Save Money on Home Improvement Projects

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Save Money on Home Improvement Projects

Many of us avoid home improvement projects due to their expense.
Granted if you are contemplating a "second-story" addition to your
home, or the construction of a new "game-room", then most likely
you will need to hire a general contractor to complete this task.
However, if you are interested in projects like painting a room,
removing acoustic texture from the ceiling (I just did this),
installing laminate flooring, wallpaper, landscaping, etc. then
you may be able to accomplish the task(s) all on your own, or with
minimal assistance.

My Personal Experience
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I recently undertook the task of remolding my den and living room
areas. I knew what I wanted the final product to be, however I was
extremely hesitant to begin the work due to a lack of knowledge,
the fear of failure, and/or making damaging, irreparable mistakes.
You see, in front of a computer I'm extremely proficient, however
with tools and manual labor, I do not have much experience, so
naturally I was a bit intimidated.

Two things changed my mind about the whole scenario. I bumped into
a long-time friend who was known for his skill with tools and a
knack for wood carving. I informed him of my remolding ideas and
the underlying fear of the whole task. He laughed and said that
what I wanted to do it would not take much in terms of "professional
skill" and it would save me about $2,000 in labor costs!

Once he put a price tag on the amount I would be saving, I was
immediately intrigued. For me to save $2,000 of my own money, I'll
definitely try my hand at these projects. Wouldn't you?

The second influence that helped me take on this task occurred on
my first visit to Home Depot (popular hardware store in southern
California). I was lucky enough to run into a wonderful, polite,
knowledgeable employee who took his time and explained the in's
and out's of what I was about to undertake.

One side note, I could not have accomplished what I did without
the help of Home Depot. I'm sure other hardware stores have
pleasant, knowledgeable staff members also, but since I always
went to Home Depot and since I was beginning to learn the locations
of the items I needed, I simply stayed with them. Kudos to Home
Depot!

Keep in mind that if the store employees are NOT assisting you
in a pleasant and courteous manner, LEAVE and don't come back!
Don't let their rudeness distract you from your overall goal - that's what's most important, not the personality of an unfriendly
person. Go elsewhere if you do not like how they're treating you.
Take it from me, someone who had NO IDEA of what he was doing,
there will be some employees who will go out of their way to
assist you. Once you find someone like this, keep going back
to them. That's what I did. I probably went back to my assistant
about fifteen times over the three month duration of my project
sometimes to buy things, sometimes just to ask a few questions.

Ask For Help When You Need It
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are basically two ways to ask for help - verbally or
indirectly. Depending on your personality and how comfortable
you are asking "strangers" for help, the verbal method may not
be for you.

That's ok! Don't feel bad or downhearted. That's just your
personality, nothing to be ashamed of, so don't start thinking
you can give up just yet! :-)

Personally, I have no problem talking to anyone about anything.
That's just how I am. If you are somewhat similar, then I suggest
taking my approach and talking to as many people who have
knowledge in what you want to do.

If you would prefer to remain as anonymous as possible, then
the Internet and library will be your goldmine of information.
The library may be a tad outdated when it comes to the most
recent, creative home improvement projects, but check it out
just in case. If you do find a book online or at a store that
would be perfect for what you need, ask a librarian if they
could "purchase this book since your home improvement selections
are less than adequate and its important that a library stays
atop current trends and events so as not to become obsolete"
(or something along those lines ;-)

Also, at Home Depot they have a section of books on literally
any home improvement projects you can imagine. They even have
chairs where you can sit and read them at your leisure. This
would be an excellent starting point for you.

A Look At My Two Biggest Savings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pergo Style Click-Together Flooring @.49 per square foot X 400 sq ft = $200 Foam Underlay for 400sq ft. = $80 *my biggest saving - found this floor/tile place getting rid of
excess stock which was about $4 per foot cheaper than Home Depot!
I would've paid in excess of $1600 for this amount)

Sod: St. Augustine @ .59 per square foot: 1500 sq feet
*free delivery since purchased through sod.com
*second biggest saving - only cost me $885 instead of $2,000+

Handy Tips
~~~~~~~~~

Those who are really not concerned about saving money can basically
shop anywhere for what they are looking for. However, those of us on
a strict budget must put some thought into this if we want our goals
to become tangible. For example, when I originally priced Pergo
flooring, it was in excess of $4.50 per foot installed. Multiply
that by 400 square feet and I have already attained a bill of $1800
(not including tax)!

Immediately I knew this was way out of my budget, but I still wanted
to go with a laminate floor. I then started to price locations I found
in the yellow pages, Internet, and local PennySaver magazines. I
learned that if I were to purchase and install flooring from
distributors/wholesalers, I could save more than a thousand dollars!
Even better, if I could find a location that had an excess of a
particular item in stock, then they would offer this at an unbelievable
price (just like the one I found at .49 cents per square foot).

Point is, if you are willing to do a little "digging" and research
in order to find the lowest price available on your products, then
you will be rewarded BIG TIME (just like I was). However the flip
side to that coin, if you are impatient and you want your remodeling
to begin tomorrow, then most likely you will have to pay more for
what you're looking for. It all depends on both your time and money
situations.

Personally, for me, this was not a "must have done in two days"
project, so I didn't mind spending two and a half months working on
this in my spare time. I did save a ton of money, but it did take me
much longer than if a contractor was hired to complete the job. Again,
it all depends on your own personal situation. Just keep in mind that
saving money on home improvement projects is possible if you are willing
to get a little "dirty" :-)

Posted by mayor at March 17, 2005 06:12 PM

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