Home maintenance and updating - how do you handle/finance?

[Rukh O'Rorke]

So - I'm starting to look at a cashout refi to take on some much needed maintenance and some updating on the house. I have been neglectful on this score for several years, not quite a decade, but pretty close. School was all-encompassing - both for time/headspace/money, etc. So I've been a bad homeowner

I think the "rule of thumb" is to put aside 1% of home value per year to draw from - which would be used to pay for some things here and there while the bulk of that money rolled over year to year and the money was there for a big project such as new roof, etc when those became necessary. I recently paid 3k cash for some interior painting. This was for 4 rooms, 2 hallways, and stairway. It was a reasonable price, but the quality of the work is not the greatest. Evenso - that 3k layout is staining the budget a bit for the next few months, and it would take quite a while for me to save up for anything else so going the refi (maybe home equity?) route.

Does anyone follow that 1%/year strategy? where do you keep your money? in a larger pot with other (short time/sunk funds/EF) savings? invested in the market or in cash/cash equivalents? Or do you just lump it into a larger EF all-purpose fund? If so - how does affect the amount you keep in savings, and how you allocate that for market investment/cash equivalent? Once I get uptodate on it all, I want to do better and would appreciate what anyone considers a winning strategy.

[Gardening Grandma]

I don’t follow tbe “1% strategy” , but I do have a sinking fund for home maintenance.
I keep it in tne checking account earmarked for that purpose (I use YNAB)
My checking account earns 3% interest as long as I do 12 debits/mo.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Also - wanting to expand this to how do you find quality and reasonably priced work? I always choose the wrong one .

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Mar 10, 2019 10:31:50 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

I don’t follow tbe “1% strategy” , but I do have a sinking fund for home maintenance.
I keep it in tne checking account earmarked for that purpose (I use YNAB)
My checking account earns 3% interest as long as I do 12 debits/mo.

that is a great interest rate!!

so - they want you to do the debit card? or just any auto payment as a debit?

[giramomma]

We don't follow the 1-3% recommendation.

We also use the one pot sinking fund method. I don't get much free time. I don't want to spend it retooling the budget.

So, we just try to save as much as we can, and we spend when we need it.

Right now we're just focused on needs and make due, because we have a ton of uncertainty over the next 3ish years.

That said, this summer I'll probably take a few days off of work when DH isn't working and we'll spend it doing things like painting, caulking, etc. We're going to have to spend a fair amount on house repairs, so things like painting and minor repairs we'll need to take care of.

And I plan to delay retirement for two years after Miss M graduates high school so that we can pay cash for about 100K of maintenance/renovations on the the house. I'm figuring that's a roof, siding, kitchen remodel, and 3 bathroom remodels of various sizes.

I don't want to retire and then draw down our savings by that amount. I don't want to burden the kids with selling a house where the kitchen and bathrooms haven't been updated for 50-60 years.

[Blonde Granny]

I had an unexpected repair on the house last year totaling $8790K. I called my financial advisor and he determined where to take the money from the investments. It was the only option I had  as a 5 year old house shouldn't have had the problems I did.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Mar 10, 2019 11:25:07 GMT -5 giramomma said:

We don't follow the 1-3% recommendation.

We also use the one pot sinking fund method. I don't get much free time. I don't want to spend it retooling the budget.

So, we just try to save as much as we can, and we spend when we need it.

Right now we're just focused on needs and make due, because we have a ton of uncertainty over the next 3ish years.

That said, this summer I'll probably take a few days off of work when DH isn't working and we'll spend it doing things like painting, caulking, etc. We're going to have to spend a fair amount on house repairs, so things like painting and minor repairs we'll need to take care of.

And I plan to delay retirement for two years after Miss M graduates high school so that we can pay cash for about 100K of maintenance/renovations on the the house. I'm figuring that's a roof, siding, kitchen remodel, and 3 bathroom remodels of various sizes.

