I Spent Three Years Renovating My House (Before & After)

In this video, we renovated an old house I bought at 18 years old (5 years ago) as a first-time home buyer.
Brother's channel (Grant): / @granthilbert5632
0:00 Intro
2:09 Retaining Wall
13:05 Interior Renovations
19:00 Before/After
20:52 Yard projects
24:51 How I bought the house
26:56 Reno Cost/Cash Flow
29:29 Selling/Profit

[@KimChi-wz7mk]

I think this video highlights a very important fact. A father who is accomplished and is a good father can pass that along to his sons and help them be successful with the things he's learned. It's not the point of your video but a good father is priceless.

[@briandrum1]

My father was a career firefighter but he also was a skilled carpenter. I grew up in your typical 60's style ranch in CT and eventually we were growing out of it. Rather than selling and buying a bigger home, my father put on 2 additions...1 off the mast bedroom and one for a new living room. I was young, 9-12 when he did both. He did them in the summer time and while my neighborhood friends were out riding bikes, playing ball my father would make me come help him with whatever he was doing on any given day. At the time I hated it, BUT, I picked it all up. Fast forward to last year, my son was 19 and together him and I built him a recording studio in our backyard. Fully separate structure from the house, 20x15. My son was there the entire way (minus taping the drywall! 😆) and now my son has learned what I learned from my father!

[@rosemarywilliams9969]

So True❤

[@Mostlikelee]

And daughters. I would’ve benefited greatly in my single life if my nonexistent father taught me certain things as a kid. Cant rely on men if you’re a single woman and vice versa.

[@k87upkid]

It is heartbreaking that the war on the traditional, nuclear family in America has resulted is so many kids growing up fatherless; the statistics regarding jail, teen pregnancy, and other negative outcomes for kids without a dad are absolutely mindblowing. Great to see what can be when a father is present and involved.

[@VitalyBokser]

@@briandrum1 beautiful

[@Red-xu2sm]

Honestly appreciate the honesty and the detail with all the numbers. Most of the videos like this only show vague number and estimates. Your transparency is a breath of fresh air. Many kudos to you and your family for the very nice renovation!

[@spencerhilbert]

Thank you! That’s the goal on these video's and glad to read this comment. I appreciate it, thanks for sharing!

[@FluePeak]

Nice seeing someone actually doing a good job when they fix the houses they are going to sell, you see alot of people half assing it and then selling it for massives amount of money

[@spencerhilbert]

Yeah my intention when buying/renovating was to own and rent out for year to come. Only later on did I decide to sell.

[@tedk4605]

To prevent those lines on your wood flooring, always sand 45 degrees to the direction of the grain.

[@FastAligator1234]

Yes. Never across the boards like that.

[@spencerhilbert]

Yeah many video's/forums I read showed it is fine to go against the grain. I think my issue came because of the boards being uneven and wrapped. As I ran the sander across it would dig in harder on one side when I went over the uneven boards. I saw so many videos and tutorials showing going against the grain with a belt sander and causing no damage. Many of the videos did 2-3 passed going a different direction everything with different grit. I might be wrong, it's been a while since I did all my research.

[@michaelmartineau1373]

Both you and your brother are amazing young men. Congrates to you parents for doing an amazing job raiseing you both.

[@spencerhilbert]

Thank you! We appreciate the kind words.

[@Ticky66MN]

My thoughts exactly. I am so impressed by these two young men.

[@michaelmartineau1373]

@@Ticky66MN For sure they are definately not the norm

[@vikingman264]

Great comment, I just pray you learn how to spell correctly🙏

[@JustCalebThings]

@@vikingman264 bruh calm down.

[@Rob89139]

I think selling when you did was absolutely the right call taking into account what was going on with economy and interest rates. It's been a lot of fun watching you grow and take on different business adventures all of which required vision and sweat equity. I'm confident you will continue to make smart decisions going forward and congrats on the house flip.

[@spencerhilbert]

Yeah I don’t think it would have been a bad move to refinance at those lower rates if my plan was to hold “forever”. Didn’t want to have this property forever and so yeah I probably did time it about perfect in hindsight right now. Thanks for the nice comment and for watching!

[@amrlynch]

Big accomplishment. It's fun to just dive in and keep learning as you go. Nice that you've got some capable friends and family too

[@spencerhilbert]

Absolutely! Very fortunate to have help on the project. No way I could have done it on my own.

[@scardera]

For someone that started at 18... you've done everything right!

[@TheHalfheartedproduc]

FYI. The lines/ridges in your hardwood is because some of the boards are probably raised ever so slightly above the others. It’s creates an imbalance when you’re going directly with the grain and makes the sander bounce. To avoid this, go at an angle for the first pass.

