‘Renovating’ on the cheap

Buying a unit was a big step.  We knew it was a sound financial decision, but we also understood that our budget was limited.  We could only borrow $385,000, which would buy either one two-bedroom unit, or two one-bedroom units.  We decided on the two 1×1 units, as that way in a few years’ time, if/when we have kids, we can sell one and hang onto the other (in an ideal world).

We also knew that we’d be limited to either buying a fair distance from the CBD, or buying places that were closer in but needed some work.  We opted for the latter, especially after doing some investigation.  Osborne Park is close to the CBD, and our units are on a main road (near public transport) and near a freeway entrance respectively.  This ensures transport is easy for tenants.  Also, it’s close to where we currently live, so it’s not too far to go when working on the units.

We made one smart decision – we’re doing one unit at a time.  Unfortunately, we thought that we’d be clever and not take any leave from work.  As a result, we’ve been patching, sanding, painting, measuring, etc.  after work at night, and all weekend.  It’s tiring, stressful, and, well, tiring.  Next time, we’ll take annual leave to do any necessary work.

So, how are we ‘renovating’ inexpensively?  I’ve used inverted commas because we haven’t replaced any tiles, bench tops, basins, toilets, etc.  These were all in good condition.  Instead, we’ve painted the entire unit, including skirting boards; replaced window treatments, to modernise the look; replaced power points and switches (the previous ones were the original ones installed, some 40 years ago); and replaced light fittings.  We’ve also replaces the rollers in the bottom of the windows and the sliding door.

Altogether, we’ve updated the look of the unit so it looks fresh and brand new, for around $500.  We painted the unit ourselves (with some help from my father-in-law, who’s a dab hand with oil-based paint).  We’ve also done the window treatments using ready-made curtains.  We did have to call out a sparky to do the powerpoints and light fittings, but he’s a friend of the family, so he gave us a good price.  We also supplied all the replacement light fittings and powerpoints ourselves, which saved us some money.

There are other, even cheaper ways of cleaning up a property.  For example, we took the glass sliding door out of the track to replace the rollers, and I scrubbed the frame.  It took three hours, but it looked fantastic when it was done.  Washing the windows finished the job properly and really made a difference to how the unit looked.  Another trick is to clean up any tile grouting.  If it’s really stained, whitening it does wonders.  There are lots of products on the market that will do this, and it can make the tiles look really clean and new.

Essentially, it’s the time vs. money conundrum.  We wanted to do things as inexpensively as possible, so we chose to do the work ourselves, for minimal outlay.  If you’re time-poor, it may be worth your while to pay someone else to do it.  For us, doing it ourselves saved a considerable amount of money, we learned a lot along the way, and we have a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.