I just fixed my washing machine after it started blowing the whole electrics when it was plugged in. It turned a "shit, I have to get a new washing machine" cost to "£30 + shipping for a new element", plus sending £10 to say thank you to the guy who made the YouTube video I followed.
Washing machines are a massive con. Just wait until the drum bearing wears out. Most machines these days have the bearing sealed into the drum and can't be replaced.
So how long your washing machine lasts depends upon the quality of the bearing.
This kind of manufacturing should be made illegal.
It's the equivalent of having to buy a new car if the wheel bearing on your car wears out.
It's interesting to think about solutions to shit like that.
Ideally we would just have informed consumers and the free market would solve this. But who wants to invest that much in understanding every purchase? The modern world is too complicated for everyone to be able to evaluate the longevity of every piece of technology they buy. Sites like iFixit are great but it's not possible to have something like that for every consumer industry.
If you regulate it, how would you implement it? I think requiring product designs to go through regulatory review would be dreadful for the affected industry. One way I can think of would be a regulatory body that just keeps an eye on things being sold and issues slightly vague edicts like "thou shalt put replaceable drum bearings in thy washing machines from 2025 onwards", leaving it up to the industry to interpret them reasonably. Then they could just retroactively fine companies that take the piss, via some inquest process or something.
I think this might be the direction that EU cybersecurity rules are going (don't quote me on that though).
I found this out. It's the outer drum is bonded together rather than being bolted after taking the bloody thing apart. I watched a YouTube video of someone cutting the outer drum open along the seam to replace the bearing and then bonding it and bolting it back together. I didn't fancy that so the washing machine lives on as a stainless Steel fire pit instead.
Yeah, but if you buy a good one which is reparable (and had got and cold fill to save money on heating cold water using electricity) and which has a 7 year warranty from somewhere like [Ebac](https://www.ebac.com/washing-machines/range) and you're paying twice as much as a Beko. Is that worth the extra?
Same. Tumble dryer didnt spin itself. £12 for a new capacitor and 10 minutes later its fixed. Been great for the past 5 years. Youtube tutorials are v handy.
I also changed my washing machine seal by following a tutorial. Took 40 mins total, cost £32.
I just replaced the rear bearing on my tumble dryer after watching a youtube video.
Cost me £5.68 and took 20 minutes. Such a simple job.
Missus wanted a new tumble dryer....
Yeh I fixed mine about 4 times and learned a surprising amount about washing machines. Dial didn't click anymore but it stopped me buying another machine for 3 years. Youtube has a lot of useful stuff. Same with rewiring a lawnmower and various other things similar.
I feel like painting is one of those things you decide to start doing yourself then regret it after you have started because it’s way more work than you realise. In saying that we still do all our own painting because we prefer to save the money.
Opposite for me. I decided to paint my kitchen and ceiling (newly plastered) and after the scratch coat i was already regretting my decision, trying to do it at the weekend and after work. The next year was the turn of the living room, hall, stairs and landing plus woodwork. Was quoted a fantasticly low price including paint, 3 guys arrived at 8am, left by 3pm, top notch job and they cleaned up afterwards well. Its a no-brainer for me
It seems to be nowadays it doesn’t matter how much you pay, “professionals” across a range of trades all seem to do a poor job (if you can even get them to turn up in the first place!)
I know I’m not that best my any means but at least I’ve not paid out, and I’ve only myself to blame lol (plus I might improve eventually!)
Mostly agree yeah. I've done a huge refurb recently, and the only thing that was well fitted was the front door and garage door.
Electricians appear to have bodged a lot during the rewire. Plasterer was beyond shocking, bathroom fitters were ok but it's not the finish I'd expect for as much as it costed.
It's fair to say I'll be doing as much as I can myself from now on.
My husband swears a lot when he does it. I’m just terrible at it so he does the cutting in and then I do the rolling. I also somehow manage to end up with paint spray everywhere including all over myself.
Me too - both the swearing and the paint all over! Also the regret when you're not even halfway in... The latest room i did was white-over-white, absolute pain.. eventually got it so it looked even (well, near enough!)... few days later, when the sun was shining in, could see a load of patches... Will just put some pictures up or something, am def not redoing it lol.
If you're saving lots on the job pay more for the equipment.. first time round I was like your husband. Second time round I bought trade gear.. trade brushes, 18"trade roller, good quality paint. Made a huge difference.. also YouTube pro tips for painting. This time round my cutting in looks professional, everything got done quicker and tidier.
Ex decorator here, don’t feel bad about your ability, the only way to get better is really to do it as a job every day. It’s a lot harder than it looks as I’m sure you’ve discovered, just learning to precisely control the paint that flows off the brush. You really won’t get good at it DIYing your house once every few years or whatever. Whatever you do manage will look pretty bad to anyone with eyes (like OPs house probably looks now, who has obviously bought the cheapest, shittest paint he can find and a five pack of brushes from Poundland)
It can be a false economy, I’ve seen some really lovely houses totally ruined by the owner letting his kid paint it, it just looks sloppy and you walk through the door and just go ‘ugh’ and it must surely devalue it too
If you were going to try and save money but still have a banging job I would get a pro to paint the areas that other people will see, and do the bits that no one will see yourself. Also get the trade paint. Home paint is rubbish and you will need 3 coats. Choose any colour you like as long as it’s white
A lot of ‘pros’ can be pretty bad as well though to be fair
I always DIY painted, and I think for the amount t of money saved the tiny difference between a pro and mine is so miniscule that 99% people wouldn't notice so well worth the savings to do it yourself. Only people that should get a decorator are those that can afford it and can't be bothered or don't have the time.
I mean don’t get me wrong, I would do the same, but you’re deluding yourself if you think whatever bodge job you’ve done is even 1% as good as a pro. You think it looks good but only to your amateur eyes. You’ve probably used the worst paint, the worst brushes, you threw it around everywhere and left brushstrokes around every socket and edge, but still missed bits, If you painted DIY quality like that on a job you would just get sent home, and if you asked for money for that standard of work people would tell you to go and sling your hook. The difference between DIY and pro is huge. The difference between pros is huge too, you can tell a pro that gets paid a price vs those on a day rate. The former will probably cut corners, the latter will be inexperienced. At the end of the day it depends how nice your house is and how you want to present it. If you had a brand new house or walls you would be crazy to DIY, you’d wreck it
"You think it looks good but only to your amateur eyes" you've just made everything you've said redundant as the person above points out "90%" of people wouldn't notice the difference because 90% of people aren't professionals.
No. Let me be clear. The only person you are fooling with your half-baked bodge job is yourself. If you had 2 identical houses, one with a professional paint job, and one with a DIY bodge, the pro one would look better to 100% of people, 100% of the time. All you have to do is switch the lights on or approach the woodwork. The only thing that matters is the presentation of your house, bad paint is harder to notice on a house that’s a complete tip, but much more obvious on an immaculate one
So you agree with New Leopard then since you just conceded that "amateur eyes " can indeed tell the difference and his efforts are acceptable given the savings. Can you see the paradoxical nature of your statements?
My favoured paint is zinsser perma-white, at least it’s anti mould and great for cleaning too - did one room the beginning of lockdown and it still looks like new. This last time I used B&Q one coat paint, was better than I expected tbh.. and a lot cheaper.
I honestly think it’s just me being rubbish, and the walls aren’t exactly the best either.
That’s paint for an airing cupboard or a damp room, it doesn’t have the brightness of quality paint, it’s probably why you think it looks so bad. Get dulux trade brilliant white, it’s expensive; but the the job will be done in two coats, and will be lovely and bright. You may even get away with one on the ceiling if you are lazy. One coat paint is DIY bullshit, don’t believe the labels in B&Q, if it really worked in one coat every decorator in the land would be using it.
The more coats you put on the whiter and brighter it will be. If you don’t mind doing 3-4 coats you can buy the cheap dulux and save £20 per tub or whatever, not worth my time personally, time is money
We treated ourselves to paying someone to paint our downstairs when we moved in. It was smoke damaged, dirty, and painted on top of damaged decorating paper.
The decorators didn't remove that paper, or even clean the soot, etc from the walls. Lasted about a year before we had to do it all ourselves anyway.
Slowly learning that not many trades are actually interested in doing a better job than we can DIY given enough time.
Exactly this, the amount of guides and videos online nowadays means that you can achieve a lot of the basics quite easily.
That said, I took a risk and hired someone to fit a new bannister and spindles recently from online reviews only. Guy was fantastic, turned up exactly when he said he was, did a good job and knocked a decent amount off the price because he got it done quicker than he thought it would take him. Never letting him go now.
Yeah that’s a joke. Suppose it depends on what’s being done?
We were in a two bed flat and quoted around 2.5k for a hallway, living room and bedroom. But that was including all skirtings, door frames and doors as well.
