Set Up Costs
 

Hi All

Been hiding for a while (well working like crazy), getting serious and ready to work on this move now. I have put together some costs to try and budget for a setup in a new house. I basically used the Brick and Walmart for prices, but would love some feedback from people that have been there and done that!

Small spreadsheet attached which has given me $50k budget to setup from scratch (not including cars or living costs, just house setup). Shipping from Oz costs a fortune and I'm thinking that buying new there will help my family in the big move so far away from grandparents etc. Plus I can sell my stuff here and that will finance some of the new setup in Calgary.

Next budget is cars and living costs, but I've already had some idea on that from everyone on BE which is a huge help!

Thanks :thumbsup:

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Forgot to add it is myself, my wife and my two kids (aged 3 & 5)

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Most prices appear that you are buying everything new. We picked up lots of the bits we didn't bring with us on kijiji which saved us $1000s!

You're bound to have other expenses saying that that are not budgeted for and that's where we spent a lot.

It's amazing how it all adds up. Just the first couple of trips to the supermarket costs so much as you have to start from scratch. Changing your driving licences over. Having trouble with examples but there are loads of bits that we have bought since here unexpectedly...:o

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It's really impossible to say. For example, we have a baby and a 3 year old, and haven't spent $2000 on clothes for the pair of them, let alone each. But I'm sure you could if it was all designer label, it depends what and how much you buy. Same with everything. You could get set up for much much less, but if you want the best brands for everything, the sky's the limit really. Also check out ikea.ca for stuff too, I especially like their kids stuff. And the fact that they don't spray furniture with the same chemicals as North American manufacturers.

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Budgeting for a bed to place in a spare room. I think that's as far from my world as it's possible to get.

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Phones for your house? Shredder for confidential docs, extension cords, rugs?

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Surely shipping can't cost as much as $50k!

We first came on a 2 year Visa so weren't sure whether we were staying in Canada or not so didn't ship until we bought a house after a few years. Initially we ended up spending $20k to furnish a 2 bed apartment including PC, TV, sofa, 2 beds, kitchen stuff, and most of what's on your list (except the $6k in clothes). We didn't shop at Walmart or Ikea for most of that stuff, but we didn't have kids at the time so were able to splurge a little which was fun.

Are you flying with no luggage at all, maybe you'll need to spend a bit on some winter stuff when you get here but not $6k. Paying to fly with an extra suitcase or 2 would surely be cheaper.

All the electronics are also priced high, $1,000 for DVD etc - are you buying your whole movie collection again, if so I wouldn't class that as essential moving expense - maybe budget $100 for a DVD/Blu-ray player. PC & Laptop you shouldn't need to spend more than $1k on each and even then you can easily spend less, if you've a laptop already bring that on the plane.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Absolutely buy new or slightly used here. I arrived with OH and 2 yr old and 6 x suitcases.
Although budgeting makes sense some of your figures might be over your projected costs so I think you might be in for a pleasant surprise on some but might be shocked with others.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

I tend to agree with Hobbess. No doubt you can spend $50,000 setting up a house but you don't need to.

For example, you have $4,000 for a PC/printer/laptop. You could do this for $1,000. $1,500 if you like bells and whistles.

They give DVD players away free with the beer. (OK, not quite, but $30 is ample.)

For furniture there are two markets in Canada. Cheap crap and expensive high quality stuff. The Brick and Walmart sell cheap crap. So does IKEA, but at least IKEA furniture does not look too old fashioned for your Grannie's front parlour. You have a very comfortable budget for virtually all the furniture pieces. You can spend a lot less. Seriously, you need to go to IKEA for a big shop. $1,000 is waaaaay more than you need for pots and pans. You can get all the other kitchen stuff you list separately for that.

We have always bought mattresses from IKEA. Perfectly comfortable and much less than you are budgeting. The budget for the bed frames seem excessive to me as well. For the kids beds and frames you might be a little on the low side.

You can get a very nice TV for $1,500.00.

A basic fridge/freezer about $750. It is all you need. A side by side with ice maker about $1,100. I have not bought a stove recently but we paid less than $300 for a dishwasher (ex-display) 6 years ago and it works just fine. Appliances often come included so you may not need to buy these straight away. Do you really need a Dyson?

$6,000 is several years budget for clothes, isn't it?

Most people (self included) spend way too much when they arrive because they don't know what is good value or where to go for it. In your situation I would concentrate on buying functional basics and expect to gradually replace them over the years. Most of the furniture we bought when we first arrived is now in the basement. I still look at some of the stuff and think, "OMG did I really pay that much?"

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Gas, five burner, Kenmore or Maytag comes to about $1,000 installed ($750-$800 on the sticker) + tax.

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The Brick is expensive price but cheap product!:thumbdown:
IMHO the furniture is old fashioned and WAY over-priced because it is like MFI etc - they have "sales" all the time and you can have X years to pay for it. Their staff work on commission only, so they have serious strong-arm selling tactics. Avoid at all costs.

