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Working on our basement apartment in our house hack has been exciting and also a lot of work. Honestly, it’s been a lot more work than I ever anticipated. The planning started about a year ago and the true work work started this Fall. We were working every weekend from probably February until May and now most nights because well… summer.
It was one thing to change the flooring and move the washer dryer in my first investment. It is a whole other animal to do the ground up renovation we are doing on this project. I learned so much about this process and feel more confident and educated. I know the next time around I’m going to do things a little bit differently and a lot better. I think it’s really important to learn from mistakes and grow each time you do something especially if you’re doing the work yourself.
It was in April, around the time we were finishing up the sub-floor that we both started to lose steam. I think the insulation truly put me over the edge. You should have seen us covered head to toe wearing hazmat-like suits. My parents were there helping too and it was hard work but we got it done. Imagine scratchy throats and eyes; over heating and stopping on occasion to cough and breathe. I was really disappointed we didn’t get a picture of us but to think of it now we must have looked comical (maybe it is too soon to laugh still?).
We are now almost in July and I was really hoping the work would have been complete with renters lined up. We lost three weeks due to the taping and some time here and there due to supply constraints. We still do not have a timeline for the fence, which is alarming. Without the fence, we won’t get a CO… maybe a temporary CO if the building inspector is feeling nice.
When you are doing a DIY project sometimes you and your available hours are the constraint and your ability to get things done in a timely manner can be a blocker. Because we were losing steam we decided to outsource some of the work. We first decided to hire the taping out and also the floors. The taping didn’t look so hot and in an attempt to fix it ourselves we lost three weeks. It was the biggest disappointment for me in the whole project. The floors, although took time to get scheduled, came out fantastic and were done in one day.
All I can say is vet your contractors thoroughly and see their work before you give them the go ahead.
Would I DIY again? More than likely. There are a lot of things that we can certainly do on our own and there are certain things I will have someone else do. In the future I plan to analyze each and every project as if I will have a contractor that is not myself doing the work. This way the expense is built into the budget ahead of time.
Would I recommend that others DIY? Well you have to learn somehow right? Yes, absolutely get a feel for it and understand what it takes to get the work done. If it’s not for you then you will need to learn to work with and hire contractors. Just remember it is not a requirement of a real estate investor to DIY and be hands on with everything. Passive investing is possible in real estate.
Let me know what projects you are working on in the comments.
Until next time,
Amanda