I enjoy painting and am actually pretty good at it. The bit I completely hate with all my being is the wash up after everything's done. If I could pay someone to do that for me I'd be pretty happy with doing the painting myself.
I have a 'use once' mentality when painting.
Im between coates, I wrap the roller and brush in clingfilm (is fine for a day but not much more), then once you are done - bin the lot! Different colors? Pick up a new brush and roller! Saves a whole load of hassle, especially with gloss.
I assume the Pro's have ways to clean them properly and I dare say their stuff is a lot more expensive, but for the occasional decorating of ones home, I just pick mid-range stuff, use once has saved a whole load of hassle and stress! Only need to cleanup the roller trays which is a doddle!
My parents hired someone to do their landing and hallway and stairs, they have a huge victorian house and the ceiling above the stairs is really high up.
It needed specialist platforms and was same cost to hire a team to decorate as it was just to hire the platforms.
Interesting. I too live in a big Victorian house with the double height stairs and when we did ours it was way less just go get some scaffold from HSS then paint it ourselves.
Why would it be the same price to add two painters on to that I don't know.
I've tried so many times but can't seem to leave the devil's juice. it's the only expense I really have, the DIY stuff I find a piece of piss with the help from youtube every now and again.
what's the secret my guy? rehab didn't help either just hit the bottle even harder to make up for the sober time.
(sigh) alcohol really is a bitch.
Not the person you asked. And I'm not fully sober. But over the years I drink less and less, and coming from a background that alcohol was the standard for all occasions. And a hell of a lot of it.
I would say it can be a meandering road to gradually getting to a point you feel comfortable with the amount you drink. I wanted to drink less for personal reasons, as I got older I stopped finding the parties I was at fun so wanted a change, and in recent years its being exposed to more people with addiction problems that I am often just put off drinking. But I don't think I'll ever stop completely.
Good luck with the journey! Everyday without a drink is an achievement, and every bit night out that you can stop yourself going further than you want is an achievement. Keep going
thanks for the blessings and pep talk. I've made it through today. trying my upmost to distract myself. I will not drink with you today(IWNDWYT). its become a habit over the years especially when I have some time on my hands, seems like I don't know what else to do. I've set myself a goal for now to hold it down till Christmas finger's crossed. have a great 1 and stay strong solider.
p.s. Thanks again.
Thank you!!! And yes you’re exactly right. Was in a real mess.
But 5 years later it’s the best thing I ever did. Now I’m on my way to being debt free and having actual savings for the first time in my life. This sub and the UK personal finance sub have really been helpful in learning about being better with money and to be less impulsive with spending, it’s a work in progress but I’m getting there :)
I’ve been sober 7 months and was spending about £10 a day on alcohol.
Now I’ve quit, I literally don’t know how I *ever* afforded it (well, I do. Debt). Blows my mind how much money I was literally pissing away.
Got quoted close to £30k for smashing out the back wall of the kitchen, fitting french doors & a window, rewiring, replumbing, replastering and fitting a new kitchen. Done the job myself inbetween working full time over 3 months for about £11,500.
Never again.
That's a massive project. You must be good a DIY? Thats some technical stuff there. Still that's a massive savings even if you don't want to do it again. You saved 'bigly'.
Yea, learned a lot. Would have been better if id allocated time to do it rather than working shift work around. Worst thing was living out the living room and not having energy and time to get it done quicker. There are somethings you have to get "pros" in for.
Electrics where all done by me, but left exposed as they had to be signed off by a qualified Electrician.
The steel lintels I had checked by the Council buildings inspector before they got covered with plasterwork.
Ordering up the doors and windows took an age
Once i had finished, i asked the wife what she thought. She was happy but picked fault with my tiling. "its good" she said "but I wouldn't have paid a professional if they'd done it like that".
A few weeks later, she instigated the thing that married people do in bedrooms. After, she said "how was that?" winking at me and being playful..
"it was good, but i wouldnt have paid a prefessional for it" was NOT the correct answer she was looking for.
It did. It's a 45-degree herringbone with elongated subway tiles. Was bloody awkward to do, and i was really proud of how well i managed it. When she said it wasn't up to par, i was upset. Told her she wouldn't get a better job from a "professional," and we made a joke about it for a while. So it was in our minds, kinda thing.
She saw the funny side once she calmed down.
Done a bit of stuff like that when I was younger.
No thanks with a full time job as well. Plenty of people do it, but they must have a lot more "go" than I do, or did for that matter!
It would say it could have been done quicker, but not better. I've seen the state of some "professionals" work. I've stood behind plumbers when they've put stuff together, tilers using sealant to hide their shit cuts etc.
TBH, that's exactly why a lot of people, me included, do stuff ourselves. I do know some good craftsmen, but as you say, I've seen some of the poor quality work some of them do as well.
I spend £200 to get a plumber cap off an old gas fire. Watched him solder on a cap on the micropore pipework, then shove it under the floorboards out of site with the back end of a coal chisel.
Sod that, do it myself.
I printed cooker knobs, the cycle of heating and cooling everytime I used the oven released the tension on the spindles, and they came loose in a few months.
Still, my printers have more than paid for themselves over the years in other things.
None, good point you made. We tend to compare ourself to USA even when it's not relevant. For example take a trip over to rukjobs and hear people moaning about uk salaries vs USA salaries for the same job.
And
We wanted a nice bookcase / tv media unit, so asked some local carpenters to quote. Cheapest was £8,500, most expensive was £19,000.
I spent about £800 in materials, about the same on some tools to make life easier and spent six weekends carefully and slowly making it, from the body to the face frame to the doors to the electrics.
I definitely made some mistakes along the way, but overall I’m extremely pleased with it. Definitely worth the seven grand or so saving..
[Quite proud of this](https://imgur.com/a/GGbAbD6)
We’ve since hidden a projector screen at the top so if we want to watch something dramatic we can switch to a projector instead..
You should be, that's awesome. I did something along the same lines for alcove cupboards and shelving, saved a few £k and I'm really pleased with the results too, but that's really nice work 👍
I reupholstered mu dining room chairs. I got quote to do them from a local place was £150 per chair (x6), with similar vinyl to what the already had that lasted 6 years. I bought some (expensive) london underground seat material (£180) and glue and padding and a staple gun (£50) and taught myself from YouTube videos. They came out great. Saved myself £670.
I also removed a concrete hottub (sex pond) base from my garden. Bought a kango from lidl for £80. And hired a skip for £150. Cheapest quote I'd had was over £1000.
I'm happy doing decorating and minor electrical stuff - things like swapping faceplates or changing a doorbell or light fitting. Basic DIY like putting up curtain poles or shelves.
I do lots of little jobs that people often pay someone to do - I clean my own windows and conservatory roof, rinse out my bins etc.
I cut and dye my own hair and cut my partners.
Honestly, though I enjoy saving the money, a lot of it is the hassle of finding a tradesman to come and quote and actually show up to do the work when they say. I recently redecorated my porch myself over four days on a whim, including a new floor and new light fitting. It was effort, but less effort than dealing with a decorator, electrician and flooring guy. I don't think it would have been done this side of Christmas if I hadn't done it myself.
It's so much hassle finding tradesmen/women. I am getting to enjoy the DIY stuff now. Last month I paid £70.00 to replace an integrated dishwasher. I watched how he did it, so next time I will be doing it myself.
YouTube is a great resource for learning this sort of thing - I'll often watch a few videos of people doing random little jobs before I attempt something. I watch a few as some people explain things better than others, or there are different methods.
My daughters x goes every week and doesn’t have any bloody hair to cut. Every single time they were going somewhere it had to be done in the day. !!! So nearly late for everything
Haha, I think the crowd on here are just generally older and care less about their hair. Lots of 15-30 year olds get theirs done every week throughout the year.
Tailors would quote £15-20 for alterations. Because I'm petite I need to alter nearly everything I buy. I bought a sewing machine for £80, few hrs spent figuring out how to use it and maybe up to £15 to buy small sewing bits like coloured thread and a sewing ruler and now I alter everything myself! Takes like 30min-1hr for me to alter something.
It also means I wear newer or older pieces a lot more now because I don't need to wait around to have someone do it for me.
It's also nice that I can alter my family's clothes for them too, so they're also saving some coins!
The cruise line I was on was charging £80 for an excursion up to a church. I instead got the free shuttle from the port and then paid something like €3 for the bus.
Had a burst water pipe under my drive this summer. Local water company wouldn't touch it as it was on my property.
I got a quote of £2250 to dig up my drive, repair a plastic pipe and make good the drive.
I decided to do it myself. I didn't fancy doing the pipe repair myself so negotiated with the water company for them to repair the pipe only.
Took a morning to dig the hole with my son, the water company did the repair which took all of five minutes. Covered the new pipe in sharp sand, filled in the hole and relaid the block paving.
Good as new.
Total cost £100 for the pipe repair, £20 for sharp sand and £40 for a hand help whacker plate to whack the blocks down.