Ikea is like Ikea everywhere, so you know what you will be getting there - wouldn't be my choice but each to their own.

Most of the obvious places to buy furniture here are poor quality and I find them very expensive for what they are selling.

I don't know about the cost of shipping from Oz but we shipped a 20ft container of our best furniture, good quality pans etc, clothes and personal items and have not regretted the cost one bit.

To get good things here, you need time to find the good places.
I can see that if I had been on a short time frame to furnish my house (which the OP probably will be with two small children) I would have probably been forced to buy things I didn't really like and I would have regretted that.

Even now, nearly 18 months after my OH came over to start work, we are still only just beginning to discover places where we can buy similar good quality items to what we shipped.

I wouldn't have wanted to fill my house with the sort of stuff that I didn't really like and then have to replace it all in a few months time, either for the expense or the bother of it.

Sometimes the shipping can seem expensive but I would say that it is worth it if you have good stuff to bring.
It saves time in the first place, when you will probably have a ton of other stuff to do (like cars, driving licences, banks, utilities set-up etc).
You will have to shop for white goods and electrical stuff anyway and that will be enough of a job at the start with two small children.
It is cheaper in the long run as you don't buy in haste and want to replace it all later.

I didn't bring beds and mattresses, as they aren't the same size as in the UK and mine were old anyway.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

We furnished a large chunk of a four bedroom house (aside from fridge/freezer, dishwasher and stove that came with the house) for under $5000 in 2005 from Leons. Sofas, Dining set, Washer/Dryer, beds, futons...I still have the receipt :rofl:


Other sample prices: Paid about $400 for a Dell computer that arrived a couple of days after ordering.

Small fridge and chest freezer for $300 total from Home depot. Tall Bookcases from Canadian Tire @ $30 each, smaller ones for $15 from Walmart. Decent stoves can be bought from Future Shop for $450 or less in sale (we paid $400 rather than repair the one that came with the house) - if you don't mind coils instead of fancy tops. 32 inch TV for less than $400 same price now for a nice one as we paid for a bulky one. 22" for around $200.

Patio furniture, lawn mower from Canadian Tire under $600.

Our bedrooms have walk-in closets with shelving already in place so nothing was needed for those and we did have some other units but we'd have paid a few hundred for something good enough.

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Kijiji is where its at for furniture, I wouldnt touch the Brick with someone elses 10ft pole.

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These figures are not realistic. You will need to set aside at least $10k for the bed in the spare room.

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I didn't know this until I got here but in Canada, a room cannot be described by a Realtor as a bedroom unless it has a closet built-in, so if it says it is a bedroom, forget wardrobes.:)

A couple of those wire racking things with drawers to put under the short hanging stuff like jackets and shirts are a good buy (get them in Ikea and JYSK) and as they are in a closet, they don't need to look pretty.

I also agree with iank - either kijiji or craigslist (I used this quite a bit) are great for getting good stuff inexpensively.
I have bought a beautiful Thai style wood cabinet, two lamp tables, my Hoover, freezer, a bed and bedside tables, computer desk and chests of drawers for the bedroom all from craigslist and they are all fantastic and much cheaper than I would have paid new for similar items.
I also bought my bike, my OH's bike and bike trailer.
The only drawback with these sites is you have to wait for things you like to come up and then be quick to catch the best things.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

That's simply not true. Many, perhaps most, houses don't have built in closets and yet mls doesn't feature page after page of "no bedroom" homes.

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+1!

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It's what several Realtors here have told me this and in looking at homes in BC I have no reason to disbelieve them.
If a room could accommodate a bed but has no closet, they seem to call it a den.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

I guess this is another example the differences between one part of the country and another. Maybe it is also because the housing stock is generally newer here. Anyway, den, bonus room, loft (with a bit of imagination), hobby room, play room - they call it whatever they think will help sell the house. But, if it doesn't have a closet they can't call it a bedroom.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Thanks for clarifying that, Jon.:)

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Is that a policy of the BC Real Estate Board (if there's such a thing)? It's absolutely not the case here, most of the houses I've lived in had no closets but were bought and sold as having n bedrooms. It'd be really odd to see a "3 den" house offered for sale.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

When we came back to Oz from our working holiday in Canada, we got cheapish stuff as we had full intention of returning. So most of it is old and pretty worthless to be honest ... didn't even buy decent pots etc. I don't think much of it would even make the journey :eek:

$6k in clothes is def for a few years, and all seasons. Winter clothes in Perth won't cut it in Canadian winter, we found that out last time!

Good to know that I have gone over the top, was hoping that it was to much, but I always like to over estimate on these things!

Looked at a 6-12 month furnished rental to allow us to find a house and all our furniture for the new house without having to rush. Looks like that is around $2500 per month.

Still plenty of research to do, always great to get feedback from BE people that have been in the same boat ....