I don't want to retire and then draw down our savings by that amount. I don't want to burden the kids with selling a house where the kitchen and bathrooms haven't been updated for 50-60 years.

how are you prioritizing tasks? - for both your DIY and hiring out?

I do kind of regret spending the 3k especially as I feel I could have done a better job myself. This was the first time in over 20 years of homeownership I hired out painting. I had originally decided to hire out to get done before holidays - but then he couldn't take the job until January anyway. Still - it is done and all a cohesive look so there is that.

[busymom]

DH & I have never done big remodeling jobs.  It's worked better for us to do the work a little at a time, and pay cash as we go.  The closest thing to a total remodel was when we were getting our previous address ready to sell, and even then we didn't do all of the "bells & whistles".  We did enough to make the place look good, and of course made sure the work was according to code.

[Deleted]

When I bought last year I put about 20k into replacing flooring, painting and replacing all appliances. At this point the bathrooms, AC, and water heater will need replaced in the near future and I have them scheduled in an excel file by year of expected replacement.

The money for it is part of my general budget and that portion is in a taxable account in a tax free muni bond fund that is drawing over 2% at this point in time.

[plugginaway22]

Over the past 24 years living in a house built in the 40s we have done a lot.  New roof, new siding, new windows, new AC, new water heater, kitchen remodel, bathroom remodel, fencing....  All of this was done slowly over the years, paid with a HELOC or cash-flowed, depending on where we were with life.  Some of it was paid for via 90-days same as cash.  Now it its all done and house is paid off.  Cheap updating of paint and flooring is all that will be needed before we sell.

[countrygirl2]

We used to do about all of it ourselves but since up here we had to have work done, hubs wasn't home.  We saved for the outbuildings, roof, and driveway and he worked for about 2 years to pay for all of it.  Normally we do routine stuff ourselves.  He puts in waterheaters and all that kind of stuff.  I painted last year and going to do DD's room, bathroom, and my office this year.  It's the same color pretty much so not noticeable except it looks cleaner and less marks, scratches, and dents.  I put plastic corners on all the walls.  Where the hands rub or things bumped it made things look rough.  they are clear and protect all the corners now.


Hubs built in my basement sewing room and we hope next winter he can do more work down there. I know at some point we can't but still are so far. He needs to do more wiring in the garage and he ran water lines out there.  So its just us.

Honestly, I would never borrow against my home, just couldn't do that but I know people do.

[countrygirl2]

I am trying to save now to put in new carpet and/or wood floors.  I hope to this year or next.  A lot harder to allocate monies for this since we are retired.  I could take the money out of savings but don't want to but may have to end up doing so.

[giramomma]

Mar 10, 2019 12:56:19 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

<abbr title="Mar 10, 2019 12:56:19 GMT -5" class="o-timestamp time" data-timestamp="1552240579000">Mar 10, 2019 12:56:19 GMT -5</abbr> Rukh O'Rorke said:

how are you prioritizing tasks? - for both your DIY and hiring out?

We prioritize on how much damage will incur if we wait to get it repaired. Inconvenience comes in a close second.

So. The leaking water heater was a no questions asked repair.

After we had our historic floods last August, we got our roof repaired correctly (wrong flashing was put in a place and the water leaked).

Our washing machine was dying.  That was a "must replace" situation.  With our schedule, there's no way DH is running to the laundromat to do laundry.

All of these things happened in the past 9 months. That would have eating up our 1% for the year.

This spring/summer we need to do the following:

1) Get our front step mudjacked and have cement replaced. Don't know the cost. HAS to be done, no matter what the cost, because it is causing water to get into the basement and making an already existing crack worse. We have $750 allocated for this, so far, from some extra money. Obviously hired out because we don't have the equipment/know how.

2) Getting the ceiling replaced where we had water damage. No cost on this. Obviously hired out.

3) Repaint and calk in the bathrooms. Also, maybe even replace flooring in the kids bathroom. To prevent water damage. Flooring-hired the rest we do.