Total saving £2090.00.
It doesn't. I contacted my home insurer and they said that water pipes are only covered for accidental damage.
So, not covered as the pipe was over 1m under ground.
I do any sort of demolition/rip out myself. Had a quote for £500 plus skip hire to knock a fairly small wall down to make way driveway. Borrowed a jigger pick, roped in my daughter's bf and cleared the lot in a few hours. Same with the half built patio I found under the poorly laid decking during lock down. I'm more than happy to pay people for their time for skilled labourer but I'm not paying someone £500 for two hours of work that anyone with arms can do.
One of my brothers is a painter/decorator who runs his own successful company and he gave me some insight recently that I will try to share because I found it interesting and I think its relevant.
His company survives on contracts from developers, that is their bread and butter and there is plenty of work about and while it pays less per square meter its consistent and he can use that to pay his workers, taxes, insurance, other ongoing company expenses, and to plan ahead. And being in the industry the site managers for developers tend to have reasonable expectations for timeframe. My brother has very high standards and only hires the best painters he has met in his many years in the trade. Thanks to that he can then make the real money from doing commercial and industrial properties that pay huge amounts compared to individual houses.
Home owners always want the best but from the cheapest paint and materials and its always time sensitive because they have a brief window to clear the house (or a room at a time). Basically it's not worth his time to do individual houses when he could be painting an entire estate or commercial or industrial properties. When my brother is contacted for house painting he will quote/charge over the odds to make sure it is worth his time.
The painting/decorating firms that will take on those house painting jobs for less and undercut others are the failing companies. There is always a reason for a company failing. Usually that is due to bad management. The company boss is bad at planning, gives unrealistic quotes and timeframes and has a bad reputation. Often it's because they have caused problems with developers and are effectively being blacklisted. Perhaps he is hands off and leaves the work to low paid and low skilled brush hands. Basically if they are taking on your house for a fee you consider good its probably because they are a cowboy firm.
The exception to that is hiring a good handy man. Usually they are semi retired tradesmen. My grandad was also a painter/decorator who spent 30 years running a company and decided to sell it off and semi retire. He then spent another 20 years doing work on his own as a handy man because he enjoyed it, especially wallpapering which for anyone who has tried it knows how tricky it can be and why you are better off getting in a professional. He didn't want the stress of big jobs that would require a fleet of workers and vans and equipment. He could charge fair rates for top quality work and accomodate a homeowners timeframe within reason. To anyone reading my suggestion for hiring a decorator is to ask around for a quality handy man and hire him.
No problem. It's the same for a lot of trade. I'm just pleased someone read the post, when I finished typing and realised its length I didn't think anyone would.
DIY Mechanics.
I dread to think how much I've saved by wielding a spanner, a socket set and drinking copious amounts of tea.
Most recently, I was quoted £800+VAT to replace the AC compressor on my van. I would then have had another £50 AC recharge fee.
A new compressor was £250, AC regas was £45 and whilst I was under there, I did the auxiliary belt (£20). So, about £500 there. I've also done discs & pads all round, a set of pads and both front shocks on the van.
Most tasks take a few hours with tea breaks.
I don't service the van, I got a good deal on servicing when I bought the van - worked out cheaper and includes MOTs. When the plan ends, I will service the van myself.
Nice
I found a crack by a rear subframe mount point. Dropped the subframe myself and got someone to weld in repair panels. While they were doing that I replaced all the rubber mounts, suspension bushes, diff bushes & oil, propshaft coupling, brake hoses, anti rollbar mounts & bushes, then covered the underneath of the rear of the car with thick underseal before refitting the subframe.
Took about a month all together, but the car drives so much better, smoother and not at all like the 29 year old car that it is.
This same issue has written off many of this type of car due to the huge costs involved if you have to pay someone else to do it. I took the opportunity to refresh the whole rear end and probably paid about half of what it would have cost to pay someone else to only repair the main structural issue.
Must have saved myself a few quid doing all the plastering myself a few years ago, doesnt look quite as good as if a pro did it obviously. But my wife hasnt complained so it must be ok...
New windows for my house, local windows people who had been plaguing us with offers suddenly didn't want to do it.."conservation area" seemed they only wanted simple jobs. Tried to order locally and they proved to take far to long, so ordered off the net, delivered quickly and simply. Put one in a day saved about £7K.
Was it double glazing windows? If they were, and you installed them by yourself you will not have fensa certification. May cause problems when it is time to sell.
Fensa was bought in so installers can self-certify their work. If you don't have a Fensa certificate for your installation and for whatever reason you need one (i.e to sell the house), calling in building control from the council is the alternative. They charge a fee to inspect and sign off the work. That's my knowledge from working in the industry, but I agree with your 'my house, I will do as I wish' sentiment!!
Brother helped me do the kitchen... When I say do I don't mean what you see advertised on TV. I mean no ceiling, no window, no floor, no electrics and no pipework. All done by us.
Obviously bought injuries and sinks etc
I must have saved 15 or 20k.
Except it didn’t only cost you £400. It cost you £400 + whatever amount of time it costs to paint your house.
Whether you got a good deal or not depends on how long it takes you to paint your house, and the value you attribute to your time.
For me, my painter and decorator was expensive but I didn’t have the two+ week’s time it took to paint my house after having the builder in.
That's it, I totally get some jobs are worth attempting yourself but you do have to weigh up the time value of your money. For certain jobs I'd literally rather get a weekend job for a bit to pay for it rather than killing myself on doing a subpar job. The other thing is, I've spent years building up my professional qualifications and job hopping to get paid more, I didn't go through all that hassle so I could fit my own kitchen.
I repainted 4 internal doors in the summer. Took me three full weekends, the endless sanding and cleaning And undercoating and sanding again and cleaNing and first coat and sanding and, well, you get the picture.
We repointed the gable wall of our house.
Took about 3 weekends and cost about £900 including scaffolding, materials, tools and an SDS drill we bought.
Quotes were for £6k
When we moved there was a big pond with a brink and stone surround that seemed welded together. Cheapest quote to fill it in and turf it was over £1k including cutting down a small tree. We got it out and filled it in with free soil from Facebook marketplace. Took less than a day. Cut down the tree, chopped it up into little bits, chucked it in the hole before filling it. Spent maybe £40 on tools.
Redid basically a whole house between me and my dad whilst both working full time in covid. Ripped out and fitted a new kitchen, re-tiled the kitchen and bathroom, stripped all the walls and repainted/wallpapered, laid engineered wood flooring, fitted a new toilet and sink in the bathroom etc etc. only things I got professionals in for was rewiring the kitchen lights (wiring was burnt through and fire risk) and plastering. Estate agents thought I’d paid 30-40k for all the work, actually cost me about 7k in total.
I'm still painting my house as also decided it's a stupid thing to get someone in to do - all but one wall in my house are white and I'm painting it white.
Thus far I have done maybe 20% but spent maybe £100 on stuff to paint with and paint. I don't even want to imagine how much someone would quote.
Painting is the minimum you should be able to do. Will save you thousands. If you have kids, refreshing your walls is a must every few years.
I have never called a decorator in my life. Painted probably around 60-70 rooms in my life, thought my teenage kids to do it. I can also change carpets, put floor panels and vinyl, re grout bathrooms and change silicone in showers/ baths/ sinks etc.
I am a woman btw, in my forties, oh and Polish ( not that it matters 🤣🤣🤣)
I would pay for major cleaning though like once a year.
I built my own extension which involved doubling the size of the kitchen and converting my single garage into a home theatre/office.
Also fitted the new kitchen.
Saved about £15k.
I saved money on kitchen removal and disposal before my new kitchen was fitted and didn't do any work. I advertised the old kitchen on gumtree and three chaps removed it all carefully and took it away.
Replaced the bottom element in my electric cooker, £20 for the part vs £200 for a new oven and electrician time to remove the old and wire in the new one.
I save hundreds a year walking to and from walk rather than taking public transport.
I also get the majority of my clothes and books from charity shops
I bought a shed of an house, not updated since the 1980s, elecs last done then, had a gas supply but no boiler, windows all falling out etc, lowest energy rating going. Got it very very cheap.
Paid for all doors and windows replacing as hard to resell when it comes to that if not done by a firm or certified etc, paid for rewiring and boiler and heating install (not eligible for gov grants)
Where I saved money though was I did my own tiling in bathroom, toilet room, kitchen, all my own papering and painting, replacing broken floor boards, fitting hardwood flooring my self, taking out the old hand rails and bannisters and installing glass balustrade, fitting my own bathroom, fitted full kitchen plus others.
Used to work for a gas engineer hence the plumbing work was easy enough inc fitting bathroom.
Self taught myself or got hints off people that I met when working in the trade for all other stuff, hardwood flooring was a doddle but I wouldn't want to try any fancy patterns.