[@spencerhilbert]

Ok yes I think you are right. Everyone is saying it’s because I didn’t go with the grain. And I watched so many videos and read forums that showed going “against the grain” is fine and doesn’t cause damage. The board were uneven and bubbled up from sun light. Thanks for the explanation that’s what I was thinking but couldn’t explain as well. Thanks for watching!

[@locustvalleyfarms7241]

Instructions unclear…….my house is upside down

[@coltonkruse2313]

Those rangers are great little trucks. They will do wayyyy more than they should. Insane how cheap all the repairs were back then. Was the perfect time to do any renovations. Man buddy you have incredible timing with your investment.

[@spencerhilbert]

Yeah it’s been great so far I have put about 60k miles on it so far and no major issues. Yeah great timing I agree! Right before covid hit and prices went crazy.

[@jhacejacob2316]

​@spencerhilbert Do you still have your red truck

[@Tyme_flies]

I dont even know you, but im proud of you ,your family and friends. Its nice to see young people doing something with the money they make. Thanks for the inspiration to other young people they can do the same with dedication hard work and some guidance. Yay for you ! Cant wait to see what you do next. ❤

[@reynaldohanipale1877]

I came here looking for videos of outback cooking in Australia 🇦🇺 but ended watching a video of renovating a whole house without skipping any parts of the video & enjoyed it while eating my dinner 😂

[@florencecampbell774]

Well done to your vision to buy the property.You all worked very hard to get the house done.Good to see your brother and dad helping it says a lot about a family,sticking together.Keep up the good work.👍👏👏👏

[@paigemilner9787]

I’m so excited for the result! You deserve this so much. I bet you’re so excited for a bit of normality back in the home when it’s done ❤

[@WestChicagoWhitetail]

Enjoyed following the process and work Spencer. As always, proud of you!!

[@tonyreich2166]

Love the kitchen and the driveway! Great job guys!!👍👍

[@roxanneherrman2107]

You guys rocked that retaining wall!!! You being the contractor, you know where the mistakes are, but no one will know!!

[@anthonywilson1754]

Motivating video. I'm age 22 and did gymnastics for 14 years. My adoptive parents divorced when I was age 10 and by age 13 I was more or less raising myself. I needed money for gymnastics academy fees and got to working with a property management company. They first hired me for my ability to do a lot of hard physical labor but I got more into the remodeling phase. I stuck with it and really enjoyed the construction phase. After high school graduation I did 1 year of community college when the pandemic closed things. I got a job at Menards and put in building materials. From there I got hired by a construction company. Their guys saw me a lot in the yard helping them load their trucks. I've been in construction full time almost 2 years. I've not yet got into buying property and remodeling houses. I don't have any siblings that I know of. I found this video motivating.

[@Lissa-eh5bg]

Great job. Good flip look forward to seeing you in the future.

[@2504499]

Great video, very educational. Kudos to you for all your hard work and determination.

[@beebop4333]

OBSERVATION Spencer, you deserve more views. I just subbed and telling all my college buddies, girlfriends, neighbors and cousins about ur channel. We will get you to a million.

[@paulmullins4439]

House looks amazing great job

[@user-po2pn2ux8r]

Floors look amazing 😍 Great job

[@twowheelvalle]

Wow, what a good work. From the start with the money till the end of the good result. I'm 21 and I I can put myself in your shoes. ❤

[@cecilianagy3562]

Congrats, great job!

[@jeffb2456]

Nice job. Great results. Good education too!

[@SpryGuy289]

Nice work man. Props

[@DawsonHocken]

The aftermath on this house looks so nice

[@VinceDehoog8530]

Glad to see your decation to something you and your brother and your dad are a good team cant wait to see what this spring brings for you and grant thank you for all of the videos and happy easter

[@spencerhilbert]

Thanks for watching! Happy Easter as well.

[@Fritritter]

Some insanely impressive work ethic showcased in this video. Seriously great job on the whole thing!

[@Monero12]

Great video and project well done

[@danielheartsill4269]

For your age you did a fantastic job. You did at least as well as most contractors would do and didn't have the problems of dealing with them, remembering the window thing. Good job.

[@TheChevyManFarming]

Great video!

[@glendashine9468]

You were really blessed to have your dad and friends pitch in and help. Even better, you learned things that you will be able to take forward through the rest of your life. You should be very proud of yourself!

[@spencerhilbert]

Absolutely. Lots of help made it much easier. Thanks for watching!

[@Brandon-40]

Nice work. I really enjoy how you point out your flaws not everything is perfect and you are learning alot.

