Your Fixer Upper Investment: How To Save Time On Key Renovation Areas

Buying an investment property that’s in poor condition can be a good use of your money. After all, it’s a much cheaper upfront investment, for one thing. The property itself cannot go on the market at a high price, you can swoop in with a good offer, and keep at least half of the budget in the bank for the future. 

But once you’ve got a fixer upper on your hands, the real cost of the property will start to sink in. This is no starter home for you to settle into. It’s a mess, and it’s one you’ve got to approach carefully. 

On top of that, the work you need to put into it might just be more than you bargained for, even if you had a survey done and outlined the kind of renovations you’d have to fork out for once you were the owner. 

However, when you’ve got the time to work on a fixer upper, this isn’t such a bad state of things. Put the necessary time and effort in, create a brand new home with plenty going for it, and get at least double a return when it’s back on the market. Simple enough!

How about when you don’t quite have the time, however? What if the work really is starting to add up to too much? That’s when you need to save as many hours on the renovations as possible. 

Here’s how to get started with that.

Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva: https://www.pexels.com/photo/paint-equipments-inside-the-home-5495064/

The Roof

Let’s start at the top of the house and work our way down. The roof on a fixer upper is probably in very poor condition at this point. And a roof that’s in poor condition won’t do you any favors. 

Get it seen to ASAP – and make sure you remember this tip:

Hire a professional

Are you an expert roofer yourself? If not, get a professional in who is! The roof is quite the intimidating project to tackle when you’re going DIY, and there’s good reason for that. 

For one, you’re working at height, and you might not be all that well trained in staying safe when you’re off the ground. 

And for another, the roof is a piece of delicate architecture. When laid properly, it’ll stand up for 50+ years on its own. When done shoddily, you’re going to let the rain sneak in via the smallest of gaps. 

The Bathroom

As it’s on the second floor, the bathroom is next up on the list. 

Here’s how to help yourself:

Plan the refit first

Bathroom renovations need to be planned right down to the last detail. You can’t approach a bathroom refit without knowing exactly where you want things to go, or how you’re going to make the piping work in the new layout. 

So plan out your refit before you do anything else. It’ll save you a lot of time on needing to stop work and down tools because there’s been a leak or a burst somewhere. 

It also makes sure you don’t need to rip the shower out and put it in somewhere else because there simply isn’t enough elbow room! 

Don’t tile the whole wall

Bathroom walls don’t need to be covered in tile from top to bottom. It’s only the areas where water is most likely to splash that need to be protected from anything soaking in. 

As such, don’t feel like you need to tile the whole wall during your bathroom renovation. Paint the higher sections of wall, or even use some waterproof wallpaper, if you’d prefer to.

The Kitchen

The worst of rooms when it comes to requiring heavy renovation work! The kitchen can be a nightmare to tackle in a fixer upper. 

But, you can still save yourself some time using tricks like these:

Strip tiles, replace with something else

Kitchen backsplashes don’t have to be tile. They can be vinyl, board, or even stick-on. If you don’t want to spend all that time retiling the area above the counters, don’t! 

Simply strip the tiles off, sand it down, and stick something else up instead. 

Paint in white

White paint covers up everything. When you’re trying to save time on renovations, you’re going to want as many tins of the stuff on hand as possible. 

And especially in the kitchen. Giving the room a fresh lick of paint does a lot for making the space look cleaner, fresher, and much more homely. 

And once again, you’re not moving into the house yourself. You’re just trying to strip the canvas back and make it look appealing to someone else.

The Garden

Now we come outside! Once you’ve done all that work inside, you’re unlikely to want to create a landscaped paradise outside as well. 

Here’s how to save a bit of time and effort on the garden:

Buy a set of power tools

No one needs to garden by hand, and especially not when you’re against the clock. Invest in a good set of power tools for the job, including a hedge trimmer, weed whacker, and lawn mower. 

And don’t worry about the cost here. If you’re planning to buy more fixer uppers in the future, you’ll need these tools time and time again. 

Trim back and reveal the space

Once you’ve got the right tools, keep your garden maintenance as lowkey as possible. Only trim and cut back where you need to, as well as prune and shed larger plants such as trees. 

After all, if you can clear the garden and yard, potential buyers will be able to see a lot of potential in the outdoor space.

Save Time on Your Fixer Upper

You can do it, really! It’ll take some proper preparation, and plenty of willingness to put the time and elbow grease in in the first place, but it can be done. 

Make it easier on yourself by cutting back on the plans you’ve made, investing in powered tools for the job, and getting some professional help wherever you can.