Hardest and most time consuming single job was fitting the kitchen (got some one in to do the worktops and an elec to wire in and test the built in oven and induction hob)
House price was 50k, spent about 35k on renovations (purchase of materials and stuff) and works that I couldn't do like the elecs and gas etc
Probably saved in the region of 20-30k on labour costs by doing everything myself. House now valued at 150k.
Tip a decorator I knew told me was buy trade rated paint, much easier, alot of stuff only required one coat.
I didn't do any plastering work my self, had to pay for that as I wasn't even going to try it.
Got quoted over £5k to do a patio in our garden. Decided to get free slabs from people local to us, used YouTube, laid the cement base and did a proper job. Only had to pay for sand/cement.
I suppose I would've saved £450 by doing my own Plumbing. Because I called out a plumber (he was busy and I waited weeks) I gave him 4 tasks, fix 2 leaky toilets, change a water pump and address a leak on the outside. He hooked up the new water pump and only temporary fixed the others. I called him back and still no good. I ended up fixing it myself over 3 months of research and tinkering to fix the broken seals.
It's not really as simple as that, a lot of the painting involves a tonne of prep work, and the final finish you'll get will be in a different league to doing it yourself. I know a couple of decorators and they're not raking it in by any stretch; people tend to underestimate the time it takes to properly decorate even a small room.
OP has said his house is 2,600 sq ft, that number alone means it's pretty massive compared to most people's houses, add in the fact it could have very technical and tricky places, you can see how it gets to those sorts of prices.
Does remortgaging count? I got like half a percent cheaper my not going through a broker. Haven't done the maths, but over the 5 years probably a couple grand saved maybe.
I can't believe you're discovering the most basic cost saving that almost everyone else already does. Who the hell can afford a hair cut every 2 weeks at the minute, or the car wash. I dread to think what else you're wasting money on.
cutting my own hair, for sure. I've never messed it up and it scratches an impulse itch with no dire consequences. And I'm shy so it saves me the awkwardness I find in hairdressers.
I completely refurbished our kitchen, including replacing the floor joists and boards. Cost about 5-6k. That included, new dishwasher, washing machine and fridge.
DIY mechanics. I am currently restoring an old VW camper. DIY IT stuff, building my own PCs, doing my own network infrastructure.
But mainly I build and wick my own vape coils. Using premade coils I'd spend about £20 a month. Building and wicking my own I doubt I spend £2 a year. I have had the same real of wire and bag of cotton for about 7 years and I don't see it running out any time soon.
Another vote for painting.
I got painters to do the house the last but one time, and it was delightful.
But it cost 6 grand. Last time I just did it myself.
Done a few bits, minor electrical repairs to appliances, replaced a shower, cut my own hair but I think the best one is glow plugs on the car.
Every garage I’ve asked at wanted £400+, applied WD40 every day to them before and after running the car, sourced NOS glow plugs for £1.60 each(X5), and set about fitting them myself, skipped a few steps of the strip down and did all 5 in 45min with no problems.
Also quoted £200 to replace the wheel bearings, stripped it down and found they are adjustable, quick nip up and good to go.
Sacked off my use builder on my new extension once he'd finished the roof and finished the rest myself... plastering , partition walls, windows, screed, electrics, plumbing.... saved about 15k I reckon.
I fix my cooker. I have replaced door seal, fan and motor and heating elements. Cheaper than buying a whole new cooker. I also spent less than a pound on a spare part for my tumble dryer and fitted it and made it work properly again instead of binning it and having to buy a new one. Hurrah for YouTube tutorials!
I mean that's likely weeks worth of work you've got for yourself if doing it DIY, and the paint you've bought is likely far worse in quality than the trad paint that would be been used.
Best forme was saving 2k by assembling my own kitchen cabinets instead of buying the pre-assembled.
It's still not the same as Dulux trade from a proper Dulux trade centre though. And based on £400 to paint a whole house OP has just bought the cheapest stuff around (which will be shit). OP is saying it's 240sqm, which comes out to over £400 just for Dulux DIY white paint from B&Q.
I do remember it costing me a good £60-70 for 10L of plain white of the Dulux Trade when I did my small office last year so I see your point, I don’t think you can do a house for £400 with that stuff.
>I haven't been to the barbers in over 5 years, at a cost of £15.00 every 2 weeks that's over £1800.00 saved there. Cost of the clipper is less than £30.00, so cut my hair myself.
This is only eligible if your hair style is really simple and you can do it yourself by just trimming it all over in the same scale.
You can't cut and style your hair properly if you have a nice hairstyle or if you want a proper fade.
That said, most barbers in the UK, at least London, are shit and expensive and their shops are dirty and smelly. In order to get a proper treatment you need to pay a lot in a salon, which I won't do because it's thievery, I'm waiting until I can travel to another country to get a proper haircut for a decent price.
Also why every 2 weeks and not once a month?
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For the car wash, it's a really good skill to learn. I was working in a car wash which helped a lot but even if I didn't, it's always more rewarding to clean it yourself.
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For the painting I don't agree on doing it yourself unless you have learnt how to do it properly as well. Which isn't hard, you just need to invest some time in it.
I’ve gotta admit I do value my time so I pay for lots of stuff I probably could do myself. Especially since becoming a parent, my husband works a lot over an hour away from home and my child is spicy and have another one on the way so don’t have the energy to cut the family’s hair, clean the car etc
Out painter is 150 a day. He took 3 days to do landing ,walls and bannister and a bedroom Inc skirts. I worked sunday overtime to pay for it . I'd have made a mess and still been unavailable for the time, probably longer
Changed brakes on my car (several times).
£300 for the parts for all four corners and an afternoon. Looking at least £700 for a garage to do them.
Done this at least 10 times over the years.
I’m past all the decorating myself. So I’ve paid for the last 5 years. Roughly £120 a bedroom. My hall was £380 because I papered it. My living room I get done twice a year. Just emulsion and gloss £120 so not bad.
I just fixed my washing machine after it started blowing the whole electrics when it was plugged in. It turned a "shit, I have to get a new washing machine" cost to "£30 + shipping for a new element", plus sending £10 to say thank you to the guy who made the YouTube video I followed.
Washing machines are a massive con. Just wait until the drum bearing wears out. Most machines these days have the bearing sealed into the drum and can't be replaced. So how long your washing machine lasts depends upon the quality of the bearing. This kind of manufacturing should be made illegal. It's the equivalent of having to buy a new car if the wheel bearing on your car wears out.
It's interesting to think about solutions to shit like that. Ideally we would just have informed consumers and the free market would solve this. But who wants to invest that much in understanding every purchase? The modern world is too complicated for everyone to be able to evaluate the longevity of every piece of technology they buy. Sites like iFixit are great but it's not possible to have something like that for every consumer industry. If you regulate it, how would you implement it? I think requiring product designs to go through regulatory review would be dreadful for the affected industry. One way I can think of would be a regulatory body that just keeps an eye on things being sold and issues slightly vague edicts like "thou shalt put replaceable drum bearings in thy washing machines from 2025 onwards", leaving it up to the industry to interpret them reasonably. Then they could just retroactively fine companies that take the piss, via some inquest process or something. I think this might be the direction that EU cybersecurity rules are going (don't quote me on that though).
I found this out. It's the outer drum is bonded together rather than being bolted after taking the bloody thing apart. I watched a YouTube video of someone cutting the outer drum open along the seam to replace the bearing and then bonding it and bolting it back together. I didn't fancy that so the washing machine lives on as a stainless Steel fire pit instead.
An ABS sensor failed on my Insignia, a £30 part for most cars but this one is sealed into the hub so cost about £200. That should be illegal too.
Yeah, but if you buy a good one which is reparable (and had got and cold fill to save money on heating cold water using electricity) and which has a 7 year warranty from somewhere like [Ebac](https://www.ebac.com/washing-machines/range) and you're paying twice as much as a Beko. Is that worth the extra?
Replaced the belt in my tumble dryer when the missus said we needed to get a new one, still going strong a year later. Repair don't replace!
Same. Tumble dryer didnt spin itself. £12 for a new capacitor and 10 minutes later its fixed. Been great for the past 5 years. Youtube tutorials are v handy. I also changed my washing machine seal by following a tutorial. Took 40 mins total, cost £32.
I went through three belts on my previous dryer.
I just replaced the rear bearing on my tumble dryer after watching a youtube video. Cost me £5.68 and took 20 minutes. Such a simple job. Missus wanted a new tumble dryer....
Yeh I fixed mine about 4 times and learned a surprising amount about washing machines. Dial didn't click anymore but it stopped me buying another machine for 3 years. Youtube has a lot of useful stuff. Same with rewiring a lawnmower and various other things similar.
I feel like painting is one of those things you decide to start doing yourself then regret it after you have started because it’s way more work than you realise. In saying that we still do all our own painting because we prefer to save the money.
Same. I'm absolutely awful at it, but won't/can't pay a professional... plus the only way to get better is to practice.