[@spencerhilbert]

I appreciate that!

[@JonandEva]

Great video. Thanks for all the detail on the finances too!

[@waterskiingfool]

Love the honesty about the KZbin money. Wish I would of been that ambitious out of high school

[@spencerhilbert]

Yeah that’s my main focus is to share all the numbers!

[@hudson474]

3:13 was an amazing shot! Wow

[@MuniTechnology]

I actually really, really like the segmented retaining wall. It masks the commercial look it would have had and goes with the character of the house.

[@5850terry]

You guys are amazing!

[@Maybe0mi]

I was just watching a spencer tv video and saw this on my recommendation.... i think i like this channel a little bit more already

[@allseriousness]

The super valuable thing you have is family nearby and willing to help.

[@Southernnative0502]

Love your channel and your approach to the viewer’s

[@spencerhilbert]

Thanks I appreciate the comment. Trying to bring value from showing mistakes or wins along the way.

[@shereemorgan1430]

Congratulations 🎉!

[@beckyumphrey2626]

Awesome job!!!!!!

[@TheOnylove]

This was such a good video. If you don't already, you should offer a template of your budget breakdown worksheet and do more home finance/renting income breakdowns. Finance videos always do so well on KZbin and you will be helping others.

[@gregmckee2772]

I thought it was funny at the bathroom part. I’m going to leave most of it untouched, hard cut to the tub walls ripped out hahaha. Perfect editing timing

[@adamtutt115]

I wish u would make more regular content I learn a lot watching u an ur brother

[@haileysmith3400]

You guys all did SO AMAZING! Tip: go diagonal to the grain and then with a lower grit go with the grain! This is exactly how you learn and I love watching thissss!!!!! In my opinion using lighter colors brighten it but I love your choice and it’s really all preference! Idk where yall are located but yall should look into flipping with Austin flippers!!!

[@kyleiswell]

Really like the videos, man. Definitely good motivation to go out in the world and do work!

[@king_charlie]

Nice job man!

[@georgeguegold4927]

I did that when I was 17 years old right out of school on my own .

[@egyphon]

Cool video, thank you.

[@headero]

amazing how motivated you boys were that young age. reminds me of my own path. started farming at 20 and buying rentals on the side, but soon realized the only asset I wanted to own was land.

[@nogames8982]

I don’t know where you live, but it looks like a cute little town. And being able to provide your own sweat, equity is so vital. If you had to pay somebody to do all of that, it would have really really cost a mint. Even little things like having a place to dump the dirt and rock that you don’t have to pay for is great. You’re very lucky. Good job.

[@msme9790]

great job!

[@devalsays]

this has so 2000 vibe to it ... literally feel like watching 2000-2004 era video

[@thebuildinginvestor8427]

Love the break downs! :)

[@davidfry145]

When you use the power sander, go with the boards, not across! Nice job! And congratulations

[@creylacoste4981]

No, 45

[@tjbren576]

Good job, holy cow!

[@zilla2006able]

you did a great job on house 👍👍

[@libbybertrand9320]

Very impressive! Appreciated the transparency and numbers. I think this was a very wise investment😄👍🏼

[@janik307]

great video, i hope you have more uploads coming soon

[@MrTheBigNoze]

Nice work man, if anyone watching this learns anything, it’s to set yourself up to be able to help your own kids out with projects like this and give them a leg up at life. Spencer was able to lean on family for help and now he is set up great for his young adult years. Plus he is a hard worked in his own right

[@spencerhilbert]

Absolutely! Great comment. Yes super appreciative of my parents help. Made doing new things much more confidently. Thanks for watching. Have a good one 👍

[@Salt.Water911]

Spence you guys kicked ass on that house project…

[@zannettos]

8:30 mins in. The concrete slab should either have a steel mesh inside or some fibres in the mix design. If its just concrete it will crack faster.

[@richards5843]

If you did not sand with the grain of the wood which it is the length of the floor planks and not the width can cause marks in the wood but for the first time it looks great. I use a box sander which you put four pads one on each corner and it prevent scalping plus it has a helpa filter so you have very little dust. Great Video.

[@cedricbroussard8738]

That's awesome 👌

[@wendymorrison5803]

I live in another nation. I find the use of vinyl shingles is baffling. If you can afford and you are not in a tornado or hurricane zone get metal. It lasts, you can collect rainwater off it. It won't fly off in storms. Or if branches drop on it.

[@BrianJPetro]

Love to see the hustle and grind from the younger generation. It's a breath of fresh air.

[@flyoverurbangarden4315]

Great video.

