13. Calculate what your time is worth
Apart from the first few renos, you’re wasting your time being on site – except as a project manager. If you think you have loads of free time and spending your weekends and evenings renovating sounds like fun, then go knock yourself out. And once you’ve learnt your lesson, knock that attitude out of your head. To an investor, renovating is merely a means to an end.
DIY renovating means you need to live nearby. You also need handyman skills or a keen attitude to learn. If the renovation opportunity is not in an appropriate market, you may run into profit problems, even if the project itself went rather well.
For the renovation to be considered a success it must earn you more dollars for your time than a part-time job you could pick up. It needs to earn you a lot more dollars in fact. That’s because your part-time job doesn’t have a risk of failure like the reno does.
The whole idea of the reno is to force the issue of equity gain and force it with big numbers. If it’s not big numbers, you may as well work a part-time job for some extra cash, rather than put your effort into the reno.