. And don’t worry if it’s old-fashioned, grotty, grim and grimy, the worse the better!

These houses usually come about because they have been empty for years, or perhaps they are a deceased estate where the previous occupant hasn’t touched the decor for decades, meaning it is very dated. 🔨🛠

⚫️ Requires refurbishment work

Following on from that, if it needs any sort of renovation work, I am on it like a car bonnet! This might be that it needs a new heating system, or kitchen or bathroom, or minor structural works, or an update decoration. I’m happy to do what’s needed to make it safe, comfortable, and compliant to rent to future tenants. 🏚

⚫️ Would make an excellent family rental home!

My ideal tenant is a little low-income family who will make my property their long-term home. The kids will feel safe and secure, and this home security will then enable them to go on and make a success of their life - just like I did.

So things like gardens, and lots of bedrooms, large room interiors, near schools and shops... all these make great properties for housing families. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧

Quick recap: 

LEEDS - FOR FAMILIES - HOUSES - IN NEED OF WORK!!

If you know anybody that has a house that fits this description - it might be a probate, they could be relocating, or divorcing, or a tired or accidental landlord who just wants to get rid of their headache hassle property... anybody who has a property like this who is wanting to sell - I would be delighted if you could please put me in touch!

Full contact details here:

https://kellyannmartin.co.uk/contact/