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12-31-2009, 09:53 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: NorCal
Posts: 565
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Oh, another thing. Most planes will hold their value, unlike a car, so when you sell, you'll get roughly your purchase price back. Maybe not adjusted for inflation, probably not your labor cost if you build, but you will get most or all of your capital cost back. Sort of like a savings plan.
Edit: You might look at buying a used RV. A friend bought a basic VFR 6A for around $50k, it will serve him well and when he sells he'll get his money back.
Can you avoid the cost of the remodel by trading work? You don't say what line of work you do, so maybe this wouldn't be practical.
Last edited by Buggsy2 : 12-31-2009 at 09:59 AM.
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12-31-2009, 11:04 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Middle Georgia
Posts: 654
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snowflake
...If you are considering building a plane, you've got to have the handyman skills to do your own kitchen. It'll take a bit longer than if you bring in a contractor and his crew, but it'll be 1/4 the cost. We were quoted anywhere from $40 to $60K to re-do the kitchen in our townhouse... I did it myself for $15K (and that's with high-end cabinets and fixtures, and including appliances), and learned a boatload about my house in the process.
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This might be your angle... How about doing much of the work on the remodel yourself. The difference between $100K and what you spend on the remodel can be used to seed the airplane fund.
Remodeling is part of what I was referring to when I said I had other things to finish up before I started building. I remodeled our kitchen and bathroom for about $25K back in the early double naughts. This included tearing everything out of the kitchen down to the wall studs. I hired out a little electrical work and the flooring. Other than that I did it all. A contractor would have cost at least twice that (probably more). And, I thought it would be easier to fight with the remodeling job rather than a contractor. It came out real nice. Unfortunately, several years later, it ended up under 7 feet of water during Katrina!
When I was in the middle of the remodel and itching to get started on the airplane I remember reading a thread on a forum about "if you were building another airplane, what would you do differently?" One guy wrote that he would finish the kitchen remodelling project BEFORE he bought any airplane parts. Once the airplane arrived, the kitchen project slowed to a crawl. I took what he said to heart and redoubled my efforts to finish the kitchen. I told myself that working on the kitchen was the same as working on the airplane since each completed task moved me that much closer to ordering my first kit. I bought that line about half the time! 
__________________
Tony
RV8A
N97AP
Warner Robins, GA
Phase I complete
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12-31-2009, 01:01 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 78
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Don't build if you want to fly
Make sure you really want to build and your not building just to fly a cool plane. It takes a lot of time on a weekly basis to complete an airplane in a few years. If your still flying it takes time and $ away from the airplane project.
Brian
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12-31-2009, 02:46 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
Posts: 3,932
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Quote:
Originally Posted by apatti
When I was in the middle of the remodel and itching to get started on the airplane I remember reading a thread on a forum about "if you were building another airplane, what would you do differently?" One guy wrote that he would finish the kitchen remodelling project BEFORE he bought any airplane parts. Once the airplane arrived, the kitchen project slowed to a crawl.
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Ha! I think that might have been me, a number of years ago, on one of the Matronics forums. I remember saying something like that. It's true, when I bought the tail kit, I had started the kitchen remodel. After that, I was back and forth between the kitchen and remodelling a basement room into a workshop, and then working on the plane. The kitchen timeline definitely suffered.
Mind you, I started renovating a bathroom this fall and then started looking at flying RV's to buy... There seems to be a pattern here. 
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12-31-2009, 03:09 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Middle Georgia
Posts: 654
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snowflake
Ha! I think that might have been me, a number of years ago, on one of the Matronics forums. I remember saying something like that. It's true, when I bought the tail kit, I had started the kitchen remodel. After that, I was back and forth between the kitchen and remodelling a basement room into a workshop, and then working on the plane. The kitchen timeline definitely suffered.
Mind you, I started renovating a bathroom this fall and then started looking at flying RV's to buy... There seems to be a pattern here. 
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This is too funny! I'll bet it was you. Something about a basement being involved rings a bell. Well, I appreciate the advice. I am glad I don't have to divide my time. As far as repeating the pattern... At least I learned from your "mistake".
Happy New Year!
__________________
Tony
RV8A
N97AP
Warner Robins, GA
Phase I complete
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12-31-2009, 03:16 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Northern California, USA
Posts: 537
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I can confirm that
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bdalporto
Make sure you really want to build and your not building just to fly a cool plane. It takes a lot of time on a weekly basis to complete an airplane in a few years. If your still flying it takes time and $ away from the airplane project.
Brian
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I agree with Brian. Over the last two years, I have earned a multiengine rating, a glider rating, and a towpilot endorsement. I've put more hours into my logbook than in any previous two-year period, but I got much less done on my RV than in any other two-year period since I started it. The good news is that nowadays others pay for most of my flying.
There are only so many hours in a day so you have to allocate them wisely.
Happy New Year!
Martin
__________________
Martin Gomez
Redwood City, CA
"My RV-7 is a composite airplane: it's made of aluminum, blood, sweat, and money"
RV-7 Slider QB
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08-31-2010, 08:27 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Destin
Posts: 1,543
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$100k into a kitchen that will go in a house with $80k owed on it?
I know that kitchens sell the house....but look at the savings in interest if you pay off that $80k, save for a bit, and then either forgo the kitchen and build the plane......or do the kitchen and save for the plane, eitherway, i'd avoid a HELOC to finance a plane
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08-31-2010, 08:50 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: In New Braunfels, ist das Leben schön!
Posts: 871
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Resale
One of the big reasons I started an RV was that I knew I could sell the unfinished parts for a good percentage of what I paid for them if I couldn't finish it. I don't think you can do that with any another homebuilt. We have a member of our EAA chapter who is having trouble giving away an Ultimate 10-200 project.
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Larry New
RV-7A - Built, flying 900+ hrs
RV-10 - Built, flying 2.9 hrs
??? - RV-12, Subsonex
48 States in 7 Days!
VAF Paid - Annual Autodraft
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08-31-2010, 09:06 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Newport, TN
Posts: 7,496
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I would do the remodel myself and still build a nice RV for that $100K.....
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08-31-2010, 09:30 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: va.
Posts: 523
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I would cook in the yard before I would spend 100K on a kitchen. Seriously, I would pay off all debt before building an airplane. I have no idea what's ahead, inflation, deflation, depression, who knows, but I don't want to carry debt into it.
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