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So out of my depth… Budget nowhere near enough

162 replies

Downdumps · 21/02/2022 21:27

I’ve name changed for this as my friends don’t know my dire financial straits.

I bought a doer upper (because we had to move and it was all I could afford). I knew I would have a very fixed budget for it, but as I’m starting to get quotes in I’m realising that it doesn’t even touch the sides.

Everything is twice what I expected (I’m not stupid and have renovated houses before, but not for a while). Wtf am I going to do? At this rate my budget is going to run out and I won’t have done half the stuff this house needs. As an example, I’d budgeted around £2k to get the kitchen fitted - first quote is £4k.

Earning more isn’t really an option and the stress of the renovation is already taking its toll. I’ve already borrowed £10k from family. I’m not talking expensive kitchens and marble flooring either, just getting the basics done.

How do people renovate on a budget in this day and age? I’m not skilled so doing things myself isn’t really an option.

I am starting to get really worried I’ve bought a wreck that I’ll never be able to do up. Any advice?

OP posts:
SW1amp · 24/02/2022 11:09

[quote Stevie77]@SW1amp Because there’s a difference between pricing to do a job (assuming you want to) and adding a 100% mark up, and pricing to do a job and giving yourself a bit of a pay rise. Unless you’re the most meticulous tradesperson (and very few are, let’s face it), what is the value you’re adding for your 100% price increase? In other industries, anyone going for a pay rise would have to demonstrate how they add value to actually get it.[/quote]
They are rendering a service in a free market!
It’s not greed, the OP isn’t under any obligation to accept their prices.

If you think 100% mark ups are uncommon in life, you are amazingly naive

But I am also trying to work out how you calculate the mark up of someone giving their time? They are simply asking for a higher hourly rate than previously, or that the OP was expecting to pay. That doesn’t make it a mark up
That makes it a simply supply and demand pricing example

Soopermum1 · 24/02/2022 11:28

To balance up the responses, OP, you have my sympathy. I'm a single Mum in the FMH. It's fine, but needs maintenance and updating and it's really daunting doing it jn your own. It's not just the time to get quotes, shop around, do some of the work ourself, it's the thinking time and headspace required when you have a full time job and kids, on your own. There's no sounding board and no one to share the load, so there's pressure from that side, as well as the financial pressure.

Downdumps · 24/02/2022 11:56

Oh my goodness @Soopermum1 you have hit the nail on the head.

OP posts:
sunshineforest · 24/02/2022 13:30

Me too in exactly the same boat! @Downdumps @Soopermum1

My house is a dump frankly. I've painted as much as I can but really need someone to do kitchen and bathroom

sasparilla1 · 24/02/2022 15:00

Are you able to call in any favours? Do you have friends, or friends of friends, who may do you a decent price?

It may be worth looking for someone who can do everything and will therefore give you a better price. If you're in Hampshire I may be able to help with that!

GearChange · 24/02/2022 15:53

You say your self employed but what do you do? Is it something you could ‘trade’ for services? You might have a local FB group that you could arrange that through - a kitchen fitters/plumber/plasterers help for your work? Just trying to think of ways you could possibly get the trades you need without having to pay the huge sums they are asking.

cazinge · 24/02/2022 15:58

I haven't RTFT but DW & I aren't practical at all and both work full-time with 2 pre schoolers & a dog so are also time poor.

Is there a friend / relative who can do the arranging quotes, etc for you? Take some of the admin off your hands? Almost like a free project manager. They can also provide a bit of an objective view as it's not their house.

Students/Apprentices are also a good shout.

TheCatThatWalkedAlone · 24/02/2022 16:12

Try your local Facebook pages for a cheap fitter. E Bay for used units.
Or would an unfitted look work? Pine Dresser, open shelves, folding table shelf fitted to wall with folding, stackable chairs. All usually very cheap & can be refreshed with paint.

Do you have room for a used kitchen dresser (or simply open shelves to put jars/tins in. and pine table & chairs.

TheCatThatWalkedAlone · 24/02/2022 16:37

Sorry for incoherent post. Pressed post too soon! Ask a major kitchen company for a quote & design and make it up yourself with 2bd hand pieces.

scottishnames · 24/02/2022 18:54

OP In the old days, houses - unless you were rich - were never 'perfect'. Nor 'fitted' and glossy and plastic-coated. That's a modern expectation. Your mental health and your children's happiness are the most important things. So don't be stressed by wanting to get everything done at once. Step-by-step: if you and your children are safe and warm and clean and well fed, everything else can wait.

The electrics sound dangerous, so getting them sorted seems absolutely essential. So, probably, does making good the damage done to walls etc done during re-wiring.
The windows seem next priority - but unless absolutely dire can wait for a few years.
But otherwise:
*Does the loo work? Can you have a bath or a shower? Do you have plumbing for a washing machine?

  • Do you have a kitchen sink, a cooker, a kitchen table and chairs, a fridge/freezer, somewhere to store food, somewhere to stand a kettle and a toaster? somewhere to stack plates ? Almost nothing else really matters; not to begin with.

When I bought my first house, my Mother, when she saw it, burst into tears. It was grotty - filthy. But it was sound, structurally, and with a bit of work, NOT all at once - nothing heroic - it soon became very comfortable.

Now, on the sixth house I have owned, I still don't have a fitted kitchen or bathroom (I don't like them); in the kitchen, I have second-hand wood dressers and cupboards and probably third hand oak tables and chairs. I bought most of them about 20 years ago - they'll be good for another 200. In the bathroom, cheap solid wooden shelves and wall-cupboards. Almost all my other furniture was also really cheap second-hand, again, purchased over the years. (I say 'my' because my DH happily leaves this sort of thing to me - he knows I find it interesting. ) Other posters have suggested sources - charity shops are excellent (especially for old household linen - sheets, duvet covers, tablecloths, and, strangely, lampshades) I also can't find fault with EBay. Many 'decent' rug and antiques dealers have sites there and I have found them very good to deal with. I have a huge double sink on its own legs, bought (including taps) incredibly cheaply in a sale from a catering supplier. They also do other kitchen equipment - not pretty but strong and functional and cheap. I have secondhand sofas, tatty but beautiful oriental rugs, fabulous (to my mind -others might hate them) lined and interlined second-hand curtains. EBay is especially good for these.

As other posters have said, paint is a great quick fix. In an ideal world, you wash down the walls and do a bit of polyfilla-ing first- but you can do one wall (one hour?) at a time. B and Q paint (their posher range) is surprisingly good and cheap; they have some nice colours. I also rate Johnstones.

For what it's worth, the greatest mid 20th cent cookery writer - she really was pioneering - had a kitchen that looked like this:
artofeating.com/the-pleasures-and-challenge-of-elizabeth-david/ But probably few people would have time for that - or her, or her books - now.

Sorry if all this sounds horribly patronising; I really do not mean it to be. And my taste might not be yours - I'm NOT, NOT, NOT saying mine is any better. But as someone who has worked in and worked with many people in the creative industries who almost always have NO money, the sort of 'make-do-and-mend' things I'm describing above are very familiar among my friends and acquaintances.

Alrightqueenie · 24/02/2022 19:53

Have you considered the local college who often look for refurbishment experience for their final year students. They are supervised by lecturers and often do it for free or discounted. So for straight forward jobs like painting, it might be worth considering to keep costs down.

TiddleTaddleTat · 24/02/2022 22:45

While I like the suggestions of an unfitted kitchen in reality these are only suitable in large spaces that have straight, good walls etc without obstacles in the way.
The good thing about a fitted kitchen is just that - it is fitted into the available space to take advantage of the space you have, however limited.
I would love a freestanding kitchen but my space is about 1.2mx2.5m with doors and windows on all walls so I couldn’t fit anything in

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