Mortgage Rate Rises

[200sols]

Home improvements are so so expensive now. I looked at getting windows Done.. No
Cost of new boiler.. No
Redoing the ensuite.. No

Basically I deal in currency of "holidays" now.
Everything now costs multiple holidays. Even the front door would cost more than our Croatia trip for a week. Can't justify it on a temp home.

Start DIYing. Seeing these 100k renovations makes me wince.

 

[john_smith]

"dlockers, I'm waaaaaiting...!"
"Hold on a minute love, I'm just entering this 3 pack of Durex into my spreadsheet..."

Shall we leave the lights on?

Can't we're charging the battery up and there's a saving session in the morning.

 

[413x]

Start DIYing. Seeing these 100k renovations makes me wince.

I try my best.
I won't touch plastering. It would take so long to learn that might as well pay.

Obviously painting, putting shelves up etc is fine.
The difficult part comes with big stuff. New kitchen.

When time is limited (ie 5 days a week work) is hard to spend the time doing it yourself, it's also hard to spend the cash.

 

[413x]

Thanks

I suppose it might make us seem mental but this also isn't anywhere near a forever home.

The plan always was to move when this mortgage is up mid '25.

We'll see.. obviously per the threads reason for existing that's all a bit up in the air right now.

Ha, yeah that is crazy.
I mean, money is relative and maybe 100k isn't much for you.

I think I'm more tolerant of "OK" than most people. I mean I look at some of the rentals I've lived in..

 

[jonneymendoza]

Start DIYing. Seeing these 100k renovations makes me wince.

Impossible if you have a 9-5 5 days a week job.

You would take forever to do some of the jobs at hand!

Also takes practise and as. DIYER' you are not going to be as fast and efficient as a pro.

There are also some jobs that require two people so better hope your partner is up for doing stuff too!

 

[adam cool dude]

Start DIYing. Seeing these 100k renovations makes me wince.

I have pretty much self taught since I was in my early twenties as we were broke. Now I can pretty much do anything bar gas work as I leave that to people with a licence.

Did a full bathroom refit, new floorboard, new ceiling, tiled from top to bottom, new lights etc. Spent less than 5k in materials. Took me two weeks to complete.

I could most likely do it for a living if I put the effort in but I absolutely loath D.I.Y and it is the constant nagging which is the only reason it gets done. People also forget about the investment in tools as well. I must easily have 10k worth of tools in my garage and shed built up over the years.

It is great skill set to have and can save you thousands in the long run. Especially when you get to retirement age and you can do your own projects.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Ability to DIY and time taken are certainly considerations. My other half is semi relaxed as long as progress is happening.
My kitchen refit took 6 months. From the moment we had the new one delivered to the moment "er indoors" signed off the works as complete.
I did it all, apart from fitting the quartz. That added a bit to the timeline but not that much. Covid year so I had to wait at one point for them to start the visits again (templating)
I could probably have halved the timeline in reality had I of gone for it a bit more hardcore, but I have an allotment and that also takes time.
I started late March 20 and finished Sept 20.

Bathroom was more like 9 months but I spent the first 3-4 basically wasting my time, trying to get tiles off plasterboard that had never been painted or sealed. Eventually I just went for removal (heavy lump hammer) and reboarded. If I was doing it again now from scratch I would just do that from the start.
Again half the time would have been possible.

One of the things we did with both was an evolution approach we we know basically what we want, but we adapt as we go. So some stuff like colours and exact fittings we decide when we get to the point they are needed.

My kitchen more than one trade has commented on and one was open mouthed that it was fitted by an accountant.
One said thats really nice floor tiling. The other said you cheeky bugger he may turn around and say hes been a tiler for 20 years. It was at that point I said I was an accountant

The first jobs i did were break even, as I bought tools as we went. Later on you have most of what you need. I do try to practically stick to one new tool per job.
Some tools will pay for themselves in one job, diamond tile cutter, that sort of thing. Some tools you find out afterwards just how useful they are, multitool for example.

