Future Military Homeowners
Find all the information you needon your road to homeownership.
Access our library of free homebuying ebooks and PDF guides.
Home improvement television often portray an idealistic version of how a renovation will go.
According to a 2009 HUD Survey, the median age of a home in the United States sits at 36 years, so it’s no surprise that home renovation is a huge market. Ever since the incredibly popular show Trading Spaces hit TV viewers back in 2000, networks have been capitalizing on the remodeling craze to create dozens of shows aimed at younger audiences.
No matter how many remodeling shows crop up, the renovations are usually portrayed the same: quick, easy and cheap. Seasoned renovators may take these shows with a grain of salt, but first time homebuyers might be persuaded to bite off more they can chew in the form of buying a home that needs a lot of work when they aren’t ready for it.
Don’t let home renovation shows trick you into thinking you’ll be able to tear out all the walls and completely change the layout of the kitchen during a 3-day weekend. Check out these busted myths about remodeling on television and the realities about the herculean projects you might take on.
Most remodels will cost more and take longer than a fresh coat of paint.
The biggest myth to on home improvement television is how long projects take. When everything is wrapped up nicely in 30 minutes while you snack on the couch, remodeling seems so fast and rewarding. The truth is that the entire process can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the project you’re undertaking.
Not only are the renovations on TV edited to fit into a 30 minute segment, they have an entire team of professionals helping to get the project done as fast as possible. Remember that every day the cameras have to be on-site costs the network a lot of money so they want everything completed at breakneck pace. Chances are you won’t have Ty Pennington and a team of 30 carpenters tearing out your kitchen, so it will take time and a lot of hard work.
Price is the second thing that surprises most first-time renovators. Shows boasting entire kitchen or bathroom remodels for a thousand dollars are a little deceiving. Usually all of the labor is taken care of by the homeowners or professionals and a lot of the seemingly random “great deals” they got on materials are planned.
Renovations sticking to small budgets are also generally making very surface changes. The hard reality is that many times you will run into issues that require completely new materials, not just a fresh coat of paint and a few fancy accessories. Especially if you’re looking to update any room with plumbing, you’ll be surprised by just how much of your budget goes to moving pipes and picking up new appliances.
Laying tile and other projects look easy on TV but take time to perfect.
Walking through a home improvement store after watching a home renovation show is an exercise in self-restraint. It’s easy to think you’ll be able to take on any project after seeing clueless homeowners lay glass tile like a pro. The main difference between you and the homeowners on TV is you don’t have a trained professional behind the scenes showing you the ropes.
Not to deter anyone from taking a class or tackling some smaller projects on their own, but keep in mind that you might want to leave the bigger jobs to the professionals so you don’t end up with a giant hole in the wall or a broken pipe flooding your bathroom.
Don’t pass on the home of your dreams because you might need to remodel the kitchen, but make sure you’re prepared for the true cost, time and energy it will take to complete a renovation. Don’t expect home improvement television to be true.
Images courtesy of Lauren Manning, mccun934 & peapodsquadmom
2 Comments
As an unwilling partner in a remodeling project, I fully agree with the author. It can take a LOT longer than you thought! We bought an older house 3+ years ago and right away my daughter said she and her live-in BF could rehab it in no time. While living in it and paying us rent. Three years later, BF is long gone and all the walls are still missing! Also, no rent. She says she will finish it, this year or next year, or? My brother-in-law also bought a house this year and the rehab is going very slowly. The house was in MUCH worse shape than he thought. Point: ALWAYS pay for a professional inspection BEFORE you buy a house! Know what you are buying. We didn’t.
My partner and I are moving into the house featured on “I Hate My Kitchen: From Ugly to Uber-Contemporary.” Yes, after only two years the owners had to sell. The kitchen needs repairs: a tile is cracked, the floor was laid unevenly (host James Young had the poor former owners pressing in tile with their FINGERS), and that stupid leather backplash fell off the wall, become Young 1) did not let the tiles acclimate, 2) did not properly prep the wall, and 3) did not use a proper adhesive.
Don’t get me started on the things that need correcting, or on the absurdity of tearing out wooden cabinets for Ikea prefabs, then laying on a $9000 QUARTZ countertop! Plus, there are no drop-downs for the cabinet, and Young removed a double sink to be replaced by a shallow single one with a flimsy faucet! (Ugh!)
So, if a professional contractor (?) like Young can make a mess by cutting corners, don’t think that you can get away with it. My partner and I fixed up our old house properly, used black linoleum (that’s right – linoleum) for the countertops, and sold at our asking price with 2 weeks! Read books, talk to qualified craftsmen, learn about materials, and have patience. Don’t go for the trendy.
Our new house, the one that was on “I Hate My Kitchen” is now going to receive a lot of love from two people who finally undestand it, and I shall be videodocumenting our progress.
I hate these home improvement shows. I’m a girl and I was yelling at James Young on the screen! I cannot imagine why he did what he did, other than to make a buck off of a naive couple.