4) Rearrange the kids. #4 is still in our bedroom, and I'm over it. However, that means we need to clean out the teaching room, move furniture, and figure out a new computing situation. This we'll do.

5) Replace DS's bunk beds with a loft bed or captain's bed with storage underneath. We need to get in and clean out DS's room. There's a ton of shit in there, and he's ready to start purging some of his "little kid" stuff. He doesn't use the bottom bunk, except to collect stuff. His good bunk bed will go to the girls. The girls are using a $200, decade old bunk bed that was not built to last that long. The girl's bunk bed is getting looser than I'd like, so that's a safety concern for me. We also have a crack in DS's ceiling to get around...No hiring out needed.

6) Work on our yard. It's awful. Like white trash awful. We may hire a mother's helper to watch the kids so we can get huge blocks of time (think 5 hours at a time) to work in our yard.

That will be likely all we can manage, especially if I have three jobs this summer, and we have a 1 year old under foot.

On the "nice to" list:

1) Replace our broken windows. We have three windows in our house that need to be replaced. They are original (40 years+ old), and the sashing is broke and cannot be repaired. The windows are custom size, and due to other features, the windows will run us 6-8K to have repaired. The windows are safe if we keep them closed. Therefore, this is a lower priority. Keeping our windows closed will not incur more damage. Obviously, hired out. I have no skill in hanging windows and do not want to do this in January.

2) Repaint our kitchen cabinets. The wood is old and faded. We'll do that ourselves.

3) Work on repainting the rest of the house. It needs it, after almost a decade and 4 kids coming through. Done ourselves.

4) Finding a new kitchen table for ourselves. We don't actually have a kitchen table with 6 matching chairs that fits in the breakfast nook space. Done ourselves.

5) Figuring out better closet storage solutions so we maximize our space. Done ourselves. I'm pretty good at visualizing what we need, and DH can run a drill. No need to hire California Closets.

ETA: We are also cash flowing/paying from savings my grad degree. There's no going into debt for that, either. So, even more reason that we have a keen understanding of needs vs. wants.

[Gardening Grandma]

Mar 10, 2019 10:38:27 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Mar 10, 2019 10:31:50 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

I don’t follow tbe “1% strategy” , but I do have a sinking fund for home maintenance.
I keep it in tne checking account earmarked for that purpose (I use YNAB)
My checking account earns 3% interest as long as I do 12 debits/mo.

that is a great interest rate!!

so - they want you to do the debit card? or just any auto payment as a debit?

Auto payments fon’t count. They want point if sale debits (where I input a pin). I use it for those small purchases

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Yeah - I think I need to sit down and figure out everything that needs doing, and then prioritize from there. But that does tend to generate a lot of anxiety taking a close look and turning over the rocks and finding more than I thought was needing doing!


A neighbor had tree roots break the sewer line and had to dig up his whole front yard to replace the lines so i better get the preventative measures there this spring.

so much money on so many "unfun" things, lol!

[resolution]

I keep a buffer in our savings account, and most of the time we just keep adding to savings until we have enough for the project plus the buffer. In an emergency I will spend part of the buffer. 

We don't have our savings allocated per specific item, but its sorted by short, medium and long range spending. We have the savings account for short term, a money market account for medium term things, and a mutual fund account for longer term things. When we want to do an upgrade or repair on the house, it comes out of savings or the money market.

If my husband is doing the work, then we can easily cash flow things because it takes longer for him to complete each step of the project than it takes for us to save up for the next step of the project. If we hire something out (like our well and our roof) we save up for it. A lot of our big projects have been done with Christmas bonuses and Christmas gift money. This year I took the Christmas bonus money to help pay for a car, but our current project (new mantle for the fireplace) is being made by DH and we have time to save up for materials while he experiments with different drawings and models.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

When TD moved into this house in the mid 1990s, it was a new build.  The whole house was carpeted, and not long after he moved in, he pulled up all the carpet upstairs and resplaced it with hardwood.  The only tile is the entryway, utility room, baths and kitchen.  The onl6 other repair he needed to do in the 15 years before I moved in was the water heater.

