Please I need opinions...especially from the DIY people!! Renovations ....Update at bottom

DH and I are interested in a house. It is all original and needs to be completed redone. We are looking into getting the 203K which will allow us some money to do the reno since we dont have the cash ourselves.

However, we could only take out about $30,000 to do Kitchen, Bathroom, and move Laundry which is currently in the kitchen to another room.

This would include floors, appliances and so forth..

Are we crazy to think we could do it on only $30,000.

Has anyone DIY ?? We would have to do much of the work ourselves, and get stock cabinets to keep it to the $30,000 but I'm afraid it's totally unrealistic.

Please help and give me some opinions if you can! I am so torn....

Message edited 2/5/2012 1:45:20 PM.

Re: Please I need opinions...especially from the DIY people!! Renovations ....

We bought an estate that we needed to completely gut. Some people enjoy making their house their own (and I thought I would, too), but I will never do it again! It was so stressful and you don't realize how much $$ it will cost when all is said and done. When redoing a house from top to bottom, it is really hard to stick to a strict budget bc things creep up, especially in old houses. You could uncover issues that will cost $$ to repair. I don't want to sway you from doing this, I just want to give you some honest feedback!

ETA: $30k for a kitchen AND bathroom is going to be tough. DIY will absolutely cut cost, but all materials, tiles, toilet/sink/bath, vanity, cabinets, countertops, appliances all add up...

Message edited 2/4/2012 8:15:30 PM.

Re: Please I need opinions...especially from the DIY people!! Renovations ....

Check out this website...I think to do some of the work you have to be deemed "qualified". I'm not sure how that works specifically, but look into it for sure.

HUD faqs

Re: Please I need opinions...especially from the DIY people!! Renovations ....

Are you moving plumbing too? That's gonna cost a pretty penny if you are esp. if you can't do that yourself.

I did exactly what you're about to do (renovate my kitchen, bathroom and move my laundry to the basement) total cost of the project came out to 30k in materials alone!

My budget was originally 35k (w/o factoring in plumbing cost) for everything. We went way above that...

I would not recommend doing everything on your own unless you really willing to put in the effort on the weekend and don't mind living w/o a kitchen for at least 6 months. It took our contractor about 2 months to gut reno our kitchen/bathroom and I can't imagine it stretching beyond that.

Re: Please I need opinions...especially from the DIY people!! Renovations ....

I think with a house that is 100% original you'd also need to update your electrical and your heating system if that hasn't been done too.

You're looking at way more than 30K. Is the problem that the bath/ and kitchen are ugly or is the problem that they just need updating? Moving the plumbing for the laundry will be expensive too.

If you really want this house and the kitchen and bath are ok, then I'd pick one project and save the other.

With 30K you could probably do updates to the electrical, heating, plumbing, bathroom and move the laundry area. You may be able to get away with painting kitchen cabinets or replacing the floor etc but I don't think you will be able to do everything for 30K. Kitchens alone are usually at least that much

Re: Please I need opinions...especially from the DIY people!! Renovations ....

i think we spent around 20K on fixing the laundry, bedroom, living room/dining room, front bedroom. We hired my BIL and I did all the demo. This is drywall, fixing wood floors and refinishing, moving a doorway, putting a laundry room in an existing small bathroom (so plumbing was there), putting up trim and crown molding and i forgot laying down a very tiny amount of tile in the front entry but we had to double beam the floor since it bounced. Lighting as well (one ceiling fan and recessed lighting)

I will be honest bathrooms and kitchen can be done on a budget and can be done by handy people but its longer, messier and really a headache. It will be expensive if your moving things around or if you open walls and find out electric is not to code or not safe, plumbing might be leaky - etc. Better to start with one renno and live in the house. Wait then do another room, etc.

Re: Please I need opinions...especially from the DIY people!! Renovations ....

We redid 99% of our house and spent less than $30k. We did all the work ourselves except for relocating the elec panel.

Re: Please I need opinions...especially from the DIY people!! Renovations ....

Thank you everyone....the above poster is correct. We wouldn't be able to do the work ourselves under a 203k loan. So now I'm thinking this is going to be wayyyyyyy to expensive.

Thanks!

Re: Please I need opinions...especially from the DIY people!! Renovations ....Update at bottom

DH and I are super frugal and he is a contractor but we both think that is a pretty low budget, given the issues that you may uncover.

Can you tackle one big project at a time?