BenK91

Hey all,

Made the big adult move and purchased our first house over the weekend, inspection was this morning and everything went great. Closing on 29th of this month.

My question is, how do you prioritize things that need to be in the house? E.g. which room to update first, the one you spend the most time in, or the one that would be easiest/cheapest etc.

Thanks in advance!

Nutmegger

Congratulations! Hope you will love your new home.

As to your query, I think everyone will have different preferences. Wherever we have lived, the first priority has been getting an area fenced for the dogs! Then we've looked at things that impact everyday life -- is a new oven, cooktop, or fridge needed? Then, whatever seems to us important. For instance, American patriotic wallpaper in the powder room at our first house, ghastly though it was, had to wait until we'd fixed the rotted planks in the deck and repainted the rooms on the main floor! So, what matters most to you?

DexterBerkeley

I'm a fan of forming a long term plan for the home, that way you can figure out how to group work together. We have a multi year plan that features one major project a year, e.g. 2018 was about getting the yard nice and fencing for a dog, 2019 was supposed to be master suite but that got bumped to 2020 once we figured out my finger in the air cost estimate was waaaay under, this year is redo the decking as it's starting to rot, 2022 or 23 will be an overhaul of the basement. Smaller stuff like decorating individual rooms we can do ourselves are just done in priority order when we get to them, normally they aren't too expensive so it's just a matter of when we have time to make that effort, we started with rooms we spend time in, so living room, kitchen, dining room, then on to things like home office I'm working on now.

We've found the planning helps with cost over the long term, for example we think in the future we'll want a mini-split in the master bed, but as part of the reno of that suite we had the electrician run the line for that, the walls were already open so cheap to do that piece then.

I'll add, the fact your inspection came back all good is a blessing, we had a couple of things we knew were coming for us, like adding a sump pump and drainage channels under the house that end up needing to get done before the cosmetics.

SpoogleDrummer

It really depends on what, if anything, is wrong with your house. My front room was painted a horrible peach/pink so that was my priority.

I'd highly recommend starting/adding to your tool collection, you can never have enough saws, drills, sockets etc for when something inevitably breaks and having the right tool for the job makes fixing things infinitely easier than trying to make do with whatever you have on hand.

Rete

Thankfully, our projects were mostly cosmetic so we tackled new flooring in the entire house first off. That included laminate flooring, new floor tiles, and carpeting. Then we went to removing wallpaper and painting one room at a time.

Installing a French drain around the back and sides of the house, new roof gutters and drain pipes were all done the same time during our 2nd year in the house. Replacement and repair of porch columns were just done this past summer which is year 5.

scrubbedexpat097

Congratulations! And good luck
Our first job was to remove wood panels on the walls. When money was short we ended up painting over some of the panels with lighter colors.. It helped!

ddsrph

Like previously mentioned tools and do it yourself skills are invaluable for a new homeowner. There is nothing in home maintenance that you can’t learn to do yourself in most cases better than many professionals. Not only for saving money but the satisfaction of doing yourself. With the internet sites like utube and one I like DIY chat room there is enough information and professional advice to tackle any home improvement job. With no labor cost most projects are at least half price.

Winston_the_Great_Dane

^^THIS^^

buy the best tools you can for the job and tackle what you can by yourself. Labour costs in the US are way higher than UK, which has made me do more myself. Multi-year budgeted plan is the way to go, although we find priorities change the longer we live here.

Good luck

ddsrph

You can never go wrong buying good quality tools. But many times you may use a given tool once or twice a year and Harbor Freight has some reasonable quality tools for that situation. It’s a tossup on the best approach. I have a Milwaukee sawzall I bought 30 years ago still working great which has outlasted several cheap imitations.

Mallory

The old saying goes — Buy cheap, buy twice. I tell this to DH all the time!

tom169

Congrats Ben! I guess it depends on your time horizon. If you're planning a sale in the next 5 years then prioritize a return on cash, if not then just go with whatever you decide matters to you (or the better half ).

Hopefully you have a garage/shed which you can fill up with tools

PetrifiedExPat

This

French drain and new guttering saved our basement from constant flooding. Best money ever spent.

Oh, and OP, check for radon in the basement if you have one.

BenK91

Thanks all!

Yep Radon, sewer, sump pump and chimney were all checked during the inspection so all good on those.

Roof and guttering were replaced in 2017 due to hail/wind damage (we get hail the size of baseballs in Colorado).

Luckily the yard is already fenced in for the dogs so thats major plus. Looking at what everyone else is saying, I think we'll go ahead with finishing the basement as that's where my office will be (has some very outdated "wood" panels on it, but at least the framing and insulation is there). For the most part it's really all cosmetic. House was built in the early 80's and it was sold to us by the original owners who appeared to redecorate at some point in the mid-late 90's.

Thanks for the advice on the tools, luckily I have the basics but definitely going to need to look into more specific items that make no sense to rent from Home Depot etc.

civilservant

We're had our (new construction) home for a year now, and I have bought things I never thought I would ever need.

Multiple tools, including a chainsaw and ride on lawnmower, More garden stuff then I care to count. Including $3000 of 'sod' that I swear I might as well have just washed my money down the storm drain. Lord knows how much we've spent in the last year just kitting ourselves out for home ownership!

ddsrph

Having your own house on a large lot in the woods is definitely worth it. Getting a good yard started was a big problem for my four year old house. Bag after bag of grass seed before getting an acceptable stand of grass. Now spend a lot of time repairing damage from Armadillos Do you have that problem in Georgia?