The New York Times real estate section had a piece on how to use rewards cards to offset the cost of home renovations. I was interviewed for the story, along with some other miles and points gurus, as well as a few property owners who have leveraged their remodel budget for outsized rewards.
Continue reading: Maximizing Miles From Home Renovations
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
you can buy lowes or home depot gift cards from office stores for 5x with ink cars. You can also buy lowes 10% coupon codes on paypal. This coupon is good on materials only, not installs thru lowes.
Lowes will sometimes run 10% off promos using their own credit card
This advice all makes sense, but should come with a caveat. Home Depot online pricing and store pricing can be very different. I've often actually found the online pricing to be more competitive than in-store pricing, but be aware that there are instances where you will pay less in-store.
I think posts like these are great. I don't think I'm a total noob but it wouldn't have occurred I could get 26 avios per dollar. I also like your caveat that you waited on the new cards until after the loan closed.
@ anon -- We did use a bunch of Lowes coupons from our address change, good point! And I don't mind using gift cards for smaller items (though acquiring them is a bit of a hassle in our case), I just like to make sure big-ticket purchases go on a credit card for the protection benefits.
Great ideas! Others:
1. Helps meet cc minimum spend faster
2. Helps get to 30 transactions for Amex EDP card
3. An opportunity to diversify your points portfolio (ie - I have lots of Chase and now I’m dipping into Amex points)
4. Can’t stress how great 0% is (ie - pay off a $10k balance over 12 months interest free plus earn points) etc.
5. Have a game plan and don’t go into too much debt that you can’t pay off as part of a good plan!
6. Use CF, Amex EDP, SPG card, or Amex Blue bus card as they have the highest non bonus spend value
@ Dan -- That's really interesting, and something I will have to keep an eye out for!
As a construction project manager by day (and mikes and points junkie by night) one thing I NEVER do is pay a contractor up front. They don't get a dime for any work that has not happened yet. That being said, I don't pay contractors with credit cards at work (I wish, and no, I can't).
Did you have any problems with contractors not performing after paying them upfront? If so, did you get any relief through the banks (such as disputing the charge)?
@ Marcus -- I guess technically, depending on your credit situation, that wouldn't be strictly necessary. For our loan we had to fill out paperwork explaining any of our requests for credit in the 90 days prior to requesting the loan, and I just didn't want to do it again, or make anyone's life more difficult.
This post was great. I just finished a 1 year long gut and reno project. I knew I should be more strategic about which cards I used, but in the midst of 1000 other decisions I just gave up trying to maximize points. Hope others see this and can get that benefit.
@ Mike -- If it were a full-on construction company I probably we wouldn't have either. Because we did so much ourselves the things we were hiring out were smaller and specific, so we have typically been dealing with highly recommended 1-2 person companies, and I think the cash flow has been really appreciated.
Our pacing also helps/hurts, because with the exception of the drywall and tile work, most of the things we've outsourced have been day or half-day projects (I think we've had a plumber out here ~12 times, but spread out over 10 months). There's no way a large firm would have dealt with that, and I feel like being generous with our payment terms has helped with getting the work done at all. We had one guy show up Saturday morning with kids in tow (puppy loved that), as it would have otherwise been five weeks before he could get to us, etc.
So we haven't had any issues, but in theory if someone did they could certainly dispute the charges. Great point.
@ Andrew -- That's certainly understandable! Hence why I'm not running around getting gift cards -- renovations are hard!!
Wow, there is no end to this lady's talents! You are too modest, the house looks good!
Really loving this article, of course this is a travel-focused blog, but articles like this *enable* travel, and that's just as valid(and as entertaining) as a review of an airline's cabin! Thanks Tiffany!
This was a wonderfully enjoyable read.
Tiffany, did you move to Spokane for the house or did you buy the house because your family had to be in Spokane?
My home is a tiny (800 sq ft), much beloved row house in Washington, DC. However, my complicated employment situation requires me to spend time each year in Little Rock, Arkansas. And there I have a magnificent mid century (1961) house located amidst the woods and hills to the west of the city. I am antsy to give the place a proper, historically sensitive renovation. Like your home, my Arkansas treasure (only one previous owner!) has great bones: the original pinewood floors and cabinets; a stone-clad fireplace with a 6ft by 4ft firebox; the original harvest gold kitchen counter top, which I really would want to keep despite my love for concrete counters. This would be a labor of love, but one that would be too time consuming for me to consider anytime soon. And while I love the house, I wouldn't want to live in it full time because..um..it's in Arkansas.
Anyway, splendid post. Love your light fixture in the living room.
@ Imperator -- Thank you! Your house sounds stunning, and like it certainly would require more sensitivity to update!! I really wish that we'd had more to preserve, but all the original fixtures had long since been removed by previous owners.
