Too Ambitious For First Time Renovators?

As I’ve mentioned in my introduction post and in my post about our house buying journey, we bought our first home in August 2021. It is a serious project house, which means we are first time renovators!

While it meant low initial cost (we only paid 250k!!), it also means A LOT of work before it becomes our dream home.

Why I think we might be too ambitious for first time renovators

The house itself is very old, the main area is from the 1910s and has had additions to it in the 1930s and 1940s.

This means that the layout of the house is quite strange since the additions have been the kitchen, bathroom and a sunroom.

The bathroom for example is only accessible through the kitchen (and it has a big window right next to our backdoor, before my partner frosted the window we could greet our visitors while sitting on the toilet!). The kitchen has a bench, sink with more bench space (both benches have storage space below them) and space for the fridge, but our oven is in the “dining room”.

Despite a big window, the dining room needs lights on when cooking dinner even in summer. From the dining room you get into the lounge and the second bedroom. The second bedroom is the only room painted blue in the house and the switch to get the lights on is in the opposite corner from the door.

The lounge has the meter reader for the power and access to the main bedroom and the sunroom. Since the sunroom is an addition, the only window from the main bedroom is into the sunroom, not outside, so the bedroom is very dark. It also doesn’t have ceiling light at all.

It’s not just the layout that is a bit funky, the condition of the house is pretty average too. I don’t know which is worse, the outside or the inside!

The paint on the weatherboards is chipping and the behind of the house was so rotten that it was fixed before we bought the house, but instead of weatherboards there is just some sort of ply there. Some gutter pipes are just hanging, one side of the house had at least two antenna looking things with cords just hanging from the wall of the house.

The house used to have a fireplace with a brick chimney and the outside of it was demolished nearly two years ago. But instead of filling the gap with weatherboards, it was blocked with three sheets of iron.

Is it too much for first time renovators

Indoors, I don’t think we have one single room with level floors, external walls as internal walls (weatherboards), holes in the walls, mismatch of materials used to make minor repairs.

Mismatch of window styles and broken windows.

A few spots that leak in a heavy rain.

Shower with a horrendous water pressure.

Carpets don’t match and have massive wear and tear, plus in spots don’t lay nicely on the floors.

So yes, we got ourselves an amazingly cheap house, our mortgage payments (+ rates + insurance) are half of what we’d pay if we were renting. But there’s a reason for it and we’re going to be spending a lot on this house before it will actually be a nice place to live.

Thankfully, despite being first time renovators, my partner is a builder with 10+ years of experience, otherwise we’d definitely be out of our depth!

But, it’s not all bad!

Great things about this place is the section and the location.

We’re at the end of a cul-de-sac street with only one neighbour close to us.

Section is nearly 800 square meters (not big enough to subdivide though) and although it’s on a bit of a hill with the back area sloping down, the front section is pretty flat.

It is also 5 minute walk to a park with lots to do for the kids, 2 minute drive to nearest New World and a 10 minute walk to the town’s main street.

We’re also enjoying the fireplace keeping us nice and warm without a massive increase in our power bill. In addition to the house, the section has a small single garage (dirt floor and no door) and a shed for firewood.

To renovate or to build new?

Moving in we weren’t sure if we would renovate or demolish and build new.

After living here for a few weeks it became clear how everything in the house needs fixing or upgrading, so we’ve decided to aim for a new build.

Here’s how we’re planning to get there:

• Upgrade the garage into a double garage with a concrete floor for more storage space (cash flow the cost)
• Build a sleep out (cash flow the cost)
• Rent the sleep out out to someone and save, save, save
• Move into the sleep out ourselves and cash flow as much of the new build as we can

Other things we are considering adding are a retaining wall to fully flatten the section and a better driveway.

My partner has already done heaps of little things around the property to make it more homey and safer for our daughters.

There was a strange fence separating some of the section from the rest so that has been knocked down, we bought some second hand carpet to add on the floors and other tidying up.

Also, the double garage is nearly finished and we just had insulation done after applying for the Healthy Homes Grant. It is just a shame that our whole ceiling isn’t accessible (because of the additions), same with the underfloor (because the house is on a small hill and where the ground is highest there is not enough space underneath). Thanks to the grant (and the whole area not being accessible), ceiling and underfloor insulation only cost us about $260.

Are you renovating or building new? I’d love to hear your experiences below!