The thought of renovating your home can be exciting but the reality is often life-disrupting and financially stressful for many homeowners. To avoid disappointment and to ensure that your renovation is successful here are five important factors to take into consideration before you begin.
Be realistic
While having a dream is important, the most crucial part of planning a renovation is to be realistic. It’s easy to get carried away in imagining the end result but to avoid disappointment its essential to know what you’re getting yourself in for. For example, your life will be disrupted, there might be unexpected costs and mishaps along the way, and the project may end up taking longer than expected.
Your budget
When planning a renovation make sure that you set a realistic budget for the project that takes unexpected costs into account. You will need to sit down and take stock of your financial situation and work out what you can actually afford. More often than not, home renovations end up costing more than planned so it’s also important to factor that in. Overall, try to avoid borrowing for your renovation. It’s always best to have the money saved up before you begin.
Have a plan and stick with it
Once you have your budget worked out, with enough wiggle room for unexpected costs, the fun can begin! It’s time to plan exactly what you want and how you want it to look down to the very smallest details. It’s best to take your time to ensure you have a very clear idea so that you won’t feel the need to make changes midway through.
It’s best to start with the infrastructure changes first before you run wild with the cosmetic details.
Do your research
Once your plan is laid out and every detail decided on you will need to do research on prices. It might be necessary to tweak your plans accordingly in order to stay within budget.
You’ll need to get as many quotes as possible to ensure that you’re getting value for money and it’s always a good idea to be on the lookout for areas where you can cut costs without comprising on quality and safety.
Depending on the type of alterations you want done and where you live you may also require approval from your local municipality or Heritage Authority. It’s important to get any and all permissions required before you begin so that you don’t have to undo any work that you get done. Do your research on the right professionals for the job so that they can assist and advise you before you make any changes.
Choosing the right professionals for the job will save you a lot of potential headaches in the future. Speak to friends and family members to get recommendations. It’s always helpful to get as much advice as possible.
Minimise the disruption
Renovating often takes longer than planned so it’s important to maintain your sanity by scheduling the project at the right time. You might have people in and out of your house for weeks on end and have to put up with the sounds of hammering and drilling so, depending on how disruptive this may be to your life, you may want to consider alternative living arrangements during your renovation.
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