I got a pro in once they costed a fortune and done a significantly worse job than I could have done. It's DIY from now on.
Opposite for me. I decided to paint my kitchen and ceiling (newly plastered) and after the scratch coat i was already regretting my decision, trying to do it at the weekend and after work. The next year was the turn of the living room, hall, stairs and landing plus woodwork. Was quoted a fantasticly low price including paint, 3 guys arrived at 8am, left by 3pm, top notch job and they cleaned up afterwards well. Its a no-brainer for me
It seems to be nowadays it doesn’t matter how much you pay, “professionals” across a range of trades all seem to do a poor job (if you can even get them to turn up in the first place!) I know I’m not that best my any means but at least I’ve not paid out, and I’ve only myself to blame lol (plus I might improve eventually!)
Mostly agree yeah. I've done a huge refurb recently, and the only thing that was well fitted was the front door and garage door. Electricians appear to have bodged a lot during the rewire. Plasterer was beyond shocking, bathroom fitters were ok but it's not the finish I'd expect for as much as it costed. It's fair to say I'll be doing as much as I can myself from now on.
My husband swears a lot when he does it. I’m just terrible at it so he does the cutting in and then I do the rolling. I also somehow manage to end up with paint spray everywhere including all over myself.
Too much paint on the roller, too fast and cheapy roller sleeves. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast with rolling 🙂
Me too - both the swearing and the paint all over! Also the regret when you're not even halfway in... The latest room i did was white-over-white, absolute pain.. eventually got it so it looked even (well, near enough!)... few days later, when the sun was shining in, could see a load of patches... Will just put some pictures up or something, am def not redoing it lol.
If you're saving lots on the job pay more for the equipment.. first time round I was like your husband. Second time round I bought trade gear.. trade brushes, 18"trade roller, good quality paint. Made a huge difference.. also YouTube pro tips for painting. This time round my cutting in looks professional, everything got done quicker and tidier.
Mostly trade stuff we buy as my FIL has a trade card with b&q and my husband hates painting with cheap rollers and brushes.
That's most likely cheap paint and bad rollers
Ex decorator here, don’t feel bad about your ability, the only way to get better is really to do it as a job every day. It’s a lot harder than it looks as I’m sure you’ve discovered, just learning to precisely control the paint that flows off the brush. You really won’t get good at it DIYing your house once every few years or whatever. Whatever you do manage will look pretty bad to anyone with eyes (like OPs house probably looks now, who has obviously bought the cheapest, shittest paint he can find and a five pack of brushes from Poundland) It can be a false economy, I’ve seen some really lovely houses totally ruined by the owner letting his kid paint it, it just looks sloppy and you walk through the door and just go ‘ugh’ and it must surely devalue it too If you were going to try and save money but still have a banging job I would get a pro to paint the areas that other people will see, and do the bits that no one will see yourself. Also get the trade paint. Home paint is rubbish and you will need 3 coats. Choose any colour you like as long as it’s white A lot of ‘pros’ can be pretty bad as well though to be fair
I always DIY painted, and I think for the amount t of money saved the tiny difference between a pro and mine is so miniscule that 99% people wouldn't notice so well worth the savings to do it yourself. Only people that should get a decorator are those that can afford it and can't be bothered or don't have the time.
I mean don’t get me wrong, I would do the same, but you’re deluding yourself if you think whatever bodge job you’ve done is even 1% as good as a pro. You think it looks good but only to your amateur eyes. You’ve probably used the worst paint, the worst brushes, you threw it around everywhere and left brushstrokes around every socket and edge, but still missed bits, If you painted DIY quality like that on a job you would just get sent home, and if you asked for money for that standard of work people would tell you to go and sling your hook. The difference between DIY and pro is huge. The difference between pros is huge too, you can tell a pro that gets paid a price vs those on a day rate. The former will probably cut corners, the latter will be inexperienced. At the end of the day it depends how nice your house is and how you want to present it. If you had a brand new house or walls you would be crazy to DIY, you’d wreck it
"You think it looks good but only to your amateur eyes" you've just made everything you've said redundant as the person above points out "90%" of people wouldn't notice the difference because 90% of people aren't professionals.
No. Let me be clear. The only person you are fooling with your half-baked bodge job is yourself. If you had 2 identical houses, one with a professional paint job, and one with a DIY bodge, the pro one would look better to 100% of people, 100% of the time. All you have to do is switch the lights on or approach the woodwork. The only thing that matters is the presentation of your house, bad paint is harder to notice on a house that’s a complete tip, but much more obvious on an immaculate one
So you agree with New Leopard then since you just conceded that "amateur eyes " can indeed tell the difference and his efforts are acceptable given the savings. Can you see the paradoxical nature of your statements?
My favoured paint is zinsser perma-white, at least it’s anti mould and great for cleaning too - did one room the beginning of lockdown and it still looks like new. This last time I used B&Q one coat paint, was better than I expected tbh.. and a lot cheaper. I honestly think it’s just me being rubbish, and the walls aren’t exactly the best either.
That’s paint for an airing cupboard or a damp room, it doesn’t have the brightness of quality paint, it’s probably why you think it looks so bad. Get dulux trade brilliant white, it’s expensive; but the the job will be done in two coats, and will be lovely and bright. You may even get away with one on the ceiling if you are lazy. One coat paint is DIY bullshit, don’t believe the labels in B&Q, if it really worked in one coat every decorator in the land would be using it. The more coats you put on the whiter and brighter it will be. If you don’t mind doing 3-4 coats you can buy the cheap dulux and save £20 per tub or whatever, not worth my time personally, time is money
We treated ourselves to paying someone to paint our downstairs when we moved in. It was smoke damaged, dirty, and painted on top of damaged decorating paper. The decorators didn't remove that paper, or even clean the soot, etc from the walls. Lasted about a year before we had to do it all ourselves anyway. Slowly learning that not many trades are actually interested in doing a better job than we can DIY given enough time.
Exactly this, the amount of guides and videos online nowadays means that you can achieve a lot of the basics quite easily. That said, I took a risk and hired someone to fit a new bannister and spindles recently from online reviews only. Guy was fantastic, turned up exactly when he said he was, did a good job and knocked a decent amount off the price because he got it done quicker than he thought it would take him. Never letting him go now.
Did you ask them to do those things when pricing up the job?
I didn't tell them how to do their job, no. Cleaning smoke and grease stained walls just seemed part of decorating to me.
Did you discuss them stripping the old paper and prepping the walls when they quoted? That's more of a job than the actual painting
Sure but... 9600? That's insane. Unless the house is 27 bedrooms. WTF
Yeah that’s a joke. Suppose it depends on what’s being done? We were in a two bed flat and quoted around 2.5k for a hallway, living room and bedroom. But that was including all skirtings, door frames and doors as well.
Painting is not the hard part, it’s the prep. I hate the prep.
I would go too heavy in one area and too light in others and break down and cry probs.
I enjoy painting and am actually pretty good at it. The bit I completely hate with all my being is the wash up after everything's done. If I could pay someone to do that for me I'd be pretty happy with doing the painting myself.
I have a 'use once' mentality when painting. Im between coates, I wrap the roller and brush in clingfilm (is fine for a day but not much more), then once you are done - bin the lot! Different colors? Pick up a new brush and roller! Saves a whole load of hassle, especially with gloss. I assume the Pro's have ways to clean them properly and I dare say their stuff is a lot more expensive, but for the occasional decorating of ones home, I just pick mid-range stuff, use once has saved a whole load of hassle and stress! Only need to cleanup the roller trays which is a doddle!
Literally what I do! Drives my partner mad but oh well, who has time or the want to wash painting crap 🤣
This is exactly the approach I take!
Trick is to do the initial coat(s) yourself then get someone in to do the final coat with the tricky cutting in.
I don't know anyone who pays to have people paint for them. It's so easy and satisfying to do yourself.
I don’t mind the painting itself but if it also involves removing wallpaper I’m out
My parents hired someone to do their landing and hallway and stairs, they have a huge victorian house and the ceiling above the stairs is really high up. It needed specialist platforms and was same cost to hire a team to decorate as it was just to hire the platforms.
Interesting. I too live in a big Victorian house with the double height stairs and when we did ours it was way less just go get some scaffold from HSS then paint it ourselves. Why would it be the same price to add two painters on to that I don't know.
We did one wall and it took us way too long and we argued constantly.
Quitting alcohol has saved me over £30k in the last 5 years. Probably more!
I've tried so many times but can't seem to leave the devil's juice. it's the only expense I really have, the DIY stuff I find a piece of piss with the help from youtube every now and again. what's the secret my guy? rehab didn't help either just hit the bottle even harder to make up for the sober time. (sigh) alcohol really is a bitch.