[@ROWDYMOTORSPORTS]

Hope one day i can take on that type of project

[@lizb7777]

Very impressive

[@kirbygulbrandsen4507]

Good job considering it was your first flip. But that retainer wall would bother me every time I pulled up. Sorry that was a fail but I’ll forgive you on the floors. All together the floor was okay. Continue to push yourself and you’ll be successful. PERSEVERANCE !

[@ibelieve3111]

Awesome

[@joshviau6076]

Had me nervous with that concrete truck on that old slab... glad it held

[@VeezyLife]

loved this video and the details and explanations! good job

[@joshellis6801]

This video is amazing

[@bayleewhite9488]

There aren’t 1 bed houses for 135,000 where I live with no garage. But that number would be my budget based on what the realtor told me. He said he couldn’t find anything in that range. I either need to make more money or get married. My down payment isn’t what determines my mortgage size-it’s the income. My landlord just emailed me that my rent is going up from 840 to 940 and I live on one of the cheapest streets in town in a one bed without covered parking. My only option is to move out of town making for a long commute. Even then the price would drop maybe back to 800 for rent for about the same. I’d make the difference in gas. Plus time is money. I live in a smaller city too. The economy is wild these days. For perspective, in 2019 my rent was 700 for a two bedroom more than double the size of this one. I hope I can own a house one day!

[@timothycronin7858]

Really good job on the renovations P S ( when you’re sanding the floors go with the grain )

[@razorflare]

Honeslty this was rlly good

[@JohnDeere-jw7jf]

Love it

[@jalabi99]

Unlike many young people these days, you made a number of very smart financial decisions: you started a business, you kept your expenses low by living with your parents for as long as possible, you saved most of your business revenue, and you invested into an asset that can generate cashflow. Well done, Spencer! You're a great role model

[@johnparkes2452]

wow the fs22 graphics are insane

[@mascottie]

You should have made episodes of the entire process. You would have gained a ton of viewers. Will you do it again?

[@spencerhilbert]

Yeah this was back in 2019 so I didn’t have a real life channel and didn’t record much of the work. Yeah if I do it again I will

[@TK-76054]

@15:07 the lines on the floor are because you sanded AGAINST THE GRAIN! I had chest pain when I saw this. Always sand WITH the grain.

[@spencerhilbert]

Yeah lots of people are saying this. But in other spots I went against the grain and lines didn’t show up. Can’t remember exactly, but looking back I remember watch lots of demonstration videos going at different angles with different grit of sand paper to take the warping out of the boards. Idk yeah it probably was going directly perpendicular to the grain that left the lines. But it was just inconsistent results sometimes.

[@pleaseinsertusernamehere]

Doing everything yourself helped you out a lot!!

[@SAGUY1971]

Wow , what a great investment you made there. The renovation job you did looked great as well. Good preparation for your next house project.

[@CluelessEngineer]

lmao 21:37 the tote crane. u need to trademark that

[@bradhaughton6698]

I will say one thing though for a thousand square foot house it looks small on the outside but boys but on the inside definitely looks good after all that work

[@jacktrades5]

That downspout emptying water on the back roof at an angle can cause problems. It should empty into the lower gutter.

[@stuartwood9339]

It’s so weird how different the 2011 ranger in the US looks different to the 2011 ranger we get in South Africa

[@ShapeyFiend]

Good call on selling. Being a landlord is annoying. Particularly at the low end of the market where the better yield is.

[@jeremiah5313]

Great video 👍 I could tell this happened a while back cause you guys look sooooo young 😂

[@spencerhilbert]

Yeah 4-5 years ago. Thanks for watching

[@braxtonwebster8421]

What’s the pipe that go into the kitchen counter to the ceiling ?

[@tomatobrush3283]

Live in flips are the way to go, especially if you are a full income and are not doing the flips through a limited company as a business. It is the most tax efficient way and you get to live in a nice house for a few years before selling it.

[@bengoerzen712]

Amazing work!! Just an unsolicited opinion from another youtuber, but I noticed you've got a fair amount of icedamming happening over the front door on the eave/roof. Proper thing to do is to make sure you're getting enough ventilation through your roof which hopefully your roofers improved - from the soffits up to the vent penetrations. If you're still having a problem you could look into running a heat tracer cable in the affected areas. Just wouldnt want one of those icicle big guys breaking off and hitting someone.

[@spencerhilbert]

Yeah the “before” pictures the gutters weren’t the best and didn’t help that issue. Thanks for the tip!

[@user-pr3bh2ct6s]

the kitchen is giving africa kitchen vibes

[@ClovesDairy]

Oh my even House Flipper 2??!!, My PC can't handle this anymore... 😏