Home Renovation Project: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

Sarah Lifestyle

Home renovations sometimes seem so easy. With a few small repairs and fixes, you could add value to your property and make your living space more comfortable. More often than not they don’t really require a professional repair team. Averagely handy homeowners could do the repairs themselves on their spare time and save a significant sum.

However, if not done properly, renovations could prove to be more costly than you might have imagined. By avoiding these mistakes, you may save yourself a lot of money and trouble, and make sure that everything goes smoothly.

Rushing with the design

When renovating in order to freshen up the room and make it more visually interesting it’s crucial not to rush with the decisions. Designs and themes come and go and it often happens that they fade out pretty fast.

Most homeowners can’t renovate their homes that often, so don’t rush with that minimalistic or industrial design that’s trendy right now, because you’re going to have to live with it for years to come.

Budgeting

Renovation projects cost money and, sometimes, they could really affect your home budget. It’s important to think about this before you start working on anything. There are a few factors to consider when making a budget.

The first is the cost of materials. It’s important to ask the contractors who will be providing the materials and are they included in the overall price. If they are not, you should shop around before making a final decision. The next thing to think about is the cost of labor because it often consists of much more than just work – there’s also insurance and permits to think about.

Waste removal

People often tend to forget that the job isn’t over when the repairs are done. The project often creates a lot of waste that could take days or even weeks to clean.

Plan in advance and organize construction debris removal before you start doing any work. The company you choose for the task should provide you with a clear schedule, and should also be able to deal with the debris left after the renovation.

Painting

Painting and coating are considered to be smaller renovations and they don’t usually require professional help. This is often true and if you know what you’re doing you can finish the job yourself in a matter of days. However, if things go wrong, fixing a bad paint job could cost you quite a lot.

The problems often come from spending too much time on choosing the paint color and not on choosing the type of paint that would fit the texture of your walls. It might be a good idea to consult a professional about the selection even if you are planning on painting the walls yourself.

Contractors

Once you have all of this figured out, the next step is choosing the right contractors. It’s the trickiest part of the whole process because there’s nothing as important as having good contractors. Agree on the schedule and scope of work they should do before you go on to the price and payment terms.

It’s also a good idea to ask the contractors for recommendations from their former clients. That’s the best way to know how they work with clients and what to worry about. Don’t rush this decision and go into details if you want to make sure you have everything covered.

Try to avoid making these mistakes and plan out your renovation project thoroughly. That way you will save yourself both money and stress.