weedyacres Yes, you are right about measuring wants vs needs. I no longer watch those tv shows! The roof is a priority and should be done before long for both the house and garage. I was asking the question about what would be best to do for the sake of both time and money. idk i was just asking, trying to get a feel for where to start. Everyone has their own advice to give so it seems a matter of deciding what priorities we have then going down the list. I do not have an unlimited budget. Hubby wants to fix the roof, power wash then fill in and paint the house, put new fencing from painted corrugated metal then call it a day. So our compromise is the roof first, NOTHING gets done before then. Refinish wood floors floors 2nd (4 bedrooms and hallway). Remove tiles in the only tiny bathroom and in the current kitchen. Remove these tiles from the livingroom and sun room floors as well. Lighting next - ceiling and wall sconces & put electric lines in for where new kitchen will be and update the lines in current kitchen to fit where the master bedroom will be. Put heated floors down in old bathroom, living room, sun room, and current kitchen but to fit the new master bathroom. The sun room is my DIY off the grid experiment for a bathroom. I am deciding on what toilet to get, the incino or the sunmar composting? When we are in Haiti there is much less to go than when we're in Costa Rica but the idea is still the same, off grid and it works just fine. I already have the barrels and a stand hubby built for the rain water, filters, solar panels and hose, gravity pump? But this is definitely an extra, non necessity but it does seem the easiest and cheapest. Just needs some paint and some modification to the bay window sill. I'm thinking a space for a trundle unit under there or drawers or storage. Again, this is a BONUS project that shouldn't take much of the budget I have for the other updates. After the heated floors are down for the old bathroom, the old kitchen, the living room and sun room (guest room) then we're off to the next project which should put me on my way to a new kitchen, master bath and guest bathroom. Hubby can do plumbing and electrical but we will hire out for the electrical. Plumbing for new kitchen sink and hookup for ice maker/refrigeration. I can't decide if I want a sink in the island or a regular hookup and do the cook top in the island or just a plain island!!! After all of this, there's just paint and some other decorative touches: stencil, embossed wall paper, wainscoting, tiling, crown molding. We have cleared out the lower cabinets in the kitchen already. There are a slew of lumbar yards in my area and in southern Georgia and I've already picked up pieces for the current bathroom. Pricing and styles are doable. My idea of beams does not fit into the budget or timetable so that can always be added later. I had wanted a skylight over the master bathroom but hubby explained the energy loss and its a no. :0( Thank you for all your input it has whipped me into a realistic DIY and project manager. Looks like we will tear floors/tiles out ourselves. vanity, counter top, cabinets then resurface them in a color and finish with hardware updates - OURSELVES. My master bathroom may have a incino/composting toilet too for now idk. All the plumbing is available for a shower/bath and sink, I just want to minimize all the extras if we don't have to do it. What do you think of this idea? Hubby says we can revisit that at a later time and we really do want to be a bit more eco friendly like when we're camping in Adirondacks or the Hamptons or Costa Rica, Trinidad or Haiti. We have electric for cooking. I do miss the gas from up north but it will do. Baking and grilling is the majority of our meals here with a teenager in the house. She cooks A LOT! H B Thank you for the heads up. This need is what played a major role in my decision to scale back on my grandiose desires. That darn house flipper really messed me up with full home renovations at 20k to 45k! Someone pointed out there's a lot of cost not included but I didn't know and that's why I asked. I couldn't find any reputable businesses here in Jacksonville who could match those prices, notice I said reputable. Yes I am ALWAYS looking for a break, a deal, a savings but not shoddy work or cheap materials or low quality labor. I now see this is a DIY project with hired inspectors and specialty for electricity and laying the colored cement floor. Later down the line, I'd like to update the windows and put some rubber pour down for the play space for my children. I scored a new pool in the box off of Craig's list for free but some parts were missing when i hired a assemble man to put it together. I have a deck builder, materials and labor for a good price but now that's on hold too. We need to hire someone to level out the backyard but its kind of tight to get equipment back there with all the trees we cut in preparation for the new roof. I will make a grill out of an old oil barrel and use a gas cook top with tanks... I can't wait to see some progress and imagine that will be after the roof and gutters are laid then the off grid system goes up immediately! After we fog the attic for mold, encapsulate/paint/ insulate. Then its the old bathroom which has to be torn down to studs, there's some rotted wood in the wall. We have a idea of what order to go in so we will try to stick to that plan. Thank you again for your guidance, its much appreciated.

Fixed price quotes have zero expectation of being broken down into anything other than an accurate description of the work and materials used. How the number was arrived at is proprietary business information that a customer has no right to. Some contractors do a bit of a breakdown, but most don’t include everything. In a fixed price contract, the written scope and the bottom line price is the price, take it or leave it. Only time and materials or cost plus break down to transparent elements. They are also the riskiest and to the homeowner going over budget. They usually end up the costliest in renovations. Because people can’t control their wants without a design guideline framing in appropriate choices, and the budget that goes with them. This is how people end up with 70K ranges in a kitchen remodel, and end up 500K over budget total for the whole project. A fixed price contract is a hard number you can put in your spreadsheet. Cost plus relies on the consumer to control themselves and stick to a budget. It only works for a well documented specified project where the consumer exercises great upgrades. A gel stained molded plastic door is pretty far from hand carved mahogany. You can’t stop a train wreck by trying to stand in front of the train. You can only step aside and try to change the track that the train is on. And potentially help any survivors. I sure wish this contractor would get an account and post on here! His eyes must have rolled so far back in his head that he’s blind and he’s bitten straight through his tongue.

Thought so :-) And that does make a difference, as spring lawn renovations in the PNW is one of the few locations where this is applicable. The suggested window for this is between mid April and mid May. So you might want to start with the weed eradication soon. Not sure what YouTubes you may be looking at (some are decent - many are cr*p) but once the weeds have been dealt with, if you feel comfortable enough with their direction, you should be able to manage this yourself. Because the PNW climate and growing conditions are pretty unique, regional sites or resources are going to be most appropriate. King County actually has an excellent lawn care publication that provides all the pertinent info. And Swanson's Nursery has a very helpful lawn care calendar.

Don't do pots. Deal with the dirt/moss problem on the white strip below the roof. Plant some shrubs, bushy and flowering. Clean up the miscellaneous stuff (hose, rocks, etc) in the front. Get some chairs for the porch that stand out. Forest green with green leaf and white pillows, for example. Don't park a truck on your lawn. Figure out what your existing foundation planting are and why they look so sad. Not enough water? Too close to the foundation? Trampled on when the house was painted? Can the problems be fixed?