Pocster Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 7 hours ago, Onoff said: 8 years to do a bathroom here...lucky I don't get sidetracked! ...but then there's nothing I won't attempt. I feel better reading that . I’m only 4 years in - happy days !!! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 We're (probably...) just about to move in, after five years. The first year got a lot done, but used all our money and ran into major problems with the water supply, which took close to a year's hard work to sort out. Since then the delays have really been down to me working pretty much on my own on all the thousand and one small jobs that seem to take a great deal longer than they should. It's not been helped by me wanting to get things right, rather than move in and still have a long list of things to do, as I know full well that I'll put off doing things once we're in. The biggest consumer of time and money over the past year or so has been landscaping. Having to change our plans quickly when the neighbour over the lane cut down a ~30ft high hedge threw a spanner in the works, as it suddenly meant that all the windows at the front of our house looked straight into their daughter's bedroom. All told that added around £3k to the cost, from having to buy mature trees and get them planted, together with loads of topsoil, digger work, etc, none of which I'd allowed for. We've also had to replace the fencing above our retaining wall, something I was never happy with but which the previous owners of the house further up the had insisted we fit. Now we have a nice and solid close boarded timber fence running along the top of the wall, which is a heck of a lot safer than the daft trellis that the previous chap was so insistent about. The downside was that it was another additional cost. If it wasn't for a stroke of luck in discovering earlier this year that one of my watches (which I'd paid a few pounds for in 1974) was worth well over £20,000, and me selling it very quickly, we'd not have been in a position to move even now, I think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hecateh Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 16 minutes ago, JSHarris said: If it wasn't for a stroke of luck in discovering earlier this year that one of my watches (which I'd paid a few pounds for in 1974) was worth well over £20,000, Wow! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 23 minutes ago, Hecateh said: Wow! Wow indeed! I bought the watch (a 1968 Omega Seamaster 300, RN miltary issue) at a surplus sealed bid sale. It had been issued to me in 1973, I handed it back early in 1974 and it was then declared obsolete and sold off, with a load of other stuff. I put in a bid (I think for £20), just because it had been "my" watch at work, and no one else bid so it became mine. Last year we were watching Antiques Roadshow and I spotted a very similar watch, same model, same year, same back markings, being given an auction estimate of £25,000. I took photos of mine, sent them to Bonham's, who agreed to put it in their July sale this year with an auction estimate of £30k. Word got out before the sale, and I was contacted by serious collectors, and I sold it for an undisclosed price that was well over £20k. One thing I learned was that the posh auction houses, like Bonham's, charge really exhorbitant fees, both for the seller and the buyer, plus they have to charge VAT. This means that sellers don't get anything like the hammer price for items like this and buyers pay a lot more than the hammer price, too. I got a fair price for the watch and it's now pride of place in the collection of a private collector. Only around 100 of these watches were made and only a few survive, as they are a divers watch and so inevitably got abused, plus the MOD just scrapped lots of them, only very few were sold. Military watches now fetch daft prices. My everyday watch is the aircrew Seiko 7A28-7120 that I was issued with in 1984, and which was written off when I stopped flying (for work) in 1997, so I got to keep it. That's now worth upwards of £1,000 and rising. Meanwhile, the "fake" Rolex Oysterdate that I bought in Singapore for a few pounds in the early 70's turned out to be genuine, and is now being restored (with some of the proceeds from the sale of the Omega Seamaster 300) and I rather suspect that it will have to be added as a separate item on to the house insurance when I get it back. I've never been one to collect watches, or value them, so it's a bit odd that the past year has seen three old watches of mine become worth a few bob. Just a pity that I never got my hands on my ex-wife's diamond-encrusted Cartier, that was a gift presented to her when we went to a party held by Sheik Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa at his palace whilst on our honeymoon. I bet that's worth a few bob now... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 I’ve got an old timex, I wonder ?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Construction Channel Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 12 hours ago, recoveringacademic said: How many of us (non-builders) I feel very left out of this. Just because it’s a busmans holiday doesn’t make it any easier. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC45 Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 12 hours ago, recoveringacademic said: DIY. How many of us (non-builders) are doing the vast majority of their build mostly on their own? Ditto here. 3yrs in now and hoping to get boarding done by end of Jan 2019. Also got a full time job. Life is busy. My other half doesn't help on the plot but when I get home she's got a meal ready - priceless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 I have the greatest respect for anyone holding down a full time job and family when doing a self build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted October 31, 2018 Author Share Posted October 31, 2018 12 hours ago, JSHarris said: [...] Military watches now fetch daft prices. [...] Better sell my old G10-40 watch then (£100 on eBay) ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 2 hours ago, Triassic said: I have the greatest respect for anyone holding down a full time job and family when doing a self build. +1, I am lucky to have retired (a bit early) and have the finance in place to do my build but I take my hat off for those not in my place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Some of the biggest issues come from having to be on site and make decisions at odd times, and accept that it may not go to plan as work will be done which might not be exactly as you envisaged. Add in that some downtime and family time is needed then you will soon find weekends and evenings disappear in a blur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC45 Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 I cant remember what a relaxing weekend is like.... Looking forward to the rewards when its done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz07 Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Sheiks and watches hey. Bet they don't give out I-watches! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Something valuable that Buildhubbers may have is classic furniture from the 1950s to 1970s. I still have a Guy Rogers "Manhattan" (or similar) double-bed sofa and a pair of reclining chairs which seem to go for crazy money now (though not 20k unfortunately). At one point in the old house we had 3 sofas and 7 chairs because people buying new houses on developments kept donating them as being too big for the new house. That little lot restored could now be around 5k or more, but most went before the move to the current house. Ferdinand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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