Do it yourself- Sweat Equity- Kitchen Project
This is one of the homes that Linda and I purchased. Over the years, we have always bought houses that we could add value to with sweat equity. We would live in the home while we worked on the projects to build equity and to maximize our profits when sold. We joked that we never had a chance to live in and enjoy our home after completing our last sweat equity project. As soon as we were done, we hung a ‘for sale’ sign.
As far as kitchen remodels go this was moderate price. We replaced the cabinets but did not change the layout. We kept the plumbing cost down by not changing the location of the sink or dishwasher, and only ran a waterline for the ice maker. We did do a little more work on the ceiling by updating the lights and removing the kitchen bulkhead(soffit). The bulkhead is the part of the ceiling that was lowered in older homes, and it dates this kitchen. I did use some contractors in the remodel, and I still had plenty of sweat equity projects to work on. I did the ‘demo day’, tearing out the cabinets, pulling up the kitchen floor, and removing the bulkheads. Anytime you can do the demo, the cleanup, and dump runs, it keeps your contractor on site and saves you money.