We have some exciting news, we’ve finally started on the first floor home renovation list! We’ve been thinking, talking, and dreaming about these renovations since we moved into our home almost 9 years ago. We expanded and contracted the renovation list many times over the years, and as we developed our financial independence (FI) plans. Both had to be achievable in a reasonable timeframe. So, can we complete our renovations our home while maintaining FI plans?
Yes! If you start with the end in mind you can renovate your “anything” while maintaining your FI plans.
Mr BA Began Anywhere
During November and December, Mr. BA wanted a home project to use the time we’d usually spend traveling to see friends and family back home around the holidays but couldn’t due to COVID. So, he started on the project to “fill in” the step down living room floor. It was no small feat.
Mr. BA reviewed a flooring quote for the renovations he thought he could take on himself – or at least some of it. Having detailed estimates we could refer to really helped move this part of the project along. Then the planning began for how he was going to tackle the job. Essentially, he built level “walls” on the floor. He ordered tons of wood to build the supports for the floor and then added a subfloor.
During this work, our first floor living room looked like the upside down from Stranger Things for a while because we had saw dust floating in the air most days during this project. It took him about a month working in the evenings and weekends, but he did it! And, the plastic came down for the holidays and the holiday lights went up (on the inside).
Our Festive First Floor
Now we are moving on to other parts of the project so that the flooring contractor can come back in February and lay the hardwood, sand, as well as stain the entire 1st floor.
The Rest of the Renovations While Maintaining FI Plans
Now we’ve started working on the remaining components of the kitchen, mini mudroom, bathroom, and windows/doors. Like I mentioned, this renovation has been several years in the making. In 2018, we interviewed several contractors and designers and had a huge wish list,
- moving walls and doors
- removing the cat walk on the second floor
- enlarging doors
- Replacing windows and squaring off ones which were asymmetrical
- Squaring off the kitchen
- Kitchen renovation
- Filling in step down living room
- Painting inside and outside
- New flooring on the 2nd floor with railings
- New deck
- Renovate the 2nd floor bathroom and adding a bathroom door
When we met with the construction companies, general contractors and designers to nail down scope, we considered getting a loan to complete the project all at one time. Around the same time that summer, we also started listening to the Choose FI podcast and reading which helped us realize we didn’t want to take out a loan to complete the work, which was good because by now the estimate was well into the 6 figure range! We knew we had to re-group and find another way. Doing the work would make the house feel like our own, but we really didn’t want to go into debt for it. Waste also drives us crazy, so we wanted to renovate one time (the right way) while maintaining FI plans and move on to other pursuits.
Fortunately, Mr. BA is very talented and willing to learn new skills for different projects. He is an expert at tiling, painting with a spray gun, hanging and finishing cabinets, trim work, as well as some plumbing, electrical, and outdoor irrigation work. Quite a talent stack.
Just last year he created built-in storage cabinets in my office to contain all of my craft, project materials as well as books and work reference materials. Now when I’m on a Zoom call, my office has a professional look with a beautiful set of built-ins in the background. That project was multipurpose. Not only was I in need of more storage in my office, but it gave us a chance to do a “dry run” of an Ikea cabinet installation.
The Dry Run Renovation
The experiment started May of last year. The company I work for was starting to use Zoom quite a bit more for everyday use. And behind my desk was a built in bookcase (original to the home). The bookcase was overflowing with with cookbooks, craft materials, work and general home stuff (batteries, workout stuff, sunglasses, etc). Now I know bookcases are a big thing to have in the background on zoom. But, mine were a mess due to lack of proper storage in the office. I started talking with Mr. BA about creating a closet in the office, but the more we explored that option it didn’t look like it could be completed within a reasonable timeframe, due to the framing and drywalling, texturing, etc that would be required to finish the project. Not to mention, I was still working in the space during the work week.
Then the idea of cabinets was born. I had been eyeing the pure white Ikea Axstad cabinet fronts as potentially part of our white kitchen remodel. Plus I had researched that they have a good warranty and reviews. And, we could have complete control of the install. This last part was helpful as we were limiting the places we went to due to COVID.
I liked the idea of the big 90” tall cabinets with lots of pull out drawers on the inside to organize my craft/office supplies. And, just like that, the “dry run” concept was born. We’d do the office cabinet project with the Ikea cabinets as a “dry run” for the much larger project – our kitchen. We figured, if we could survive the office cabinet planning and install plus we liked the quality, then we could determine if we liked them on a much grander scale in a much more heavily used space like a kitchen.
Of course, this project was nowhere near as quick as I imagined. Even when we did the install ourselves. Part of the reason was due to COVID and supply chain issues back in the spring. But, some of it was the demo, additional electrical, drywall, which took a bit. Overall, we started planning in May, and most of the project was complete with a delivery and install in August. We still need to add the crown molding on top once we paint later this year. But, after living with them for a few months and having a greatly improved, well organized office, the experiment was a success. I loved the extra space and install wasn’t too bad, even if the ordering process extended the timeline a bit.
Decision Made
We decided to take the leap move ahead with planning the kitchen along with replacing doors and windows, having new hardwood flooring installed in the living room as well as refinishing the existing hardwood floors to match. A half bath also needed to have wallpaper removed and upgrades throughout. Oh, and everything needed to be repainted! We are doing pretty much all renovations ourselves except for the drywall and most window and door replacements – clearly we’ll be busy this year as we continue to limit our COVID risks before the vaccine becomes available.
So how did we get to the point of starting our big project during a pandemic? Two and a half years ago, we had some cash as part of our initial savings from back when we were looking to bring in contractors for all our home renovations. That summer we made our first FI plan, and we knew we had to renovate while maintaining our FI plans since we didn’t want to push off our FI date, or give up the home renovations to get to financial independence faster.
Semi-Educated Guess
Mr. BA and I took a semi-educated guess. We set aside cash in a high yield checking account for the first floor renovations. And, we limited the scope to just the first floor so the project seemed more manageable. It was a little less than half of the estimates we were getting to do the work on our home. Would it be enough? Not sure. So, we agreed to make some trade offs to complete our home renovations while maintaining FI plans on the same timeline.
Maintaining FI Plans
Also, if we found we needed more cash we’d have a conversation and plan to cash flow any additional funding. No taking out loans. One more thing made all this easier. We took the cash out of our financial independence tracking all together. We didn’t want to think we are further along the FI path than we were. I knew it would be painful to see net worth numbers go down, and the FI timeline extend. So we ripped the Band-Aid off early and took the lump sum out of the FI tracking calculations and only saw the cash in the net worth calculation. In general, it has been helpful to see the numbers separately to remain focused.
We are only just starting on our renovations while maintaining our FI plans. And, we have many more hacks to share along the way.
Do you have any tricks for renovations while maintaining FI plans? Any other fellow FI minded home renovators out there? Check out thegritandpolish.com. I came across their blog while looking for home renovation inspiration. They have a great financial independence success story too. Or, check out this Reader Case study with the Frugalwoods. Great inspirational blog all around. Enjoy and happy renovations!