The renovation time line - part one

So one thing that I had absolutely no idea about (and still don't to some extent!) is how long things take to get done when you are renovating.  As a result I had quite a tight schedule planned, and although there were a few blow outs I was actually quite lucky that to a great extent I could get everything fitted in.  But for information that might be of use - here is the time line for what we have done so far (split posts so you don't get too bored with the wordiness!)

1. First up  - buying the house and settlement - even once you agree on a price and have all the inspections done, or make the winning bid at the auction - you have to wait until settlement date.  Generally that seems to be 6 weeks in Sydney.  We had 12 weeks at the request of the vendor, and this suited us well.  It might be frustrating not to be able to get those keys and get started but it is good to have a bit of planning time.

2.  You may be able to get access to the house prior to settlement but you need to discuss this with the agent.  We were lucky that the vendor was quite helpful and so we were able to get access to the house.  I tried to be very accommodating too with this and rather than ask for three or four different access times I organised for all my necessary trades to be present at the same time on the same day (and this amazingly came off.  Now, knowing tradies a bit better I am still amazed that this happened!).  We had a quote for the floor sanding, asbestos testing, and kitchen measurements all done about four to six weeks prior to settlement.  While vendors might be accommodating, they don't have to let you in and if you start asking for five different quotes at different times for each of your jobs I am not sure you would get very far!

3.  Kitchens take a LOT longer than I expected to be ready for installation.  I was quite amazed when we went looking for kitchens to find that 8-12 weeks lag time was common.  So that means at least 8 -12 weeks between signing up for a kitchen company and the date they can install everything.  We ended up choosing a company that made their cabinets and all components here in Sydney (rather than others we spoke to which shipped in cabinets from France or Germany - which obviously adds a time delay) and were able to offer us four weeks for the process.

4.  Apart from how long it takes to order the kitchen - the installation process takes days as well.  Depending on your situation there are the following steps -
a) - removal of old kitchen.  Stripping out of our single strip of cupboards and sink took about two or three hours.  The guy who removed the cabinets was also the electrician so this was helpful in that he could be aware of the electricity points etc.

Kitchen wall after removal of cupboards - and asbestos

b) For us this is where we organised the removal of asbestos.  Since the kitchen cupboards were gone it was much easier for them to access the wall.  Asbestos removal took the best part of a full day, including the post removal testing (discussed here.)
c) - "rough in" of the electricity and plumbing - our kitchen company were really good and they arranged all the trades involved - and also co-ordinated the rough in visits.  If you organise your own trades it may be less expensive but be aware that they don't just come round once and do everything all together. Electrician and plumber both had to rough in the new plumbing and electricals.  We were lucky that without a wall, and without a floor in place (plumber was in the camo shorts here) that it was probably much easier and quicker for the trades to do their work.  For us, with a pretty small kitchen really and only along one wall the electrician and plumber both only took an hour or two each.
d) - we needed to put in a new wall - plasterer took one morning to install the wall.

New wall installed with the roughed in electric points

e) Painting the wall - we wanted to smooth and finish before the cabinets were installed.  We just painted it ourselves, which only really needed a base coat and two colour coats - so finished in two days to allow the drying time in between.

f) We also had the floors sanded before cabinets installed.  Since we were adding an island bench, it was much easier for the floor guys to be able to sand when they didn't have to go around the island.  For us, as discussed in my post on the floor sanding, we had two and a half days of floor sanding and sealing, plus the couple of days drying time.

e) - cabinet installation - you need to get them delivered first!  Ours were delivered on a Tuesday afternoon, and installed on Wednesday morning.

You need to have somewhere to store the cabinets when they are delivered - and ideally not the kitchen as there needs to be space to move around.

Cabinets installed

f) Plumbing in for dishwasher and connecting the oven occurs after the cabinets.  As before, our kitchen people organised all of the trades. 

g) Once cabinets are in the stone mason (if you're getting stone benchtops) has to come to measure up.  This can't be done before hand as needs to be very precise and dependent on the installation.  Our stone guy was good and was able to come the day after the cabinets were installed, and then the bench tops went in only a few days later.  He cut some of the holes (for sink etc) while he was on site at our house, which was possible as we have an area in the front of our house.   The stone mason will need the specifications for your cooktop too, so he knows what size hole to cut.  We bought our own appliances, but this info was easily found with the product itself.  The stone mason was also organised through the kitchen company.  We actually changed the stone we choose to a different brand as the original one I chose was not immediately available - and we were on a tight schedule!

