Rehabbing—to do or not to do it yourself

One of the first rules of rehabbing is that everything takes twice as long and costs twice as much money as estimated – on a good day. That’s if the homeowner hires everything out. For the do-it-yourselfer, twice as long can easily become fives times as long. Yet just as eating outdoors in the springtime makes food taste better, doing it yourself can make the rehab so much more enjoyable.

Still, doing it yourself is no easy decision, and there’s no shame in deciding against it. I am a do-it-yourselfer who made the hard decision over two years ago. I chose to buy and rehab a three-story brick home in Old North St. Louis. The house was built in 1885 and retains much of its original woodwork, the original slate mansard roof and even some original windows. Better still, it was occupied when I bought it. The systems – plumbing and electrical – weren’t the ancient ones you read about but modern ones installed in the 1980s. However, the appearance of modernity was a costly deception as the systems needed countless little repairs.

Some days I think rehabbing the house is the best choice I’ve ever made, because I have learned a lot about my own abilities and have directly intervened to renew historic architecture. The direct connection between myself and historic preservation feels much better than attending public hearings and writing blog entries.

Other days, I think about all the missed parties, weddings, art openings, etc. from the past two and half years….Then I look around the house and feel good knowing that progress was worth the sacrifice. I’ve got one whole floor fully rehabbed, and the other two moving along. I have had parties at the house and I can walk barefoot in most parts!

Here are some of the considerations that I pondered before choosing to rehab:

Children. First: I don’t have children. I can’t imagine trying to do what I did as a parent. (For one thing, I would never have lived in the lead-filled, messy house.)

Cost. One of the strongest motivating factors in choosing to do work myself was cost. I simply could not afford to hire out anything I could do for myself. Later, the demanding schedule of the rehab loan and several pay raises made it possible to hire work out. Now I can say that if someone is hesitating to pay someone to do work, err on the side of bringing in a professional. A dollar spent on labor is a dollar toward less stress and project management.

Time. Throughout my rehabbing, I have worked a 40-hour-a-week job. That means I have rehabbed on weekends, evenings and vacation days taken for rehabbing. This schedule has been brutal at times, but necessary. The schedule means having to constantly be energetic, and learning to pace oneself. Do-it-yourself and a full-time job are a rough match – workable, but not enjoyable.

Ability. I certainly had some rehabbing skills before I bought my house. I had done drywall, plaster, plumbing, carpentry and demolition work. I would never have decided to rehab the house myself if I didn’t think I had already demonstrated some aptitude with at least one major area of home improvement. A more important factor, however, was assessing my ability to manage the project. Could I juggle rehab financing, my own work schedule, bidding, scheduling contractors, dealing with the Building Division and other matters without causing more trouble than I found at the house? I decided that I could, and time has proven me right.

Comfort. Since I could not afford off-site housing, and also wanted to avoid the possibility of robbery, I decided to live in the house during rehab work. Many people don’t do this, and still do much of the rehab work themselves. That’s a good option, but not one within many people’s means. Choosing to live in the rehab project means choosing to live with constant dust, choosing to live in one room, choosing to live with constant problems, choosing to live with one’s shoes on (except in bed); and choosing to possibly live in winter with only plywood for a wall (as I had to do last year). The fringe benefit is that any progress with the rehab will seem like a great leap forward.

No matter which route you take, please take pride in rehabbing a piece of St. Louis history.

Michael R. Allen is assistant director of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis and is the editor of the Web site Ecology of Absence, ecoabsence.blogspot.com. You can e-mail him at michael@eco-absence.org.