Money Well Spent

[Ferdinand]

@jack said on the other thread:

 

Quote

Might be worth starting a thread about things people have paid a bit more for that turned out as well as (or better than) hoped.

 

Here we are and here we are and here we go-oo-oh.

 

Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

Mine:

 

- Going for the max size solar array possible - 10kw not 4kw.

- Spending £900 on a pair of nice wrought iron asymmetric drive gates to cap off the "face" of a renovation.

 

I think my main insights are:

 

1 - not to skimp on things you won't be able to change later and could regret for a long time.

2 - that having a model incorporating running expenses over at least 10 years - including maintenance etc - is very important for objectivity.

3 - if there are items to be added later in order to "sell" it, consider adding them now so yuo can enjoy them for more than a month.

 

Ferdinand

[Tennentslager]

Gas nail gun...made building my timber hut a fun and quick experience.

[Crofter]

11 minutes ago, Tennentslager said:

Gas nail gun...made building my timber hut a fun and quick experience.

 

Mine too!

 

Tools in general have been money well spent. My Makita addiction might have cost me nearly £600 but it's been worth it for the increased productivity, and I guess I could sell them on at the end, although more likely you'd have to prise them from my cold dead fingers

[SteamyTea]

A Marguerite Patten cook book bought in 1981, still earning a living from it.

My first PC, earned a living from that too.

My Sun bike (got the frame for nothing), many happy months cycling across Europe and Africa on it.

Bosch washing machines, they are so much better than Hoover and Hotpoint.

[gravelld]

Filco keyboard.

[ragg987]

Architect who could turn our aspirations into reality and challenge our thinking in the process.

[reddal]

Here are a few of my 'money well spent' items :

 

• boiling water tap in kitchen - how did I ever manage without one?
• Oak frame from these people. Wasn't cheap but they did a great job.
• Oak glazing panels by these people.
• Walk on basement ceiling windows from here

• Custom oak kitchen and lots of built in furniture from here

• High end LED strip lighting. At the time I wondered if cheap stuff would be as good - with hindsight I think it isnt

• Steel external fire door to garage from here . Looks good and seems very secure.

• Heavy duty racking for garage and store room from here

• Copper guttering

• Vast number of CAT6a cable runs throughout house. Should have done more though :).

• Wood burning stove in living room. Is nice to have all the time - but has saved us a couple of times when gshp wasnt working.

- reddal

[PeterW]

Those steel doors look very good ..! Will be considering one for ours as I want the garage to be secure. 

[Crofter]

One of the few areas of my build where I have spent significantly more than the minimum was the windows and exterior doors. I priced up the cheapest 2G uPVC with a U-value of 1.6-2, but couldn't face sticking cheap plastic windows into a timber clad building.

Thanks to @iSelfBuild I was able to import some alu-clad 3G windows/doors from Poland. They worked out nearly double the cost of the very cheapest uPVC option, but still less than the quotes from UK companies. I'm really pleased with them, and the likely longer service life and better energy efficiency help justify the higher cost.

 

In particular I love the front door- I spent ages looking up 'proper' front doors but couldn't get the right combination of timber to compliment my cladding, plus enough glazing (the entrance hall's only source of natural light is the door). So I got one half of a set of French doors from the same range as my windows- voila, perfect match, plenty glazing, and far better U value than the 'proper' doors.

[AliG]

Hard flooring whether it be Amtico or hardwood. Still looks like new after 13 years whilst the carpets are in desperate need of replacement.

 

If you have kids light coloured carpets are likely to look bad after 6 or 7 years. Hard flooring is around twice the price which should pay for itself eventually - especially when your daughter gets really sick and projectile vomits across the bedroom carpet!

 

Better quality bathroom fittings - Just replaced our en suite, I didn't go crazy, I spent around £4000 on a bath, walk in shower, double vanity, WC, bidet, associated taps and valves and 40 square meters of tiles. I still kept the price down by buying the vanity from EBAY and the bath and shower tray on line. It looks way better than if I had scrimped and maybe spent £1000 less. Shame that the fitters couldn't install a wall mounted WC to save themselves.

 

Pyrolytic ovens. They come out like new and it's a lot easier than cleaning. I got the cheapest pyrolytic Siemens ovens rather than paying for dozens of oven programmes that never get used.

Edited August 19, 2016 by AliG

[ProDave]

+1 to hardwood flooring. Ours is Maple and 13 years on is looking like new.  We chose the laquered maintenance free sort and would do again. In our previous house we had oiled wooden flooring and found the task of emptying the room to re oil it a tedious job we didn't want to repeat.

 

We have real slate tiles in the hall and they are also as good as new.

 

Ceramic tiles in the kitchen are starting to look tired and scratched we would not choose that again.
 

[iSelfBuild]

4 hours ago, Crofter said:

One of the few areas of my build where I have spent significantly more than the minimum was the windows and exterior doors. I priced up the cheapest 2G uPVC with a U-value of 1.6-2, but couldn't face sticking cheap plastic windows into a timber clad building.

Thanks to @iSelfBuild I was able to import some alu-clad 3G windows/doors from Poland. They worked out nearly double the cost of the very cheapest uPVC option, but still less than the quotes from UK companies. I'm really pleased with them, and the likely longer service life and better energy efficiency help justify the higher cost.

 

In particular I love the front door- I spent ages looking up 'proper' front doors but couldn't get the right combination of timber to compliment my cladding, plus enough glazing (the entrance hall's only source of natural light is the door). So I got one half of a set of French doors from the same range as my windows- voila, perfect match, plenty glazing, and far better U value than the 'proper' doors.

I'm so pleased you are happy! It was well worth the 100's of emails 

[TerryE]

I am doing all of the interior woodwork on our house, and I've invested maybe £500 in basic tools: a new chop saw, table saw, router, planer / thicknesser, multitool and a refresh of squares, rules, etc.. All budget items from Titan or Erbauer ranges from Screwfix.  OK, if I was a professional making my living from this, then the equivalent might have been 4-5× this price, but for what am I doing this stuff is 90% as good as the best and 400% better than what I had.   For example, my new Erbauer chopsaw was half the cost of my old worn-out one that was 15 years-old and is just SO much better.  £500 pays for a couple of days chippie time and this kit has saved me far more than that. 

 

Moral: if you are going to do a job yourself then you need to be properly tooled up to do it.  OK, spend £100 on the Chinese or east European tool that might have a few flaws and wear out in a couple of years rather than the £400 trade best-in-class equivalent, but you'll probably be using it on only one house, so what the heck.  Don't try to do without the tools that you need to do the job.  It's false economy.