FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

I am prepared to be laughed at for making this post as I think we all know that budgets are ALWAYS made to be broken.  Money is often a topic car restorers nation wide are not prepared to talk about unless selling.  ANYWAY here goes!!!!!!

Has anyone EVER done a detailed budget for a restoration and stuck to it?  I am currently working on a budget spreadsheet for my car with the intention of tracking my monetary input as the time goes by. 

Frightening thought I know!!!!!!  However for most people out there money is often an important factor in working with old cars.  So many posts seem to revolve around, "I want to do this, how do I do it AND does anyone know how much it costs".  There are always the stories of ripoffs but also the stories of great deals and great service.

Would love to hear some stories of great deals and service....I know they are out there!

Budget?? The problem is if you stick to the budget and you need an extra $1000 to finish the car what do you do?
Although my FE was a ground-up build, I have found it is the little things that blow the "budget". Most people account for Paint and Panel, Motor and Gearbox, wheels and tyres and interior, but there is also the electrical, brakes and suspension, bolts, clips, chrome and any number of finishing touches to account for. The other factor is time sometimes the budget methods don't fit the time scale.

I think my thoughts have been mirrored in all respects there!

With regard to going $1000 over, well I guess that all depends on how solid your budget is.  If you need another $1000 to finish then you have 2 choices: BLOW THE BUDGET (my recomended course of action) or go without something to the value of $1000.  I dont think anyone who has restored a car would be happy if they got to the end and had to cut corners to make a budget.  However, the more builds you do or should I say the more data you collect, the more accurate your budgeting should eventually become.  If you keep an eye on things all the way along, you will quickly find out if you are going OVER and at that point you have a choice to make.

Other things I believe people forget to add to budgets are "tool allowances".  Guarnteed you will need to buy a new tool of some description during a build.  It is always good to make allowances for these things when looking to do a build add to that: gas, tips, sandblasting (or garnett), polish, sandpaper etc etc etc. 

Mickusmickus

In regards to the budget, set the target, double it and build in a contingency of 100%. This way you may just make that budget forecast ;)

Keith

Oh dont worry about that Keith I am well up on that theory!  It works every time.

I work as an engineer in the building and construction industry and I know that is how a lot of contractors formulate their prices!

I did a budget when I restored the hearse....I even had a budget blow out budget which also used and then some.  :o
As with all restorations or modifications there is always something that is unexpected.

I did a spread sheet on the computer for my own personal interest sake and recorded everything I spent, including the little things that usually get forgotton. Now the hearse is complete I can sit back and see where the money has gone ??? ???...... worse thing I ever did. The only advantage of recording costs is that you know what the car owes you if you decide to sell it but in saying that a vehicle is only really worth what someone is willing to pay.

Cheers
Paul

I meticulously keep all receipts in a file specific to the particular car and NEVER add them up so I never know how much I've spent, importantly neither does the Minister for Reparations. This way I can truthfully say I have no idea what has been spent and as I have no detailed schedule of works and have not exceeded the non existent budget and therefore have not over capitalised on repairs and restoration I have thereby ensured that the whole exercise remains eminently defensible and entirely appropriate ;D ;D

Cheers
John

Hi

Budgets well that is something sometimes you don't want to know the outcome. Take Effie for instance total ground up rebuild 13 years ago cost $30.000.00, and thats for a stocker so I figure with inflation I could not get a paint shop to do panel and paint for that.

On the other hand I have been building a modified for over 20 years and to date it owes me $80.000.00 and I would imagine I have another $40.000.00 to spend. It is close to completion. Not that I care much as at the end of the day its what I want.

Your build will only cost as much as your prepared to spend and that depends on the quality level the build will be and how talented you are in the hands on stuff. Bear in mind that the money I have invested in my 2 cars are not all to tradesmen expenses, as I do most of the work myself, and still I have managed to spend that much.

Don't ponder on budgets, build what you want and generally time is irrelevant, nothing should be a rush its finished when its finished and if you compromise you will be dissatisfied with the result. Sometimes close enough is not good enough. It will cost more anyway as you have to fix it and thats time and money.

Regards

Julius

+1 what Keith said

I kept a record of everything I spent in a spreadsheet. It sure does add up. Almost $8000 dollars in parts alone. Did not do the paint or chrome. More than happy to email anyone the spreadsheet if they want to see it. Probably could have done it a little cheaper if I looked for a bargain, but was is a bit of a hurry as I was borrowing a garage. Still took a year working most weekends to get it registered.

Mike

I don't think a budget is appropriate for a one off build or for a person who does not have consistent projects flowing fairly quickly after one another.
Anyone can record costs for a build but it is only appropriate to that particular person and that particular car, because it depends on the ability of the person and the state of the car.
When I worked for Hoppers Stoppers we could estimate a budget very closely because we knew the ability of the people doing the work and we had experience with enough cars to look at what needs doing and estimate how much time and materials it would take.

So starting a project as a one off, you have no real idea of what it will all cost and no real way of estimating just how much work will be required.

Ken

Excellent response, Ken.

Ol_Girl_58

My thoughts exactly Ken, it always costs more than you expect anyway so you just have to keep spending(and coming up with) the $$$$ till it's finished whether you make a budget or not, plus if the missus new what it was going to cost in the end we'd never be allowed to start ;)
                       Pedro

Hi all,

...So how much in today's standard would a total ground up build cost??(Approximately).

"plus if the missus new what it was going to cost in the end we'd never be allowed to start"

LOL

Some of us may not have started with the missues if we knew what it was going to cost us in the long run also.  ::)

Jase

To what standard and on what base vehicle?

Highly dependent upon the quality (in particular rust and completeness) of the vehicle to start with.

But a reasonable guessimate to build something on a typically slightly rusty FC with the owner paying tradespeople to panel/paint/do interior/mechanical but fitting it up yourself would have to be $30K.

Paint and Panel - $10k
Mechanical - $10k reco engine/gearbox/diff/ new or reco ancilleries
Interior - $3k
Fitup and bits you didn't think would cost that much - $7k

For this money you'd end up with a nice vehicle that would be roundly admired and in the trophy mix at most car shows.

Craig , I dont think you are far off. My numbers suggest that $30k is going to get you a reasonable vehicle. Offcourse those more handy will be able to reduce costs, good luck to those guys. I wish I had the skill.

Regards


Wayne

If you want to build an fe or fc and money is on your mind before you start, then don't start.
 Building a classic is not about money, it is about the journey, the people you meet then the end result. Then being able to enjoy your project with those said people and your family who have also endured the journey with you. The most important thing to do before you start is to do a build plan, without time involved. With a build plan there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
 Cheers Scotty

Fella's Fella's Fella's   If the missus has a whinge about the price of what its going to cost, tell her to get the bankcard statements out and really compare what it is going to cost for a rebuild (car) of course compared to what it cost to run the missus,bet you it goes very very quiet.
                     
                  They both cost the same (but one doesn't bite back as hard)

                                     I'll let you work out which one  ;D