Since I have been here, the bathroom and utility room have been retiled, the kitchen counter tops and backsplash been replaced, the front deck and stairs were rebuilt, interior fully painted, roof replaced, new furnace, gutters replaced with gutter guards installed (which seem to be working well), dishwasher replaced and some blinds replaced.  A blower was installed in the gas fireplace, and a generator electrically hooked into the house.  The hot water heater was replaced again.  This is over a period of 6 years.  Total cost, around $50k.

Yet to do is finish replacing appliances, include running a gas line, replacing the kitchen cabinet doors (these were custom made by a local company), parts of the house need to be resided.  This was supposed to be done last year, but the sider bailed on our contract.  The house and decks need to be painted.  We have had discussions as to what to do about the downstairs carpet.  Even though it is 25 years old, it is in excellent shape and is $50+/yard carpet (this was the builder’s home before TD bought it).  I think getting in a good carpet cleaner is a better idea than replacing it.  I suspect we have another $40k here.

Looking at these numbers, 1% of the house price seems to be about right.  The only difference is that everything seems to need repairing at once.  He lived here 20 years at $4000/year, but has only really needed to spend money for repairs the last 6 years.

[Regis]

Every year, we put 2% of our house value in an online account.  Our house was built in 1988 and exactly zero updates had been done when we bought it in 2007.  We should have everything updated by the end of 2020.  My wife and I have no kids in the house anymore so we'll probably downsize once we're done with the updates we want to do and also buy something in a place that's warmer than here.  We became grandparents a little more than three weeks ago and DS and DIL live about 20 minutes from us so we won't wander far for our "northern" house.

We've got a master list of the projects we want to do by priority.  We add or revise at the beginning of each month.  If true emergencies arise, we obviously have to take care of those.  Otherwise, we just eat the elephant one bite at a time.

[Deleted]

I put 2% value of the house annually into a virtual "bucket" in my checking account, adding to it monthly.  I use it for small things as well as major changes.  When something really expensive needs to be done I take it out of savings, but I keep my total withdrawals for the regular, unavoidable expenses plus major work, fun spending and charity within a safe %.

The HVAC was totally replaced 3 years ago.  Roof has a 50-year guarantee and it was installed 5 years ago.  I replaced the windows that needed it; only a couple left that might need it in the future.  Quartz countertops might be nice but I just can't pull the trigger; what I have is just fine.  Same with the plastic floor tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms.  So.... I don't anticipate any catastrophes.

The oven is going; it's 20 years old and when I turn it on I get an error code that indicates it's not sealing properly so it won't work.  I've tried the easy fix of cleaning around the seal but it didn't help.  They actually sell repair kits but I'm toying with the idea of just replacing it.  I have another one downstairs, so no rush.  I was stunned by what they cost- had been thinking maybe $500 and it's more like $1,500-$2,000.  Will wait for a sale at Costco.

[Tiny]

I don't currently follow a "plan" to put $$ on the side for house maintenance. I've been in my house over 20 years... and I'm not remodeling the kitchen or bathroom (it will become someone else's problem with the sale of the house. ). I will need a new roof in a few years. And I should really have the "landscaping" in front of my house redone. The 25 year old plus shrubs/plants are at the end of their life times/usefulness.

I do have 5K as part of my "EF" that's a kind of "swing" amount to use for stuff like a roof or landscaping. If the project would be more than 5K I'd opt for the lowest cost money I could "buy" (borrow)... it might be a CC offer or my HELOC to cover the amount over 5K - if I couldn't cash flow it. I could easily allocate $300 a month to repayment (or replenishment of the 5K) from monthly spending plan. Anything I need to borrow would be short term (as I could pay it all back within 24 months or less). I would be able to "cash flow" a 3K expense (over a couple of months if I had to).

