Renovating? Don’t skip these 8 renovation essentials

When it comes to home renovations, there’s really no exact formula to guarantee that you’ll get the results you want on a budget you can afford. Still, following some basic but helpful steps can help you get the most out of your renovation or extension.

1. Spend enough time for research.

Between work, family, and friends, you barely have enough time to do research on your planned renovation. It’s quite easy to just dive into a building project and expect everything to fall into place. However, going into a home renovation project without sufficient background information on trends, prices, and other relevant stuff is like going into a battle unarmed.

Simply looking around your neighbourhood for housing trends and doing a quick search on the internet for prices can help you a lot.

2. Set a budget.

Even if you have enough money to spend, you still wouldn’t want to overspend on your reno. This part of the planning is where research definitely pays off. If you know the current going rate of the materials and services that you need, you can set a realistic budget that won’t blow holes in your pockets. Who knows, if you’ve done well on your budgeting, you might even have spare cash left to improve other rooms in your home.

3. Think about the future.

A home renovation is something that will stick with you for many years, so you have to think ahead. Maybe you like a particular trend, but will you still like it ten years from now? It’s not bad to go bold with your design choices, but if you’re planning to sell your home in three or five years, maybe it’s wiser to stick with universally well-received styles.

4. Know your options.

From materials to colours, you’ll have to make a lot of choices when doing a major renovation. Be sure that you know your options so you’re not stuck on the conventional.

5. Do a background check on your contractors.

Sure, your preferred contractor might have offered you the lowest price and a lot of perks, but how do you know they’ll deliver? Contracting isn’t something that you should just blindly go into. Don’t forget to ask your contractor for his licence, insurance, referrals from previous jobs, and other important information. Only hire them when you feel that you can trust them completely with regard to all aspects of your job.

7. Just keep asking.

Don’t be afraid to come off as annoying or ignorant when talking with your contractor. Frequent communication is needed to make sure that everything about your home renovation is going and will continue to go smoothly. Talking everything out with your contractors, be it your architect, project manager, builder, or designer, will help you know if they really understand what you want to achieve.

8. Understand before you sign.

Read and re-read your contract as much as you need. You can even hire legal help if there are certain parts of the contract that confuse you. Even if you’ve already chosen a contractor that you feel is trustworthy, your contract is still the thing that will make all those discussions with your contractor legally binding.

Home renovations can be time-consuming and a little stressful, but hiring the right people for the job can ease off a lot of the stress from your shoulders. Get quotes from home renovation experts now!