Questions To Ask Yourself When You Are Considering a Home Renovation
So you are thinking about renovating your home. Even just accepting it needs to be done is a big step! But there is more to it than just saying “Yes, this house needs a change.” You and your spouse have some things you really need to consider before renovating your home. Trust me, it will save you a lot of headaches and wasted time if you have an idea of what you want
Related: Find Your Design Style
What Rooms Do I Want To Be Renovated?
Take a look at your home. What rooms need the most work? Where do you want the focus on the renovation to be? You need to get a grasp on just how big of a project it will be. Some rooms are going to be more ambitious than others depending on their use. A kitchen involves a lot more energy (and funds) than a living room. That’s not to say that there aren’t ways to make a living room renovation bigger and grander, but generally speaking kitchens tend to be the biggest undertaking. And in return, they add the most value to your home.
What Is The Purpose For Renovating?
Why are you planning to renovate? Is it to make your home more comfortable and fitting for your family? Is it to update your home or do necessary repairs? Are you fixing up your house to sell it? Perhaps you just bought your home (congratulations!) and want to renovate before you move in! Since you’ve already decided which rooms to focus on you need to also know why you want to do those rooms. This will help you with figuring out the scope of work needed. A renovation to make your home functional is a higher personal investment than a quick flip to make a house marketable.
Related: Tips For Selling Your Home
What Is My Vision For The Room?
Okay, you know what rooms you want to be renovated and why, but what do you envision for the room? This is where you can do some daydreaming. Try to visualize the new room in your head. What feelings do you want the room to evoke? Is it going to be a big change from how it is now? Will the function of the room be changed too? You want to go into the home renovation with a clear direction so you don’t get lost among all the decisions that will need to be made along the way.
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How Much Needs To Be Done?
You’ve now picked your rooms to renovate and you have an idea for the end look. Next, you need to decide how much work is involved to get there. Is it a basic facelift with a coat of paint? Are you changing the baseboards too? Will new windows be installed? Is the room being gutted and completely refinished? This is where you decide how much work you want to have done to get the room you visualize. Perhaps, you need to break it up into a few smaller projects over the course of a year or two. But now is when you can make those decisions and get a more realistic idea of how much work is involved.
What Is My Budget?
I don’t want this question to get lost or set aside. You need to face the finances at some point and people really shy away from this. Renovations add up quickly. Knowing where you stand financially really dictates how a project will go. Perhaps you will find you need to scale back to fit within a budget. Or maybe you discover that you are approved for a great loan and can do more than you initially planned. But don’t go into it blindly. That will only cause you grief later on. And arguments.
Hire Out or DIY?
Are you handy or a disaster with power tools? Will you need someone to come in and do the full renovation or part of it? Are you able and willing to do part of the renovation to save money? Or are you planning on doing the whole renovation yourself? This can really depend on how large of a project you are doing too. If there are any structural changes involved then hire a professional. Same goes for where building codes or permits apply such as electrical and plumbing unless you know what you are doing. There is nothing worse than finishing up tiling a shower to discover that the pipes leak inside the wall when you turn the water on. It can really save you in many ways by hiring professional trades to do a proper job.
Where Will I Store Belongings?
Unless you are planning renovations for a new home before moving in, chances are that you have belongings in the rooms you want to renovate. Where will you store these items during the
Where Will I Be Staying?
It is not easy to live in a home while it is being renovated. Depending on the scope of work, it may not even be feasible to stick around. Do you have a place to stay if you need to vacate? Do you need to rent a hotel room for a week while the major parts are completed (add to budget)? Or it is simple enough that you can use other rooms as dual-purpose areas until the job is done? Such as doing dishes in the bathtub.
Renovating My Home
Now that you’ve addressed the big issues of a home renovation you can start working on the nitty-gritty details. Start by meeting with contractors and trades to find ones you’d like to work with on your home. Get quotes and ideas from them. Draw up plans and learn the process for tackling your home renovation. Find out what decisions they need you to make and what’s the timeline.
Once those things are figured out and in a contract then you have the fun part of designing layouts, planning the finished look, and picking the finishing materials to bring your vision to life. You want to do this early enough that everyone involved is on the same page as they proceed with the renovation. Fewer surprises mean fewer surprise expenses.
Get Renovating
You are now all set to dig into your home renovation. By taking the time to ask yourself these questions you will be prepared for when these topics come up during your renovation. The more information and forethought you have, the smoother the renovation process will go. That is why it’s important to know what to consider before renovating your home. And once you have done one home renovation you will see how this process will help future renovations too. So get renovating!
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Eli Richardson says
It really helped when you talked about the costly mistakes that we’d make by trying to renovate our house. I have a cousin who enjoys DIY projects, but I’m worried about his next project because it involves tearing down a few walls, so I’ll make sure he reads your insight immediately. Thanks for explaining that projects that involve electrical and plumbing changes need to be done by a professional.
Sara-Lynn Houk says
Thank you for your comment and sharing my post. There are professionals in all trades for a very good reason. Take care!