Yes, I agree, and have gotten the advice to wait and live in it for a while. I’m just exploring all the issues now because I know things like this take a long time. 🙂
My friend bought a real fixer in Poway, and that was a year and a half ago. I think he is still doing alot of work on it, weekends, weeknights, etc. I know it’s alot of work and the house will be in disarray, so we don’t want to start until we get the materials, layout and labor in place to do it in 2-3 weeks. Alot of “friend of friends” are looking for work to do, so it seems like labor is getting cheaper.
My mom renovated almost her whole house…new travertine floors, onyx fireplaces, marble stairs, hardwood floors upstairs, new cherry cabs in the kitchen, granite, for around $80k. The guy she found does good work and charges $220/8 hour day for him and his partner. Not bad for $13.75/hour.
I wish you well on your house! Props to you for being a DIYer! Truth be told, my answer to JtR wasn’t totally correct…I could be handy if I just went for it…I am an engineer. But I’m too much of a perfectionist. I’ll spend 20-30 minutes fretting over 1 travertine tile’s position, and then not be happy with it for the next 10 years. Someone could do a worse job than me, and I’ll be impressed. I’m just weird that way. So I just said no, because I don’t have the skills yet, and then I won’t be happy with the results.