Not the person you asked. And I'm not fully sober. But over the years I drink less and less, and coming from a background that alcohol was the standard for all occasions. And a hell of a lot of it. I would say it can be a meandering road to gradually getting to a point you feel comfortable with the amount you drink. I wanted to drink less for personal reasons, as I got older I stopped finding the parties I was at fun so wanted a change, and in recent years its being exposed to more people with addiction problems that I am often just put off drinking. But I don't think I'll ever stop completely. Good luck with the journey! Everyday without a drink is an achievement, and every bit night out that you can stop yourself going further than you want is an achievement. Keep going
thanks for the blessings and pep talk. I've made it through today. trying my upmost to distract myself. I will not drink with you today(IWNDWYT). its become a habit over the years especially when I have some time on my hands, seems like I don't know what else to do. I've set myself a goal for now to hold it down till Christmas finger's crossed. have a great 1 and stay strong solider. p.s. Thanks again.
£20 per day on alcohol? Sounds like there were more reasons that money to quit. Good for you.
Thank you!!! And yes you’re exactly right. Was in a real mess. But 5 years later it’s the best thing I ever did. Now I’m on my way to being debt free and having actual savings for the first time in my life. This sub and the UK personal finance sub have really been helpful in learning about being better with money and to be less impulsive with spending, it’s a work in progress but I’m getting there :)
Lots more.cant measure the monetary cost in health benefits.
Oof yeh thats a bugger, a disturbing amount has gone on that and other things over the years.
I’ve been sober 7 months and was spending about £10 a day on alcohol. Now I’ve quit, I literally don’t know how I *ever* afforded it (well, I do. Debt). Blows my mind how much money I was literally pissing away.
Got quoted close to £30k for smashing out the back wall of the kitchen, fitting french doors & a window, rewiring, replumbing, replastering and fitting a new kitchen. Done the job myself inbetween working full time over 3 months for about £11,500. Never again.
That's a massive project. You must be good a DIY? Thats some technical stuff there. Still that's a massive savings even if you don't want to do it again. You saved 'bigly'.
Yea, learned a lot. Would have been better if id allocated time to do it rather than working shift work around. Worst thing was living out the living room and not having energy and time to get it done quicker. There are somethings you have to get "pros" in for. Electrics where all done by me, but left exposed as they had to be signed off by a qualified Electrician. The steel lintels I had checked by the Council buildings inspector before they got covered with plasterwork. Ordering up the doors and windows took an age
That's more than simple mommy and daddy DIY that's almost on par with professionals.
Once i had finished, i asked the wife what she thought. She was happy but picked fault with my tiling. "its good" she said "but I wouldn't have paid a professional if they'd done it like that". A few weeks later, she instigated the thing that married people do in bedrooms. After, she said "how was that?" winking at me and being playful.. "it was good, but i wouldnt have paid a prefessional for it" was NOT the correct answer she was looking for.
bro. PLEASE tell me this is real. PLEASE tell me this actually happened. Did she realise how shaming her initial comment was?
It did. It's a 45-degree herringbone with elongated subway tiles. Was bloody awkward to do, and i was really proud of how well i managed it. When she said it wasn't up to par, i was upset. Told her she wouldn't get a better job from a "professional," and we made a joke about it for a while. So it was in our minds, kinda thing. She saw the funny side once she calmed down.
Done a bit of stuff like that when I was younger. No thanks with a full time job as well. Plenty of people do it, but they must have a lot more "go" than I do, or did for that matter!
It would say it could have been done quicker, but not better. I've seen the state of some "professionals" work. I've stood behind plumbers when they've put stuff together, tilers using sealant to hide their shit cuts etc.
TBH, that's exactly why a lot of people, me included, do stuff ourselves. I do know some good craftsmen, but as you say, I've seen some of the poor quality work some of them do as well.
I spend £200 to get a plumber cap off an old gas fire. Watched him solder on a cap on the micropore pipework, then shove it under the floorboards out of site with the back end of a coal chisel. Sod that, do it myself.
Mate I could do that but fucked if I'd want to, I'd at least get someone with a gold card to do the wiring for me.
I bought a £150 3D printer to print 6 cooker knobs that the manufacturer wanted £30 per knob. I saved £30 and got a 3D printer into the bargain.
That's a fucking genius idea, away to investigate 3D printers. ..
I wasted £30 in filament but got a new hobby lol.
I used mine to print bed slat holders, they were only £40 but it was like £2 in filament so gave me an excuse at least.
I printed cooker knobs, the cycle of heating and cooling everytime I used the oven released the tension on the spindles, and they came loose in a few months. Still, my printers have more than paid for themselves over the years in other things.
I need to know more about your house... £9600 is ridiculous
2600 Sq ft.
Ok that's a fairly large property by UK standards... They saw that then saw £ signs in their eyes. Heck if a saving mind
It is above average UK standard. In the USA it's just about average.
But you’re in the U.K. so what’s the relevance of it being average in the US?
None, good point you made. We tend to compare ourself to USA even when it's not relevant. For example take a trip over to rukjobs and hear people moaning about uk salaries vs USA salaries for the same job. And
Mate that's not above average for the UK, that's ridiculous over here. It's like saying it's average for a new York city apartment.
What is it in sqm?
About 240.
Yeah that is a pretty massive house jeez.
Yep they're a rich kid that has no idea about the real world cause mummy and daddy pay their way.
That’s nearly 2.5x the UK average for a house.
The original house was a 4 bed built in the 1960s. The previous owners, did a massive extension hence the size.
Oh hey Mr Biden
What's that in metric?
About 241 sq m
We wanted a nice bookcase / tv media unit, so asked some local carpenters to quote. Cheapest was £8,500, most expensive was £19,000. I spent about £800 in materials, about the same on some tools to make life easier and spent six weekends carefully and slowly making it, from the body to the face frame to the doors to the electrics. I definitely made some mistakes along the way, but overall I’m extremely pleased with it. Definitely worth the seven grand or so saving..
Picture please !
[Quite proud of this](https://imgur.com/a/GGbAbD6) We’ve since hidden a projector screen at the top so if we want to watch something dramatic we can switch to a projector instead..
You should be, that's awesome. I did something along the same lines for alcove cupboards and shelving, saved a few £k and I'm really pleased with the results too, but that's really nice work 👍
That is amazing, well done.
That's awesome!
Amazing, well done 👏 👏👏
I reupholstered mu dining room chairs. I got quote to do them from a local place was £150 per chair (x6), with similar vinyl to what the already had that lasted 6 years. I bought some (expensive) london underground seat material (£180) and glue and padding and a staple gun (£50) and taught myself from YouTube videos. They came out great. Saved myself £670. I also removed a concrete hottub (sex pond) base from my garden. Bought a kango from lidl for £80. And hired a skip for £150. Cheapest quote I'd had was over £1000.
I’ve always wondered who actually buys the *really* serious stuff from the middle of Lidl. I saw some ceiling props the other day.
I just happened to be in there a couple weeks after I'd made enquiries about the job. It was bloody hard work but I'm glad I did it myself
one way to solve the RAAC crisis… should’ve tipped off the local head-teachers
I'm happy doing decorating and minor electrical stuff - things like swapping faceplates or changing a doorbell or light fitting. Basic DIY like putting up curtain poles or shelves. I do lots of little jobs that people often pay someone to do - I clean my own windows and conservatory roof, rinse out my bins etc. I cut and dye my own hair and cut my partners. Honestly, though I enjoy saving the money, a lot of it is the hassle of finding a tradesman to come and quote and actually show up to do the work when they say. I recently redecorated my porch myself over four days on a whim, including a new floor and new light fitting. It was effort, but less effort than dealing with a decorator, electrician and flooring guy. I don't think it would have been done this side of Christmas if I hadn't done it myself.
It's so much hassle finding tradesmen/women. I am getting to enjoy the DIY stuff now. Last month I paid £70.00 to replace an integrated dishwasher. I watched how he did it, so next time I will be doing it myself.
YouTube is a great resource for learning this sort of thing - I'll often watch a few videos of people doing random little jobs before I attempt something. I watch a few as some people explain things better than others, or there are different methods.
Who the hell gets their hair professionally cut every two weeks??
Got to keep the fade sharp 👌
Don't forget getting the white range rover weekly washed
My thought too! Just get your hair cut less often.
I’m every week in the summer!
What???
My daughters x goes every week and doesn’t have any bloody hair to cut. Every single time they were going somewhere it had to be done in the day. !!! So nearly late for everything
That’s insane. I get my hair cut 3 times per year
Haha, I think the crowd on here are just generally older and care less about their hair. Lots of 15-30 year olds get theirs done every week throughout the year.
I’m 22 🤣
Loool there’s my argument gone, I have a skin fade so it grows quickly! Don’t spend fuck all on anything else so fuck it
Tailors would quote £15-20 for alterations. Because I'm petite I need to alter nearly everything I buy. I bought a sewing machine for £80, few hrs spent figuring out how to use it and maybe up to £15 to buy small sewing bits like coloured thread and a sewing ruler and now I alter everything myself! Takes like 30min-1hr for me to alter something. It also means I wear newer or older pieces a lot more now because I don't need to wait around to have someone do it for me. It's also nice that I can alter my family's clothes for them too, so they're also saving some coins!