There is 100% more satisfaction and as long as your not a bodger for many jobs you will have a better quality than trades doing it. Its where the time angle is a benefit not a penalty.

 

[Martynt74]

I have pretty much self taught since I was in my early twenties as we were broke. Now I can pretty much do anything bar gas work as I leave that to people with a licence.

Did a full bathroom refit, new floorboard, new ceiling, tiled from top to bottom, new lights etc. Spent less than 5k in materials. Took me two weeks to complete.

I could most likely do it for a living if I put the effort in but I absolutely loath D.I.Y and it is the constant nagging which is the only reason it gets done. People also forget about the investment in tools as well. I must easily have 10k worth of tools in my garage and shed built up over the years.

It is great skill set to have and can save you thousands in the long run. Especially when you get to retirement age and you can do your own projects.

I've a mate who pretty much did a back to brick refurb on a purchase, whilst raising 2 kids and working full time (and with overtime/on-call). I agree it can be done, think he just got people in for building the extension. It's just a very scary thought.

 

[Martynt74]

As @Mercenary Keyboard Warrior and @adam cool dude say, tools are the main outlay, but i learnt a while back that if you think a tool will make the job easier/quicker, then just go and buy it. I have spent too many hours trying to find workarounds!

 

[jonneymendoza]

I've a mate who pretty much did a back to brick refurb on a purchase, whilst raising 2 kids and working full time (and with overtime/on-call). I agree it can be done, think he just got people in for building the extension. It's just a very scary thought.

My missus hates the fact that I do this approach and buy tools that make life easier. She's now complaining to me where I will store all of it lol.

She was so against me buying a multi tool and I went and got it anyway and after a while she started using it too.

I do understand her point of view. If you just go and buy thousands of tools, u gunna have to store them!

 

[HangTime]

I'd say there aren't many DIY jobs I don't regret taking on. You get the odd one that gives a sense of satisfaction and achievement but generally I'm left with something a bit naff / half finished as I lack skill in it. I mean, if I had a 'experiment zone' where I could just try different jobs without worrying about ****ing it up then it might be OK but that's not really a luxury I have, some jobs are basically like recording a scene for a movie in a single take, you don't get an easy chance to reroll. Really I should just pay someone to do them, the cost puts me off but then if I were to put a cost on my time even DIY is expensive. When my wife and I painted the walls in our first house I liked how it came out (it's a fairly easy job and one where you can repeat if you make mistakes) but it took a long time.

Bathroom was more like 9 months but I spent the first 3-4 basically wasting my time, trying to get tiles off plasterboard that had never been painted or sealed. Eventually I just went for removal (heavy lump hammer) and reboarded. If I was doing it again now from scratch I would just do that from the start.
Again half the time would have been possible.

Reminds me of our first house where we had to take up kitchen tiles to have a DPC put in. Started off slowly trying to preserve the tiles but it was very slow going and some got broken anyway. In the end we decided to just get them up quickly without trying to preserve them and having different flooring laid.

I also distinctly remember slipping over backwards on wet decking out the back when carrying a big armful of giant tiles to the shed and then came crashing down on my forearms, sore back and sore arms were my reward for attempting DIY.

 

[IvanDobskey]

Most DIY jobs I can do these days and to a pretty good standard. Only issue is time.

I ripped up the old bathroom tiled floor over the Xmas period last year, to put some nice new luxury vinyl down thinking it was a two day job at most. Took me four days of hard toil

 

[Deleted User 298457]

Impossible if you have a 9-5 5 days a week job.

You would take forever to do some of the jobs at hand!

Also takes practise and as. DIYER' you are not going to be as fast and efficient as a pro.

There are also some jobs that require two people so better hope your partner is up for doing stuff too!

dLockers entered the chat lol.

The problem I see is most people are chasing "perfection", which is a bit like a 500 mile car journey being summarised by the one speeding ticket. 'Done' is a depressing state of affairs IMHO. I'm lucky my wife and kid aren't more aggressive in pushing me to complete things; but at a "plod" I've managed to do a huge amount this year, working a 9-5 (more like 8am-7pm) job with a 3y/o and a wife who works basically similar hours but just 4 days a week.

