Sadly, Covid-19 has disrupted many of our lives, and we hope you all are staying safe and healthy out there. Our latest project, unfortunately, has not escaped this disruption. With the city offices all but shut down, permitting has slowed to a crawl. But we really want to add the extra square footage by annexing the laundry and there are a couple of load-bearing walls that are coming out, so we’re making it all legal. Besides, when we go to sell, it’s a comfort to the buyer to know that we didn’t cut any corners (not that we would) and everything has been inspected and is to code. In other words, it adds value—even though it’s a pain sometimes.
While we’ve been waiting for our demolition permit to come through, we’ve been doing a lot of cleaning and exterior work on the house as well as some demo that doesn’t affect our permit. It may not sound like much, but believe me, these things have managed to keep us very busy. . Unfortunately, it’s been a brutally hot summer here in Phoenix with temperatures over 110 degrees most days, and many days much higher. Not fun!
Tip: To quench your thirst when it’s really hot outside, mix ½ water and ½ sugar-free Gatorade or Powerade in your cooler. The electrolytes will help restore energy, but full strength is just too sweet for when you’re really thirsty.
Where We Started
So yeah, this place was a mess when we bought it. And there were spiders and spider webs EVERYWHERE, especially in the garage. In fact, the very first thing we did was have an exterminator come in to zap those little suckers. That poor guy spent a good couple of hours taking down webs and spraying inside and out. Whatever we paid him, I’m sure it wasn’t enough. Then we went out and bought a big can of Raid to take care of any he missed as we would continue to come across even more spiders for a couple of weeks. We’re finally to the point now where we have them beat and the spiders are officially gone. Yes!
Next up, all the carpets. They were covered in cat poop and were super dirty so they were fun to remove. All the tile that hadn’t been cleaned in years also came out. We now have a blank slate for our floors, which luckily, are in REALLY good condition.
The house needed a new roof and we weren’t changing the roofline at all, so we had that replaced. It was a not-attractive white shingle, now it’s dark gray and looks great. We’ve also had all the old windows replaced with new, double-paned energy efficient windows.
It’s Not All Manual Labor
We had such a quick close we hadn’t had a lot of time for design and budgeting. So even though we were busy doing all the manual stuff, we couldn’t neglect the office side of our project.
We spent some time on Room Sketcher to determine our new floor plan. We then hired a draftsman to draw up what we needed for our permit and had that submitted.
We also needed to know what this house was really going to cost us. We called up all our trades and had everyone come out so we could walk them through the project and they could put together a quote. In some instances, we had to have multiple bids like for our HVAC, drywall, and our window installation.
We also had to start with the shopping, which also means design. (We really don’t mind this part of the job.) While we don’t order everything right away, at least we know in what direction we’re going and what the overall look will be. Besides, the more we get ordered now, the less we have to worry about shipping delays or items being out of stock when we need them.
Finally, using Flipper Force, we were able to detail out all of our costs and come up with a general timeline for the project.
Getting Rid of Stuff and Making Money
Back at the house, much to our dismay, the previous owners had left a good amount of furniture and some personal belongings behind. Goodwill has suspended their pickups during Covid-19, but we called St. Vincent de Paul and they said they would come pick up the furniture if it was out of the house and ready to go. Since every piece of furniture weighed a thousand pounds (or at least seemed to) we went out and bought a couple of those roller dollies so we two girls could move it all out to the garage. Even with the dollies it was still a challenge for us!
The little stuff we put in our cars and dropped off curbside at Goodwill. And like we did before, the vanities, the cabinets we weren’t keeping, and the washer/dryer went to Habitat for Humanity. They actually do the demo on the stuff they take, which is awesome. The kitchen appliances were too old for Habitat, so we put those up on the Offer Up app for free and one gentleman came and took all 3 items.
