Renovating your existing home can be equally exciting as designing and building a new home from the ground up, the major difference between renovating and building new is that you are living in the home.
Designing the renovation, determining the timeline and agreeing the budget with the contractor is really only the beginning. Undertaking a home renovation project can be extremely hard on you and your family, this is especially true when you are adding to your home or renovating the whole house; projects that will take several months to complete.
By fully understanding how to prepare for a renovation project in your home you can go a long way to reducing the stress and minimising the inconvenience. Here are a few tips that will help:
Where will you and your family stay? This of course is very important, you must decide up front whether you are going to stay in the home during the renovation process or are you going to go elsewhere? If the project is quite small, perhaps only a bathroom or even the kitchen you can usually stay in the house by making a few reasonably simple adjustments to your routine. On the other hand, if you are looking at a full top-to-bottom renovation that will take several months to complete you are well advised to make alternative arrangements. You may be able to stay with a family member, there are always hotels and short-lease apartments; what is most important is you choose a place that is not too far out of your way when it comes to schooling and work and of course, close enough that you can visit the site and monitor the progress and ensure the work is being done as planned.
What about your possessions? The best solution is to rent a storage unit, you can move those items from your home to storage that might be damaged or broken if left in the home. If you decide to leave everything in the home, pick a room and make it off limits to everyone. Regardless of whether you store your possessions or simply isolate them, mark the boxes and put the ones that you might need to get into near the front, this will make getting to them much easier.
The budget: You may think you have the budget set perfectly; chances are when the house is being dismantled there will be things that were not known or overlooked at the time; perhaps the contractor will uncover mould for example. When you prepare for a renovation project in your home, assume you will spend a little more than you had planned for, if you don’t it becomes a pleasant surprise.
Based on over 30 years of experience Riches Homes & Improvements can show you in advance how to prepare for a renovation project in your home. You are invited to call to discuss your project in detail.