We chose to move to Spokane because my cousin is here (and we're closer than siblings), and with both of us telecommuting our San Diego studio apartment just wasn't working. We're frugal and have good careers, but not at nearly the scale required to purchase a 3-4 bedroom home in California and have any quality of life. This way we both have offices, and the dog has a yard, and I really don't mind living in a smaller city.
"Full-time" is hard to quantify for people who travel anyway, and the Spokane airport is surprisingly well-connected, so it doesn't feel less convenient than San Diego did. You might not hate Arkansas under those terms!
@Dan if the same item is offered in store and online, the store price will ALWAYS be reflected online, assuming you've selected your specific store as a point of reference. The only time this would not be the case is if the item is on clearance in stores.
Source: Let's just say I have a very detailed understanding of how the internal systems work...
Five months on from our kitchen renovation we are still without a splashback.
Tip: using baking trays propped up between the hob and the wall is a great temporary splashback solution.
Loved the article, as always!
I LOVE the mid-century modern look! I live in a mid-century mod parts of which were unfortunately "updated" over the years (I'm looking at you 1980's). THE bathroom (is it circa 1962, lucky to have indoor plumbing) has been remodeled so far and I am stealing many of your ideas for the other rooms. Plus, leveraging for miles, baby, miles!
I really enjoyed this post and the practical recommendations. I always forget about shopping portals and didn't even know cashbackmonitor existed!
Love your house!
I agree about using a credit card and not gift cards for big-ticket items. But as one person mentioned, Citi Rewind eliminates the need for needing to shop around plus I receive the extra benefit of the two-year extended warranty if electronics are involved. For me, that can be a greater benefit than the points.
Back in 1990, I built my own home and was the designer, engineer, and contractor. I negotiated with the local materials supplier to allow me to pay my bills by credit card (Marriott card) and to also get a 10% discount for paying quickly. The house was 6500 sqft and nearly 10,000 under roof. Not as expensive as you might think because it was 1990, but we got alot of points.
Great work Tiffany! I've used several of your strategies over the years with general home improvements (old houses have so many opportunities!) I always giggle a bit when using one airline's shopping portal with another airline's branded card, I feel so wicked. 😉 Like you, the savings of in-store pick-up has been a real budget pleaser too.
Love the post, Tiffany. Very timely for us, as my DH has finally agreed to add a sunroom for my plants and me this spring. To my shock, the company doing the install is willing to take AMEX for the cost of the whole thing! They didn’t blink at the first payment of 30k on my SPG card. Yippee! Not bonus spend, but certainly unexpected!
Thanks for the tip about cadhbackmonitor. I never heard of it either. I may have missed an OMAAT post.
Enjoy your very nice renovation.
Just finished a $75k kitchen redo. Of that only about $10k was delivered by checks directly to contractors - the rest went through cards. My wife and I got 9 new cards with a min spend of $54k and got points valued @ ~ $11k. In there were two SPG 30k, an SPG Biz 35k, an Amex Plat 100k and a targeted Amex BGR 75k, among others.
@Ron - thanks for the inside scoop! That's good to know - of course, sometimes you don't want your store price reflected online 🙂 I generally run a quick cross-shop with google shopping, just in case.
I do recall one time buying something (I think a propane torch) online, and picking up in-store. Before picking up, out of curiosity, I checked the price on the shelf, where it was cheaper. Promptly picked-up the online order, returned it, and grabbed the item in-store. But it hasn't often happened that way, as I usually don't bother to check online store prices. Also, I'm always changing my local store depending on where I'm going to be closest to with other errands, so that's probably screwing it up a little as well.
LOVE your Sputnik light!
I've been working on a gradual remodel for my 2001 townhouse, and have definitely utilized the Home Depot and Lowes links through Skymiles Shopping for buy online, pick up in store. If there are products that I know I'll want to purchase in the near future, I snap a photo of the tag when I'm in the store so I'll have the SKU number to search it online when I'm ready to order, since there are millions of items on their websites! I've also tried to coordinate some of my purchases when Skymiles Shopping is offering bonus miles (i.e. 1500 miles for $500 in purchases) around the holidays, back to school, etc. It's awesome to be able to order bulky stuff and already have it loaded on the cart when you get there...I did this for patio pavers a few weeks ago!
Currently finishing up a 3 month renovation. One money saving tip for stone countertops (quartz, granite, etc): find out who your local Home Depot, Lowes, Ikea subcontracts out to and contact them directly. I was getting quotes of around $60 sq ft for quartz, and was able to get that down to around $45/sq ft.
Love this post. It combines something unique and interesting with miles and points opportunities. Great job!
I love the house, too. Someday I'd love to get a mid-century modern but they're really pricey in my area. Sounds like your house has "good bones" which is more than half the battle. My 1940-vintage home is also constructed of nice, straight, stable, fir. You don't find that anymore. If the house itself is sound, then everything else is cosmetic.