Renovation Budget....times 4

I can finally rest my head down and relax after wrapping up the renovation of one of units in our 4-unit apartment building.  Six words can describe the whole process.  Over budget and way over schedule.  Haha

After closing on our apartment a few months ago we knew that we had do a full renovation of one of the units, because the living conditions in there were 3rd world status.  And conditions like that are not what we allow in our properties.  So prior to the tenants moving out my father, who has been a contractor his whole life, and I made a trip to Home Depot to access our budget and time frame.  New Dishwasher, new flooring, kitchen cabinets, new tub & toilet.  etc.  Pops and I figured $5,000 would cover our whole renovation.  

Schedule-wise I figured one 3-day weekend (my estimation should show my inexperience in this type of work).  My dad figured in 10 days we could wrap it up and rent it out.

For anybody who has done a full rehab of a unit by themselves you might be laughing at our estimates.  Luckily today I can look back and join you in laughing at our estimates, because we could have easily broken our bank and gone in the red if we had not bought the property right and had reserves of money to rely on.

All in all it took us a total of 8 weekends plus 5 weekdays after work so 21 days to complete gutting the apartment, finding and fixing termite damage, adding hardwood flooring, new cabinets, painting, adding new appliances and fixtures.  

The grand cost of our renovation was....drum roll...$22,500.  Let that sink in.  We estimated $5,000 and went over by a factor of 4.

I think the lessons we can take away is that renovating apartments will always take more money, and time then expected.  I can now take that experience and apply to our next purchase in the future to better estimate costs and time to help us run things smoother.

Also doing the full rehab with an experienced contractor, like my father, taught me many invaluable lessons.  Like drywall should be left for the professionals.  How to properly lay floor.  Adding trim and baseboard is an art.  Now that I know how to do many of these tasks I will know in the future if a contractor gives me a bid price I will know if that is fair or not.

Whew....glad to be done...but excited for the next one.