Our finalised kitchen - plumbed in, stove, cooktop and rangehood attached.

g) Once benchtops are in, you can plumb in the sink (we had a double undermount sink which the stone mason attached initially, not sure who does the drop in sinks).  
h) Tiling for the splashback can be done next.
i) Final power points and plumbing can be finalised - and your kitchen is complete!

The time for the kitchen would presumably depend on how easily you can arrange all your trades to work together.  As our kitchen company organised all the trades this was quite easy for us.  The entire process still took approximately one and a half weeks from delivery of cabinets until final power point was completed.

Don't mess with asbestos cause asbestos don't mess...

Asbestos - even just saying it can freak some people out.  And it is true that it can be dangerous and countless families have had to deal with loved ones falling prey to lung disease and cancer.  But it seems when it comes to dealing with asbestos there are two schools of thought - those that say get rid of it, and those (who seem to be in a greater abundance) who say leave it where it is and don't mess with it.

But I decided that we needed to at least know what we were dealing with. Being a century old house (in parts), most was probably constructed before asbestos was used as a building material. But with various (and somewhat dodgy) additions I figured there was a pretty high chance of at least some asbestos being present.  And all my research showed that you really can't tell what is or isn't asbestos just by looking at it.  

So I contacted a company called Airsafe to come out and test for us.  The process itself was very quick and the vendor kindly let them in to drill small holes in the walls even before settlement.  We received a report which spelt out which areas had asbestos and what the options are for dealing with it. 

Quality of these pictures aren't great as I scanned them on my phone app, but asbestos was found in laundry and in the kitchen behind the splashback

Describes the types of asbestos (ours was bonded)

So for non friable asbestos it is possible to leave in place providing it is in good condition.

So as you can see we did have asbestos present, but luckily not in too many areas, and also it was the "preferable" type of asbestos.  So then what?  I was keen to get rid of it, but many people said just leave it, don't get into it, don't open that can of worms.  

However, given the fact we planned to redo the kitchen, which would involve ripping out cupboards etc on the splashback wall, and also wanted to eventually do up the laundry/bathroom we decided that we needed to get rid of the asbestos.

So the next step was finding someone to remove it.  It is surprising how many "cowboys" are out there offering to remove asbestos for lower prices.  Who knows where they would dispose of it or the safety precautions they would take.  A couple of things I learnt about asbestos removal and I think are quite important - 

1) The removal company needs to notify Workcover (depending on area of asbestos to be removed) which means they need some time to organise when they come to do the job for you.  

2) You have to get a clearance report after removal is complete to prove there are no fibres still hanging around.  This part annoyed me at first, I felt like it was another expense involved and a lot of money to pay for someone to do approximately 5 minutes work.  But when I thought about it properly, it makes sense that if you are going to the effort to have the asbestos removed you should really get the all clear that it is done.  Besides, the reputable companies can't let you back into the areas without the clearance - so you have to cough up!  I used Airsafe again - and the removal company liaised with them to organise when to turn up which was very handy.

On the day of the removal, I felt very sorry for the guys that turned up.  Three men, fully suited up in suits like spacemen, and then had to isolate the areas with heavy black plastic.  And it was a warm day.  So basically they were in plastic suits in a sauna.

I was staying well clear of the kitchen.  They also had a large extractor in case of fibres.

Some of the bagged up asbestos as it was removed.

The kitchen wall post removal of asbestos.

Bathroom/Laundry after removal of asbestos.

Bathroom/Laundry - some parts of the wall were not asbestos fibres so they were not removed

So asbestos was gone.  But obviously - new walls were necessary.  I had actually sort of forgotten about that part.  We had a draughty house for a while there!

In terms of costs - the original report and testing cost us $650, the removal itself (one wall in kitchen approx 6m x 3m, four walls in laundry which is a room about 3 x 2.7m) was around $1750 and the clearance report afterwards (which I think I got a discount on due to using them previously) was about $400.  To be fair, a fairly reasonable cost for peace of mind.  Also I would recommend if you are getting outside contractors to do any work (such as kitchen installation or electricians) that you get asbestos removed, because that was one of the first questions they asked and it was very helpful to be able to show them the testing and removal reports.  So overall - I think definitely worth the effort.