RENO AND TELL
Move-in ready? Not quite….
It’s a little hard to maintain optimism when your home still looks like a major construction zone and you're about a week away from move-in. But we showed up with smiles on our faces while our heads tried to wrap around the scene before us. Fake it until you make it, so they say.
As we drove up, there were contractors everywhere. It looked like a beehive with roofers, painters, plumbers, etc., going in and out of doors with tools and whatnot. There is a huge crane lift thing-a-ma-jig in our driveway. It will still be there after we move, so they can finish the roof, window repair, and some of the exterior paint. For how long? We don’t know. Although there is still work to be done in every room and the outside still needs painting and landscaping, we can see that most of the work will be on finishing touches. Fixtures, door handles, lighting, and painting, to name just a few. There are a few big things like the staircase, roof and gutters, and lots of painting that still need to be done. I could go on and on…
When Reality Hits You in the Face
Renovation is exciting and fun to watch on TV. Every show has the element of a challenge, different ideas that cause a disagreement, a “huge” setback that takes less than 10 minutes to resolve, and the peak moment of a reveal with tears and joy. There are those moments for sure, but there is a whole other level of complexity that isn’t shown. I don’t think people who go through a renovation of this magnitude can adequately describe in words how real it becomes. We bought this house roughly 18 months ago. It’s been a long time, a lot of money, and we still aren’t done.
After we move in, we will still have craftsmen and contractors actively working in our home. It kind of reminds me of Murphy Brown, a sitcom from the late 80s, where Candace Bergen’s character would come home, and there was Eldin, the painter. I don’t think he ever finished. Sometimes it feels like we will be experiencing a similar scenario. In that way, our life may be mimicking a TV show.
Murphy Brown with Eldin.
The Butterfly House will be ready for inspection, which means it will be safe. We will have a workable kitchen, a bathroom, and a finished bedroom for sleeping. The reveal will not be TV-worthy, but we are happy to be back in Pennsylvania and our home.
Ken, Nick, and Mimi have all been transparent throughout the process. As soon as there has been a challenge or setback (most were minor except for the structural issues noted in the beginning), we are usually given 1-4 options of what will work vs what will look good vs cost. The reality is that you cannot have it all and be able to afford it all. Sometimes, what you want just isn’t possible, at least not all at once. This process is a lot of mental mind games and emotional ups and downs. I’ve cried less than a handful of times when worrying about finances or some of the choices we’ve made, but there has been a low level of anxiety for more than a year, with spikes of mini-mental breakdowns. I guess that is life.
Less than a week before move in…
Boo Hoo First World Problems
As Evita once sang from her balcony, “Don’t cry for me Argentina”, I could say the same. I often did say this to myself, not out loud, because that would be weird. I may get anxious and dramatic over tile direction, countertops, stain colors, and cabinet organization, but ultimately, I remember it’s just part of the renovation process. It’s not a critical life-or-death situation. My mini panic attacks subside rather quickly. Especially when we remember who we have working on this special house and that we have the privilege of building a life here.
One of the many budget busters. Opening up this stairwell, raising the ceiling on the third floor, and providing support for the bathroom surpassed our contingency plan.
The real pressure comes with the budget. Since last summer, I’ve kept a budget tracker on an Excel spreadsheet. In the first few months, when it was demo and minor prep work, our bills were reasonable, or at least within our proposed estimate. Ken knew when the walls came down, we were in trouble. Our estimate zoomed off the rails between January and August of this year. Obviously, we knew this could and would happen, but we had no idea by how much. In many ways, I’m glad we didn’t because we may have quit. In fact, there were a few moments when neither one of us slept and had those thoughts.
Part of the financial stress is due to the problems in the house. However, part of the financial stress is also due to the choices we made. We consciously decided to replace the gutters with copper, raise the ceilings in the snug and third floor, open the third-floor stairway (genius work by Ken and Nick!), waterproof and finish the basement and garage, and create the primary bedroom and kitchen of our dreams (genius work by Mimi). We also decided on a 9 Zone HVAC system, alarm system, and generator. All of our choices were smart and will increase the value of our home, but all of those choices come with a cost.
Hammering Out a Budget
In many ways, I feel responsible for the budget because I am the one balancing most of the priorities and plugging all of the invoices into the spreadsheet. Reality hits me in the face at least once each week. I haven’t made any unilateral choices; Dan has been a part of all of the decisions and we are both fully aware of each other’s thoughts and decisions. But I am Catholic, and I flog myself on the regular.
A few years ago, we agreed I would retire, but we didn’t know we would be taking on a project or two like this in such a short period of time. I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself because I am no longer contributing to our income. I no longer make money, and I’m 5 years too young to start taking my retirement and pension. Additional income would have eased some of our worries about money. But, Mimi recently told me, “Everyone goes through this at the end of renovation; no one has endless deep pockets.” Finances are always a stress when you’re building a dream. Also, if we had more money, we would spend more money. Sticking to our needs vs wants rule helped us manage.
Estimates on the left and actual spend per month on each item across.
I won’t provide actual numbers or dollars spent in this home, but I will share how we prepared for this renovation and what we kept in mind along the way.
To buy or achieve our dream home, we had a set budget. Since we met, we have always discussed what kind of life we wanted and needed and how we planned to get there.
After purchase, we built in a sizable buffer or contingency above that amount (almost double) because everyone told us “if you renovate, it will take twice as long and cost twice as much”.
We “borrowed” from our own money and investments. I worked for 33 years, invested since I was 23 yo and took advantage of every corporate matching option I had throughout the years. Dan, of course, did the same. We started saving at a young age and lived within our means. This saved us, especially when we went through life-changing events many years ago.
We used a Loan Management Account or LMA, which is a type of securities-based line of credit. This allowed us to borrow from our own funds using our brokerage account as collateral. Once the house is complete, we will convert the LMA to a mortgage. We did this instead of selling any investments to access cash for the house and condo. It is not without risk, but it was the best way forward for us.
We made an Excel spreadsheet to document estimates vs actual spend, and reviewed it each week.
We made decisions based on value, not what we necessarily wanted. In business, we use the term ROI, return on investment. The question we asked ourselves was, “Will putting money in benefit us now and in the long term?” That is how we ended up with a second condo in Florida.
When we were feeling anxious, we reviewed our decisions and options regularly so we could pivot quickly financially.
Anticipation and Expectations
While we are getting ready to move in, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it is a really long tunnel. There will be a moment in the next few months where we will look at each other and be at peace with our decisions and ecstatic that we had the grit to do it. Very few people get to realize their goals without the bravery to do so, the determination to see it through, and the fortitude to work through discomfort and doubt. This journey has required a tremendous amount of patience too.
The most difficult concept to grasp? There isn’t a finish line. Moving day is only the beginning. So as we count down the days in anticipation of finally living here in Rose Valley, we must also set the expectation that the house won’t be what we envisioned right now, but will evolve into the home we always dreamed it could be.
Dream kitchen.