I don't have much debt currently and I am not spending a substantial amount of my income (a goal is Financial Independence in a few more years...)

[buystoys]

I usually just budget a set amount for major projects and minor repairs every year.  If we don't spend it, it just ends up in our savings account.  We spent a big chunk of the rollover on the rental house we bought, so I'll pull some extra funds out of the IRA this month to replenish savings.  It's a one-time thing as we'll soon have rent coming in to pad the savings account more.

[Deleted]

One thing I forgot to add:  when I was working I got a bonus every year and DH and I would decide what to invest what to give away, what to spend on travel and what to put towards major work on the house.  Fortunately, we had very similar priorities so it was usually a short discussion.  Over the years we enclosed part of the back deck into a 3-season room, installed granite countertops, put bamboo flooring in the kitchen and master bath, and replaced the windows.  I have my doubts that we got out what we put in when we sold 3 years ago but we enjoyed the improvements.

We found Angie's List a good source of contractors.  I've always used Pella for windows; their sales people are pretty aggressive but no complaints about the results.  When Costco is an option (furnace, A/C, plantation shutters) I use them.

[bean29]

I don't have a sinking fund.  We built our house in 2005, so it is 14 years old. Our walk in the front has sunk quite a bit and part of the problem is that the roofline in the front.  DH plans to do something with the gutters in the front, and he is going to tear up the front walk and landscaping and slope everything away from the house. He wants to use pavers. I am a little unsure about the pavers, but we have a good start on the bricks we will need as we have a pallet left from the patio.  We hired out someone to do the back patio, I assume he will have the same guys do the front.  The firepit needs to be re-leveled...which they promised us they would fix if it sunk, so hopefully that will be done all at once.  DH has always had a brick grill area on his want list too, so I would not be surprised if that gets done this summer too.

DH is replacing the faucets in the bathrooms. He must have spent about $600 on the 3 faucets.  2 are original to the house, and one is several years old.  He said that one leaked when he installed it, he should have taken it back right away, but life gets in the way sometimes.  I just replaced my bedding, and am working on the window treatments.  I was going to go to Home Depot yesterday to order something...I know what I want, we needed to take measurements...but I ended up sick yesterday.

We plan to paint the bedroom.  DH also wants to paint the living center area (Living room, Dining Room, Entry way and Kitchen) which has a cathedral celling.  He painted it when we moved in, hopefully he can still deal with it now.  We need our deck stained - that I think he should hire someone to do b/c it depends on the weather, and it is hard to match up good weather and free weekends. 

We also need to replace the front door, and DH wants to do the two front windows at the same time.  One window in DS's bedroom is clouded and we got the replacement window in the garage, but never installed it.  We have a broken pane on the picture window on the back (DH thinks from the extreme cold we had this winter).  Also when it was super cold, my slider was not working very well.  It could get into some significant$$.  I think we will hire someone.  DH gets the I can do it myself attitude too often.

We are working on changing out the doors from flat panels to 6 panel solid core doors.  We have 3 to finish up, one of which the opening needs to be reduced and then we need to do the sliding closet doors (3).  Things like the faucets, paint and the doors, we just take from our monthly budget.  I have been paying $900 a month on the second mortgage and will finish paying it in November.  I suspect we will need to hit the line of credit for new windows/doors and the bricks we will need. 

DH said he wants to tile the family bath walls, but in order to do that he needs to replace the tub.  He asked if he could just put in a shower, and based on our convo on our earlier thread, I told him no.  Tub stays.  DD agreed, we need the tub for resale value. 

DH also plans to sell his Mother's duplex this year.  He usually pays for whatever work needs to be done on her property, and it needs to have work done on it.  His brothers and a niece live there, and he is planning to move them to our rental.  One brother is stable, the other is not paying rent (construction worker laid off for winter).  He says he is going to rent the whole property to the stable one and leave it up to him to collect rent from his DD and his brother. 