There were a few items that actually had some value though, and we weren’t about to pass up the opportunity to make a little money. There was a really cool grill that had a large wheel that raised and lowered the cooking grate. It’s called a Santa Marie grill or Argentine grill, and new can be quite expensive (Costco sells one for over $2000). We let ours go for $200 to a friend who has a passion for grilling and he loves it. Again using Offer Up, we listed for sale a couple of other items that are very expensive new: a medical bed that we sold for $250, and a woodworker’s bench that we let go to some lucky guy for $250.
Even after all of that, there were still a number of things left that were in such bad shape we couldn’t even give them away for free, and as luck would have it, it was the same week as our big trash pickup (which only happens every few months), so those went out to the curb for the city to take.
In the end, we were able to get rid of everything the previous owners had left while putting very little into our dumpster, which saved us money. (Every time we have to have the dumpster switched out, we pay another $375 for a 20 yard.) We also made $700 with the things we sold along with some charitable contribution write-offs. All of that will work towards our net profit. We’re making money already!
Landscaping and Curb Appeal
As you can tell from the Before pictures, there was a LOT to do as far as landscaping. The backyard especially was a mess: weeds that were 4 ft high covered the yard, the 3 really big trees had probably never been trimmed and they really needed it, there were large tree seedlings growing everywhere, and the back gate was rotted and falling apart. In addition, only half the yard had any kind of sprinkler system, and that didn’t work properly. And that’s just the backyard.
The front yard has 2 big trees whose branches were literally sitting on the house and there were some overgrown bushes by the front door that were going to have to come out. Luckily, the sprinklers in the front worked pretty well, with only a couple of broken heads.
We hired a crew to trim the 5 big trees, clear out all the weeds, and to remove the bushes blocking the view to the front door. This gave us a pretty clean slate from which to start our work. First, we needed a design, so we carefully thought through how the yard would be used. It’s not a super deep backyard, but it’s pretty long and there’s a little room on the side. At first we considered putting sod everywhere and just having a large green space. That is, until we did the math and realized it was going to cost us over $6000 to sod that much yard! On to Plan B.
Plan B is way better and we think it will really appeal to buyers. We love doing raised vegetable garden beds, and we have the perfect space on the side of the house. Pea gravel under the beds make up the base. We also wanted to add a second patio on the back of the house which we did with pavers. New French doors will open up onto that from the dining room and the Master Bedroom. A fire pit area on that same end of the yard gives us yet another entertaining space. Again, we’re using the pea gravel for the seating area surrounded by some tall grasses in 1” rock.
The block wall is in good shape, but not very exciting to look at, so we added bougainvillea plants all along the back wall that will cover it up a little and add some color. We also replaced all the wood on the back gate and the RV gate and gave it an almost clear stain.
The 1974 paneling on the addition definitely wasn’t a great look, but by adding new vertical trim and revealing the tresses, the back of the house now looks taller and more modern.
Finally, we will plant grass seed for a lawn after the exterior of the house is painted next week. We still have a little more work to do to finish it all off, but we love how it’s all coming together.
In the front of the house, we added another paver patio at the front door with a matching sidewalk down to the street. Brick pillars and a wood fence complete the outdoor space and creates an inviting entry to the house.
Since the sprinklers in the backyard were running off of the water running through the house (not good!) we put in all new valves and ran new pipes around to the backyard. We also repaired the broken sprinkler heads in the front.
We didn’t do as much exterior work on the last house we renovated as we are on this one. We were lucky that the roof was already new and the outdoor space just needed some cleaning up. This has been a huge challenge for us in regards to the heat, design, and the budget. But, like I said, we love our final design. It breaks the yard up into different zones that all have a purpose, making it feel larger. Outdoor living is hugely important here in Phoenix—as it is in many places—and we have given our buyers a number of great outdoor spaces in which to live and entertain.
Like I mentioned, next up for the exterior is paint which will drastically change the look of the house. Then some grass, and finally, the finishing touches when we get closer to the end of the project. The outside is getting close.
Now to tackle the inside!
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