 

[413x]

Most DIY jobs I can do these days and to a pretty good standard. Only issue is time.

I ripped up the old bathroom tiled floor over the Xmas period last year, to put some nice new luxury vinyl down thinking it was a two day job at most. Took me four days of hard toil

Its time.
I could probably do a better finish if I learnt than our plasterer (was during covid, and had 3 in at different times, once was poop).

But the time, it's often not worth it. And there are so many different skills you need for the big jobs. The ensuite is small. But it's everything from electrical to water to tiling. It's just too much.

 

[adam cool dude]

I've a mate who pretty much did a back to brick refurb on a purchase, whilst raising 2 kids and working full time (and with overtime/on-call). I agree it can be done, think he just got people in for building the extension. It's just a very scary thought.

It takes time obviously compared to getting a trade person in. It took me two weeks to do the bathroom and it was our only bathroom in the house and that was pretty much constant as I had unused holiday.

One day we had no toilet so we had to drive to the nearest Tesco (5 minutes in the car) to do the business if needed and we had no bath/shower for 3 days (I was putting in new copper pipes, floor boards and damp proof membrane on top) so used the outside hosepipe as a shower.

I did all this while listening to all chapters of R-Kelly's trapped in the closet. IIRC it was a thing going on Radio 1 at the time.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

One day we had no toilet so we had to drive to the nearest Tesco (5 minutes in the car)

that's funny.

 

[jonneymendoza]

I did all this while listening to all chapters of R-Kelly's trapped in the closet. IIRC it was a thing going on Radio 1 at the time.

This is even funnier lol

 

[matt100]

I've done my time with DIY, I've done 2 houses pretty much top to bottom in my youth basically as a labourer for a family member who knew what they were doing, then after that (and no longer being part of that family as such) I went through years of renting both furnished then unfurnished and moving in hired vans, then a house with a lot of DIY etc.

Now I accept I've gotten myself to a place where I can afford to pay and have the whole money to time ratio that I've given myself permission to pay for people to do things like this.

Still doesn't sit all that well with me, having a decorator come and paint all the skirting after the floor was done felt ridiculously boujee but I HATE painting. Like absolutely loath it.

 

[jaybee]

I don't mind paying a pro to do a job if they:

a) Do it perfectly
b) Do it more quickly than I do
c) Don't take the mick with pricing

I've never found a trader that ticks all of these. Normally it's choose two.

Consequently I inevitably - mostly out of stubbornness - end up DIYing a lot. I pay car garages to do certain jobs where I just don't have the skill or tooling to do it, or jobs that become 100 times easier and safer with a full on pro lift, rather than axle stands and a cold, damp drive way.
I pay plumbers where I don't trust myself with the more major stuff and where I'm not certified to touch.
Electrical I generally have a go with basic stuff.
Carpentry...once paid an apprentice to hang some doors for me. Big mistake. My first attempt at chiselling out some hinges since I went to school, and I did it perfectly just by taking time and care. Apprentice's work looked like ****.
Decorating I've never paid for, because I have working arms and legs and can't afford the ridiculous pricing for moving a paint brush.

 

[413x]

I've done my time with DIY, I've done 2 houses pretty much top to bottom in my youth basically as a labourer for a family member who knew what they were doing, then after that (and no longer being part of that family as such) I went through years of renting both furnished then unfurnished and moving in hired vans, then a house with a lot of DIY etc.

Now I accept I've gotten myself to a place where I can afford to pay and have the whole money to time ratio that I've given myself permission to pay for people to do things like this.

Still doesn't sit all that well with me, having a decorator come and paint all the skirting after the floor was done felt ridiculously boujee but I HATE painting. Like absolutely loath it.

Hate it too. I'm so fussy about it, 8 never want to start. For my sins I also love feature walls. So it's even more edges.

Last wall frog tape didn't work so I had to free hand it. I did a good job, but it absolutely hated doing it!