[Anne_in_VA]

We’ve cash flow almost all house projects.  I took some money from savings for the flooring and will probably take more to finish out the kitchen although I’ve already purchased the appliances.  

[bean29]

Mar 11, 2019 10:45:47 GMT -5 Anne_in_VA said:

We’ve cash flow almost all house projects.  I took some money from savings for the flooring and will probably take more to finish out the kitchen although I’ve already purchased the appliances.  

Yeah, I really want a new refrigerator in my kitchen. I have it on my "want" list and am telling myself no. The problem is, when I replace the fridge, I pretty much need to do dishwasher and stove too. I have a second set of appliances in my basement kitchen, so if my fridge dies, it will not be the end of the world.  The most pressing problem right now is the front walk. We knew it was bad, but a couple weeks ago when the spring thaw started after the polar vortex, we had a serious water problem at the front door, and the next day we were supposed to go into a deep freeze.   DH used a roof rake and pulled the snow off the roof in that section, then moved all the snow away from the walk and foundation and we swept the water down the walk so it wasn't pooling at the foundation any more.

I fund an HSA and my 401K.  I don't have any other sinking fund.  I am 55, DH is 54.  We will just keep on going as we are, if I lose my job, we can hit the 401K, but it would be better not to go there until we are closer to 65.

[Pants]

I got a bonus - it's all going towards some reno needs on the house. 

[sheilaincali]

Mar 10, 2019 10:33:46 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Also - wanting to expand this to how do you find quality and reasonably priced work? I always choose the wrong one .

Call the "supplier".  If you need concrete work done- call your local ready mix company and ask them. They have a vested interest in giving you names/numbers for reputable contractors. When my dad owned the local RM company we had a list of probably 20 local contractors, licensed, bonded, insured, paid their bill, etc. that we handed out when people would ask.

I did the same thing when I needed flooring done- I called a local carpet and tile company.  For painting work I called the local paint store (not the hardware store). I've always been happy with the contractors referred to me that way.

It's a crap shoot when you go through the phone book or just google.

[lynnerself]

Since we are retired, we cash flow small projects.  Anything big needs to either be put on the HELOC or take the money out of the IRA.  Usually it makes more sense to put it on the HELOC and pay the interest than take a large tax hit on the IRA withdrawal.

[trimatty471]

Mar 10, 2019 19:48:11 GMT -5 Tiny said:

I don't currently follow a "plan" to put $$ on the side for house maintenance. I've been in my house over 20 years... and I'm not remodeling the kitchen or bathroom (it will become someone else's problem with the sale of the house. ). I will need a new roof in a few years. And I should really have the "landscaping" in front of my house redone. The 25 year old plus shrubs/plants are at the end of their life times/usefulness.

I do have 5K as part of my "EF" that's a kind of "swing" amount to use for stuff like a roof or landscaping. If the project would be more than 5K I'd opt for the lowest cost money I could "buy" (borrow)... it might be a CC offer or my HELOC to cover the amount over 5K - if I couldn't cash flow it. I could easily allocate $300 a month to repayment (or replenishment of the 5K) from monthly spending plan. Anything I need to borrow would be short term (as I could pay it all back within 24 months or less). I would be able to "cash flow" a 3K expense (over a couple of months if I had to).

I don't have much debt currently and I am not spending a substantial amount of my income (a goal is Financial Independence in a few more years...)

This was totally me.  I maintained the house, but I refused to remodel.   My plan was to remodel upon eliminating the mortgage.  I recently sold it.  I said the same, the kitchen and the bathroom is the new owner's problem.

[geenamercile]

We pay as we go.  Most of the time it only cost us supplies and a good dinner.  As for hiring out, I know the work of my friends so I know what I am getting, and normally do it with them, or I can get a good recommendation.  Normally people should have a some pictures and the cost that went with them of previous jobs, but I think word of mouth is the best.  Do you have any neighbors or friends that I had work done, can you ask them?  I don't trust online reviews, to easy just to have friends go on and post good things.