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Still plenty of research to do, always great to get feedback from BE people that have been in the same boat

Actually Im betting most of us arrived seperately and on an aircraft.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

We bought loads of our small electrical items, pots & pans etc from Canadian Tire, they have weekly 60% or even 70% off deals. If its not on offer 1 week, it won't be long till it is. You can check out there weekly flier online.
Good luck :thumbsup:

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Best thing I bought was a chainsaw! Always wanted one.....

Re: Set Up Costs
 

I don't know but i will keep on looking. Google is finding stuff mostly from the US where sometime s the closet is required and sometimes not. this seems to sum up the general consensus:

Building codes don't require a bedroom to have a closet, but from a marketing standpoint a closet is what makes a room an actual bedroom. If the room doesn't have a closet, then your Realtor and potential buyers probably won't see the room as a habitable bedroom either. If your home is an older one that was built before closets were in common use, then the lack of a closet isn't quite so much of an issue.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Just for general interest the OP should visit the following merchants websites to get an idea of things on offer and prices.
The Brick, Leons, Dufresne, Sears Canada, The Bay for furniture and appliances
Future Shop Canada and Best Buy for electronics TVs computers etc
Home Outfitters, Sears Canada, The Bay for home furnishings, bedding
Crappy I mean Canadian Tire for a variety of stuff.
There are of course other stores but these will give a general idea.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

I think you're right that the age of the home is key to their being closets. I'm not used to bedrooms having closets because although I've been in hundreds of houses listed for sale, very few of them were built after the 1930s. Still, I'd say that it's the bed that makes a bedroom, not access to cupboards.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

I've just checked and it appears that all of the bedrooms in our house have built in closets. I've never even noticed most of them.

There's another one in the basement though, which was described as a bedroom by the realtor, which doesn't.

Do you think I can get my money back?

Re: Set Up Costs
 

spending 50k on that stuff is madness

what happen's is 6months you hate that place and wanna go back to oz

id buy the cheapest stuff just to start off,then when your settled etc start to buy better stuff as and when you can

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Totally agree, my plan is to rent a furnished place for at least 6 months to figure which areas suit us best. The $50k is money I will put aside for when we do eventually buy, just wanted to have a realistic budget to work with. :fingerscrossed:

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GREAT ... thanks for the extra tips, will make is easier to compare and plan!

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Brilliant, always figured there would be some deals and sales that you probably wouldn't know about until you've been there for a while.

Going to have to look at schools next! My wife thinks I'm planning it all too much and should just plan to get there and then let it all happen ... against my nature though (for the major things ... house, school etc)

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Good job she married you, then.

Fail to plan; plan to fail.
Getting here and "let it all happen" with a family to provide for is inviting disaster, as a quick shufty through some of the threads on this forum will quickly reveal.
Fine if you are footloose and fancy free single, but most of us are neither of those things any more.:p

I think you are being admirably well organised.
If you have most of the basics covered, then you will have room to think and tackle anything unexpected that hits the fan when you get here.

There will always something that you haven't thought of, but if the whole thing is left to chance then you end up having to firefight on too many fronts at once.

Good Luck with it.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

I think there's merit in this. Suppose your spare room is, well, spare, it contains nothing but a couple of empty suitcases. It would be a bedroom but lacks a built in closet and so is left to masquerade as a bonus den thingy.

Tout a coup, you adopt three children. They have nothing on which to sleep! A person who thought ahead would have filled that room with bunk beds so as to be able to deal with this crisis, or a financial one to be alleviated by taking in illegals or a desire to keep the pool cleaner by engaging live-in help to polish it in shifts.

Really, it's quite derilict to move to a far country without a furnishing, and probably decor, plan for that possible room of unknown dimensions.

Re: Set Up Costs
 

I am very much like you, were doing our first reccie in may to Hants NS and ive got a scrapbook dedicated to who i want to visit in the area and a list of questions i want to ask. I'm currently devising on a similar spreadsheet on set up costs. I think my OH thinks i'm a bit sad but i'd rather over do it than sink. My advise, keep on planning!

Re: Set Up Costs
 

Thanks for the kind words!

I think in all honesty, she doesn't know where to start and is hoping I do what I always do, which is fine.

I like to be organised, will feel much better as I sit on the plane waiting to takeoff!

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I've planned to put a spare bed in my spare room for when the inlaws come to visit ..... our live in babysitters :rofl:

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I have spreadsheets all over the place, with different scenarios on selling house here ... renting out house here ... buying house there ... renting house there .. buying apartment there and renting it out as well as buying a house there and renting the one here .... :confused:

I think I may have gone over the top!

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Take my word for it, you can't go over the top if you planning a succesful move. My wife had spreadsheets for everything. There wasn't a night that passed without us researching something on the internet prior to and after our recce trip.
After a great 5 months here, I am pleased to say there hasn't been anything that has crept up and bit us in the arse. :thumbsup: