When we bought our home we went into it knowing full-well that we would be renovating. I’m fortunate that both my husband and I are handy and not afraid to get dirty.
We were able to save a lot of money by doing work ourselves or with very talented (and some professional) help from friends and family. There were times though that we needed certain jobs done that we, or anyone we knew, couldn’t do.
Image via Flickr – https://www.flickr.com/photos/jwthompson2
Before ever hiring a ”professional” we looked through the online classifieds to see what we could come up with and more times than not, we scored.
Demolition and Clean up
We did most of our own demolition which alone saved a lot of money. The only part of our renovation that we did not demo ourselves was a shed on our property. There was something about picturing my husband and his friends playing in a rickety structure with chainsaws that scared me.I looked to the online classifieds to help me out. I found a guy who had experience in demolishing buildings who would come and do it for us, doing it safe and with the proper tools. For $100 he demolished the shed and piled the garbage for us in a way that we could easily be move. He worked efficiency and I would recommend and hire him again if needed. I consider my husband’s life worth the $100 🙂
Though we have curbside pickup, it would have taken weeks to get rid of all the renovation garbage. Our renovation wasn’t big enough to justify getting a dumpster yet big enough to be an annoyance for us. We decided that taking a big load to the dump ourselves was the answer even though there is a fee for this. Since we didn’t have access to a truck we looked into renting a truck for no reason other than to haul the garbage away. In the end, it would have cost us over $200 to rent the truck and pay for the dump. Back to the online classifieds I went.
We found a guy who for $75 showed up with his massive truck, carried the garbage away to the dump all in the pouring rain. I didn’t ask but assumed he must have had a connection at the dump since I know the dump cost alone would have been over $75. I didn’t care was just glad to have found him!
Flooring
We were extending hardwood from the main living area. Since laying hardwood that needs to be blended with an existing floor is something neither my husband or I has experience with we looked into options. The store wanted to charge us thousands to do it which wasn’t going to jive with us. For $400 a guy was in and out within a day.
Buying and Selling
A few updates we made were just that, updates. There was nothing wrong with the light fixtures they were just very much not our style. We were able to afford the ones we liked by first selling what we currently had and applying the money to the new purchase. Though buying and selling via online classifieds is more work than just walking into a store and buying something, it can save a lot of money.
In doing anything online, you have to be careful. Trust your instincts and if hiring work, always check out references. The guy who did our floor gave us a flash drive showing his portfolio before we hired him which spoke volumes about his professionalism. I will continue to use our local online classifieds for everything from buying and selling to future work we may need done.
Have you ever used online ads to help with work around the home?
Glad everything worked out well for you. The problem with CL is that it is a hit or a miss! I have co-worker of mine whose tools were stolen by a handyman hired via CL! 🙁
Sounds like the two of you are definitely DIY types. We rented a house a few years ago and fixed up a few things – painted, installed new baseboards (though the cutting was a little tricky), hung blinds, etc. However, we hired a people to install our carpet and should have had the hardwood floors re-sanded, but didn’t want to spend the money since it wasn’t our house (and we had already spent quite a bit). Now that we’ve had some experience working on a house, we know what we can and can’t do when we buy our own. It was a good “trial-run.”
Sounds like you did a great job in getting some work done for a great price. I know online ads can bit hit or miss, but the hits just really seem to pay off and makes it worth it to deal with the occasional dud. Smart to ask for some sort of portfolio or recommendations before working with someone to try and protect yourself as much as possible.
Although I am just thinking about renovating our home, I stumbled onto a guy through my hair stylist. I prefer referrals to almost anything else.
Great examples of how a little investigation can save you some money (and a husband’s life) – haha. I’ve done this in the past too, but before I hit the classifieds I find out if I have any friends or family with any experience in doing the sort of work I’m faced with. I don’t have a truck, but I have several friends that do. Sometimes calling in a favor is even cheaper than the classifieds!
I’m a bit biased, but my dad uses craiglist to find his clients for his side hustles. He is a licensed contractor but loves doing little projects for a bit of extra income. Because of his advertising, he now makes more in one weekend than he does in a week with his job!
My Dad has become rather proficient at scoring deals on Craigslist for building related stuff, too. We got an industrial drill press once when his company was doing a contract job and it was a fantastic price.
What a fantastic way to hire out without spending a fortune. I just worry about the jobs that require more skill- clearly you lucked out with the flooring guy.