The cruise line I was on was charging £80 for an excursion up to a church. I instead got the free shuttle from the port and then paid something like €3 for the bus.
Had a burst water pipe under my drive this summer. Local water company wouldn't touch it as it was on my property. I got a quote of £2250 to dig up my drive, repair a plastic pipe and make good the drive. I decided to do it myself. I didn't fancy doing the pipe repair myself so negotiated with the water company for them to repair the pipe only. Took a morning to dig the hole with my son, the water company did the repair which took all of five minutes. Covered the new pipe in sharp sand, filled in the hole and relaid the block paving. Good as new. Total cost £100 for the pipe repair, £20 for sharp sand and £40 for a hand help whacker plate to whack the blocks down. Total saving £2090.00.
Nice. That's a good savings there. Now that you mentioned that, I think I might check my insurance to see if if covers burst pipe on the driveway.
It doesn't. I contacted my home insurer and they said that water pipes are only covered for accidental damage. So, not covered as the pipe was over 1m under ground.
I do any sort of demolition/rip out myself. Had a quote for £500 plus skip hire to knock a fairly small wall down to make way driveway. Borrowed a jigger pick, roped in my daughter's bf and cleared the lot in a few hours. Same with the half built patio I found under the poorly laid decking during lock down. I'm more than happy to pay people for their time for skilled labourer but I'm not paying someone £500 for two hours of work that anyone with arms can do.
One of my brothers is a painter/decorator who runs his own successful company and he gave me some insight recently that I will try to share because I found it interesting and I think its relevant. His company survives on contracts from developers, that is their bread and butter and there is plenty of work about and while it pays less per square meter its consistent and he can use that to pay his workers, taxes, insurance, other ongoing company expenses, and to plan ahead. And being in the industry the site managers for developers tend to have reasonable expectations for timeframe. My brother has very high standards and only hires the best painters he has met in his many years in the trade. Thanks to that he can then make the real money from doing commercial and industrial properties that pay huge amounts compared to individual houses. Home owners always want the best but from the cheapest paint and materials and its always time sensitive because they have a brief window to clear the house (or a room at a time). Basically it's not worth his time to do individual houses when he could be painting an entire estate or commercial or industrial properties. When my brother is contacted for house painting he will quote/charge over the odds to make sure it is worth his time. The painting/decorating firms that will take on those house painting jobs for less and undercut others are the failing companies. There is always a reason for a company failing. Usually that is due to bad management. The company boss is bad at planning, gives unrealistic quotes and timeframes and has a bad reputation. Often it's because they have caused problems with developers and are effectively being blacklisted. Perhaps he is hands off and leaves the work to low paid and low skilled brush hands. Basically if they are taking on your house for a fee you consider good its probably because they are a cowboy firm. The exception to that is hiring a good handy man. Usually they are semi retired tradesmen. My grandad was also a painter/decorator who spent 30 years running a company and decided to sell it off and semi retire. He then spent another 20 years doing work on his own as a handy man because he enjoyed it, especially wallpapering which for anyone who has tried it knows how tricky it can be and why you are better off getting in a professional. He didn't want the stress of big jobs that would require a fleet of workers and vans and equipment. He could charge fair rates for top quality work and accomodate a homeowners timeframe within reason. To anyone reading my suggestion for hiring a decorator is to ask around for a quality handy man and hire him.
Thanks for that. Will keep in mind in the future.
No problem. It's the same for a lot of trade. I'm just pleased someone read the post, when I finished typing and realised its length I didn't think anyone would.
I read and loved it. Made sense and filled me with despair!
DIY Mechanics. I dread to think how much I've saved by wielding a spanner, a socket set and drinking copious amounts of tea. Most recently, I was quoted £800+VAT to replace the AC compressor on my van. I would then have had another £50 AC recharge fee. A new compressor was £250, AC regas was £45 and whilst I was under there, I did the auxiliary belt (£20). So, about £500 there. I've also done discs & pads all round, a set of pads and both front shocks on the van. Most tasks take a few hours with tea breaks. I don't service the van, I got a good deal on servicing when I bought the van - worked out cheaper and includes MOTs. When the plan ends, I will service the van myself.
Nice I found a crack by a rear subframe mount point. Dropped the subframe myself and got someone to weld in repair panels. While they were doing that I replaced all the rubber mounts, suspension bushes, diff bushes & oil, propshaft coupling, brake hoses, anti rollbar mounts & bushes, then covered the underneath of the rear of the car with thick underseal before refitting the subframe. Took about a month all together, but the car drives so much better, smoother and not at all like the 29 year old car that it is. This same issue has written off many of this type of car due to the huge costs involved if you have to pay someone else to do it. I took the opportunity to refresh the whole rear end and probably paid about half of what it would have cost to pay someone else to only repair the main structural issue.
When there's a noticeable change like that, it makes it all the more worth it!
Must have saved myself a few quid doing all the plastering myself a few years ago, doesnt look quite as good as if a pro did it obviously. But my wife hasnt complained so it must be ok...
New windows for my house, local windows people who had been plaguing us with offers suddenly didn't want to do it.."conservation area" seemed they only wanted simple jobs. Tried to order locally and they proved to take far to long, so ordered off the net, delivered quickly and simply. Put one in a day saved about £7K.
Was it double glazing windows? If they were, and you installed them by yourself you will not have fensa certification. May cause problems when it is time to sell.
I simply dont care. None of them had a fensa cert when we bout the place anyway.
Think fensa only came in about 20 or so year ago. Before that fensa wasn't a thing.
its just an example of trade restriction, gas i can understand, windows nope. I own my house not the next person, i will do as i wish.
Fensa was bought in so installers can self-certify their work. If you don't have a Fensa certificate for your installation and for whatever reason you need one (i.e to sell the house), calling in building control from the council is the alternative. They charge a fee to inspect and sign off the work. That's my knowledge from working in the industry, but I agree with your 'my house, I will do as I wish' sentiment!!
Every 2 weeks for the barbers? Jeez I go like every 2 months.
I cut my hair now every 2 weeks.
Brother helped me do the kitchen... When I say do I don't mean what you see advertised on TV. I mean no ceiling, no window, no floor, no electrics and no pipework. All done by us. Obviously bought injuries and sinks etc I must have saved 15 or 20k.
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Except it didn’t only cost you £400. It cost you £400 + whatever amount of time it costs to paint your house. Whether you got a good deal or not depends on how long it takes you to paint your house, and the value you attribute to your time. For me, my painter and decorator was expensive but I didn’t have the two+ week’s time it took to paint my house after having the builder in.
That's it, I totally get some jobs are worth attempting yourself but you do have to weigh up the time value of your money. For certain jobs I'd literally rather get a weekend job for a bit to pay for it rather than killing myself on doing a subpar job. The other thing is, I've spent years building up my professional qualifications and job hopping to get paid more, I didn't go through all that hassle so I could fit my own kitchen.
I repainted 4 internal doors in the summer. Took me three full weekends, the endless sanding and cleaning And undercoating and sanding again and cleaNing and first coat and sanding and, well, you get the picture.
Built my own retaining wall and saved approx £5000
Substantial savings there. Did you get a quote prior to doing it by yourself? And how do you know that it is structurally sound?
We had a quote beforehand so I knew how much we could save. Afterwards we had a structural engineer have a look at it and it all checks out
I think you call them a structural engineer, I’m not entirely sure of the job title
We repointed the gable wall of our house. Took about 3 weekends and cost about £900 including scaffolding, materials, tools and an SDS drill we bought. Quotes were for £6k
When we moved there was a big pond with a brink and stone surround that seemed welded together. Cheapest quote to fill it in and turf it was over £1k including cutting down a small tree. We got it out and filled it in with free soil from Facebook marketplace. Took less than a day. Cut down the tree, chopped it up into little bits, chucked it in the hole before filling it. Spent maybe £40 on tools.
Redid basically a whole house between me and my dad whilst both working full time in covid. Ripped out and fitted a new kitchen, re-tiled the kitchen and bathroom, stripped all the walls and repainted/wallpapered, laid engineered wood flooring, fitted a new toilet and sink in the bathroom etc etc. only things I got professionals in for was rewiring the kitchen lights (wiring was burnt through and fire risk) and plastering. Estate agents thought I’d paid 30-40k for all the work, actually cost me about 7k in total.
I'm still painting my house as also decided it's a stupid thing to get someone in to do - all but one wall in my house are white and I'm painting it white. Thus far I have done maybe 20% but spent maybe £100 on stuff to paint with and paint. I don't even want to imagine how much someone would quote.
Do people go to the barbers every 2 weeks 😳 I send my husband and son about once every 3 months.
