The situation is as follows. I live in Orenburg, I have a one-room apartment of 40 sq.m. In a house built in the early 90s. You all know how it was built, and you can imagine what my apartment should look like: crooked walls, rusty pipes, rotten wiring ... And my salary is a sales assistant, 25 thousand rubles a month plus small bonuses.
In 2016, I decided to make repairs and invited several professionals to evaluate the work, their preliminary estimate included leveling the walls, ceilings, removing the box from the old bathroom, dismantling work, painting the walls, laying the floors, installing new plumbing, a new electrician, and the kitchen had to be ordered separately.
The total preliminary budget, taking into account all the materials, was about 700 thousand rubles. A huge amount!
I began to study in detail what is included in the cost of these services, how the builders make money, and it became clear that a pretty decent amount can be saved if you buy all the materials yourself, for example, plumbing, pipes, electrics, floors. Surprisingly, it turned out that painting the walls would be cheaper than gluing wallpaper, and modern paints look very good and stylish.
I figured out what part of the work I can do myself, namely, remove the floors, take out some of the old plumbing, most of the rubbish, and replace the doors. The entrance I bought and installed myself in the same year I planned everything. And I postponed the doors to the room and the bathroom for later. To save money, I decided not to put the door to the kitchen, to leave just a passage.
After all the calculations, it turned out that the budget for repairs will be 500 thousand. The amount is still really big. I began to think how I can accumulate it and for how long. I figured that if I save 5 thousand rubles a month (60 thousand a year), and invest this amount at a minimum interest rate in the bank (6-7%), then I will save 500 thousand over eight years. So-so option.
So I decided to think further. I turned to my friend, a financial advisor, and he recommended that I take tight control of my daily expenses. According to him, many people spend money on all sorts of nonsense, and from 2 to 5 thousand rubles a month can simply go into emptiness. He offered me to invest the saved money in bonds, or stocks, if I have a desire to study the investment market in more detail. Within a month, I wrote down all living expenses, and, indeed, it turned out that I was losing at least 2 thousand rubles a month on little things, but as soon as I started writing down my expenses, I began to take small expenses more seriously, and pay more attention for, for example, promotions in stores, more often to buy products in large quantities for future use, at a discount.
Having calculated everything, it turned out that I can live on 16-17 thousand rubles a month, and save 90 thousand rubles a year. Then I figured that if only 10% per annum will be obtained on bonds, then I will be able to save 100 thousand rubles a year and I will allow myself repairs not earlier than in 5 years. As the saying goes: "I need more gold" and this option did not suit me either.
I wanted to save up for repairs in no more than three years. Then I decided that, apparently, I needed to earn more, and wanted to try to find a job as a freelancer, namely as a rewriter or copywriter (write articles). This part-time job, according to rough estimates, should have given me about 3 thousand rubles a month in addition. As a result, in three years I should have accumulated 416 thousand. Okay, I decided, we'll figure it out along the way. The dream of a cozy apartment kept me in good shape.
Over the next years, my salary increased to 32 thousand rubles a month and according to the results as of January 1, 2019, there was an amount of 512 thousand 342 rubles on my account. We are starting repairs!
For 4 months of repair work and total control of all expenses on my part, we managed to make a very decent apartment. And, the most interesting thing is that we have kept within 452 thousand rubles.
You can see what happened in the photos. Sorry for the somewhat "homely" atmosphere, the rooms have already settled down, the good will not be lost)))
By the way, I want to emphasize that I did not skimp on the quality of materials, such as plumbing and electrical, paint, etc.
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Interesting detailed article. Write more of these.
Hrenase you got drunk. Half of the country lives on a salary of 15 thousand, and he makes repairs for 500 thousand. Stalin is not on you.
Very interesting, thanks!
Renovated the bathroom 2 months ago. It cost us 420,000 rubles: rough, finishing work, complete replacement of plumbing. And this is in Moscow. And besides, we did not save on anything - plumbing, the materials were bought in the middle price category. Who put 500 thousand to the author is Ostap Bender
It is not surprising that you were cheated for such a terrible amount. Yes, only the lazy will not work over the fucking Muscovites.
The situation is similar. The master came. All cool of myself. He said that he can do everything. I put up a price tag of 550 thousand and a period of three months. A couple of moments immediately alerted me. First, he knows better what we need, including planning. The second, began to talk about the work that does not need to be done and sell materials. For example, the alignment of the walls, since it has already been done in the rooms and in the kitchen. Others rolled out similar price tags, except perhaps without taking into account the materials. We have 20-25 thousand in the city, this is a good salary. Such a repair is done for 1 - 2 months maximum, if you do not play the fool. A simple calculation shows that these, so to speak, "masters", delaying the repairs, wanted to cut down a double price at a higher rate, ie. 120 - 180 thousand instead of the adequate 60-80. It is good that from the very beginning we were guided by prices from those who really do, and do not breed clients. But alas, those masters have orders for six months in advance, and my deadlines are running out. Therefore, I will do it myself.
In fact, if you understand in detail the work and materials, then the amount of repair is significantly reduced. And I also significantly saved my repairs on buying from a wholesale warehouse. Week went to measure and select materials, tiles, plumbing. Wholesalers have a minimum amount to pick up an item. When renovating an apartment, this amount is easy to collect and this saves about 40% when comparing a purchase in a city in a retail store.