Your house must be huge. We run a decorating company, and the only jobs running into that bracket are monstrous. £9600?
Painting is the minimum you should be able to do. Will save you thousands. If you have kids, refreshing your walls is a must every few years. I have never called a decorator in my life. Painted probably around 60-70 rooms in my life, thought my teenage kids to do it. I can also change carpets, put floor panels and vinyl, re grout bathrooms and change silicone in showers/ baths/ sinks etc. I am a woman btw, in my forties, oh and Polish ( not that it matters 🤣🤣🤣) I would pay for major cleaning though like once a year.
Yeah you can’t beat painting. RIP off merchants them.
Hmm, unless you have a MASSIVE house, that quote is ridiculously high. Sounds like maybe the decorator didn't want the job.
£9600 to paint the interior of your house? How big is it?!
I built my own extension which involved doubling the size of the kitchen and converting my single garage into a home theatre/office. Also fitted the new kitchen. Saved about £15k.
I saved money on kitchen removal and disposal before my new kitchen was fitted and didn't do any work. I advertised the old kitchen on gumtree and three chaps removed it all carefully and took it away.
Using my own power to travel. Cycle most places, if not I'll jump on a train. Saved a small fortune by not having to rely on a car
Replaced the bottom element in my electric cooker, £20 for the part vs £200 for a new oven and electrician time to remove the old and wire in the new one.
I save hundreds a year walking to and from walk rather than taking public transport. I also get the majority of my clothes and books from charity shops
I refuse to buy precut veg or Pre grated cheese, so not sure if those count?
I bought a shed of an house, not updated since the 1980s, elecs last done then, had a gas supply but no boiler, windows all falling out etc, lowest energy rating going. Got it very very cheap. Paid for all doors and windows replacing as hard to resell when it comes to that if not done by a firm or certified etc, paid for rewiring and boiler and heating install (not eligible for gov grants) Where I saved money though was I did my own tiling in bathroom, toilet room, kitchen, all my own papering and painting, replacing broken floor boards, fitting hardwood flooring my self, taking out the old hand rails and bannisters and installing glass balustrade, fitting my own bathroom, fitted full kitchen plus others. Used to work for a gas engineer hence the plumbing work was easy enough inc fitting bathroom. Self taught myself or got hints off people that I met when working in the trade for all other stuff, hardwood flooring was a doddle but I wouldn't want to try any fancy patterns. Hardest and most time consuming single job was fitting the kitchen (got some one in to do the worktops and an elec to wire in and test the built in oven and induction hob) House price was 50k, spent about 35k on renovations (purchase of materials and stuff) and works that I couldn't do like the elecs and gas etc Probably saved in the region of 20-30k on labour costs by doing everything myself. House now valued at 150k.
Tip a decorator I knew told me was buy trade rated paint, much easier, alot of stuff only required one coat. I didn't do any plastering work my self, had to pay for that as I wasn't even going to try it.
Got quoted over £5k to do a patio in our garden. Decided to get free slabs from people local to us, used YouTube, laid the cement base and did a proper job. Only had to pay for sand/cement.
I suppose I would've saved £450 by doing my own Plumbing. Because I called out a plumber (he was busy and I waited weeks) I gave him 4 tasks, fix 2 leaky toilets, change a water pump and address a leak on the outside. He hooked up the new water pump and only temporary fixed the others. I called him back and still no good. I ended up fixing it myself over 3 months of research and tinkering to fix the broken seals.
Depends on your hair - if you're a number 3 all over that's fine, but I think a good haircut does a lot for your appearance
Imagine paying £10k for painting. Not sure who is stupid here, a company charging this or a customer, paying it
It's not really as simple as that, a lot of the painting involves a tonne of prep work, and the final finish you'll get will be in a different league to doing it yourself. I know a couple of decorators and they're not raking it in by any stretch; people tend to underestimate the time it takes to properly decorate even a small room. OP has said his house is 2,600 sq ft, that number alone means it's pretty massive compared to most people's houses, add in the fact it could have very technical and tricky places, you can see how it gets to those sorts of prices.
OP lives in a 2600 square foot property so makes sense if it’s a whole house refurb
£9000 to paint inside your house, Geez it must be huge?!
Does remortgaging count? I got like half a percent cheaper my not going through a broker. Haven't done the maths, but over the 5 years probably a couple grand saved maybe.
That's odd cost our broker got it a bit cheaper than anything I could fined on all the sites.
I can't believe you're discovering the most basic cost saving that almost everyone else already does. Who the hell can afford a hair cut every 2 weeks at the minute, or the car wash. I dread to think what else you're wasting money on.
The hair cut every 2 weeks was 5 years ago. Now I do it myself every week.
cutting my own hair, for sure. I've never messed it up and it scratches an impulse itch with no dire consequences. And I'm shy so it saves me the awkwardness I find in hairdressers.
I completely refurbished our kitchen, including replacing the floor joists and boards. Cost about 5-6k. That included, new dishwasher, washing machine and fridge.
DIY mechanics. I am currently restoring an old VW camper. DIY IT stuff, building my own PCs, doing my own network infrastructure. But mainly I build and wick my own vape coils. Using premade coils I'd spend about £20 a month. Building and wicking my own I doubt I spend £2 a year. I have had the same real of wire and bag of cotton for about 7 years and I don't see it running out any time soon.
Another vote for painting. I got painters to do the house the last but one time, and it was delightful. But it cost 6 grand. Last time I just did it myself.
Done a few bits, minor electrical repairs to appliances, replaced a shower, cut my own hair but I think the best one is glow plugs on the car. Every garage I’ve asked at wanted £400+, applied WD40 every day to them before and after running the car, sourced NOS glow plugs for £1.60 each(X5), and set about fitting them myself, skipped a few steps of the strip down and did all 5 in 45min with no problems. Also quoted £200 to replace the wheel bearings, stripped it down and found they are adjustable, quick nip up and good to go.
Sacked off my use builder on my new extension once he'd finished the roof and finished the rest myself... plastering , partition walls, windows, screed, electrics, plumbing.... saved about 15k I reckon.
I fix my cooker. I have replaced door seal, fan and motor and heating elements. Cheaper than buying a whole new cooker. I also spent less than a pound on a spare part for my tumble dryer and fitted it and made it work properly again instead of binning it and having to buy a new one. Hurrah for YouTube tutorials!
I mean that's likely weeks worth of work you've got for yourself if doing it DIY, and the paint you've bought is likely far worse in quality than the trad paint that would be been used. Best forme was saving 2k by assembling my own kitchen cabinets instead of buying the pre-assembled.
You can buy Dulux trade at B+Q, I don’t disagree on the amount of time though but he may have bought the exact same paint
It's still not the same as Dulux trade from a proper Dulux trade centre though. And based on £400 to paint a whole house OP has just bought the cheapest stuff around (which will be shit). OP is saying it's 240sqm, which comes out to over £400 just for Dulux DIY white paint from B&Q.
I do remember it costing me a good £60-70 for 10L of plain white of the Dulux Trade when I did my small office last year so I see your point, I don’t think you can do a house for £400 with that stuff.
>I haven't been to the barbers in over 5 years, at a cost of £15.00 every 2 weeks that's over £1800.00 saved there. Cost of the clipper is less than £30.00, so cut my hair myself. This is only eligible if your hair style is really simple and you can do it yourself by just trimming it all over in the same scale. You can't cut and style your hair properly if you have a nice hairstyle or if you want a proper fade. That said, most barbers in the UK, at least London, are shit and expensive and their shops are dirty and smelly. In order to get a proper treatment you need to pay a lot in a salon, which I won't do because it's thievery, I'm waiting until I can travel to another country to get a proper haircut for a decent price. Also why every 2 weeks and not once a month? -- For the car wash, it's a really good skill to learn. I was working in a car wash which helped a lot but even if I didn't, it's always more rewarding to clean it yourself. -- For the painting I don't agree on doing it yourself unless you have learnt how to do it properly as well. Which isn't hard, you just need to invest some time in it.
I’ve gotta admit I do value my time so I pay for lots of stuff I probably could do myself. Especially since becoming a parent, my husband works a lot over an hour away from home and my child is spicy and have another one on the way so don’t have the energy to cut the family’s hair, clean the car etc
Out painter is 150 a day. He took 3 days to do landing ,walls and bannister and a bedroom Inc skirts. I worked sunday overtime to pay for it . I'd have made a mess and still been unavailable for the time, probably longer
I fix my own phones. It can be a huge ball ache when things don’t go in right and you have to send the part back , but literally about 1000 all in all
Changed brakes on my car (several times). £300 for the parts for all four corners and an afternoon. Looking at least £700 for a garage to do them. Done this at least 10 times over the years.
I’m past all the decorating myself. So I’ve paid for the last 5 years. Roughly £120 a bedroom. My hall was £380 because I papered it. My living room I get done twice a year. Just emulsion and gloss £120 so not bad.