Renos are not for the faint of heart, but they can be extremely rewarding. To save time, money, and stress, start with these 7 steps to plan your renovation!
Home renovations of any size are a huge undertaking. The process is grueling, but the results can be incredible! Whether you’re planning an entirely DIY home reno or hiring contractors for the work, there is a lot to organize before getting started. Here are 7 steps to plan your home renovation to make it as smooth as possible. To give you scale, here’s a little peak at what we started with:
HOW TO PLAN A HOME RENOVATION
Do You Have a Budget for Your Renovation?
Step 1: BUDGET. How much money do you have? What you have to spend will determine what you are able to do. It’s great if you can decide how much you want to spend, but let’s be real, most of us will be limited to what we have access to. When we started, the first thing we did was work out how much money we could afford to spend. Since we knew we had to fix the roof and the foundation, along with gutting the interior, straight away we knew that the budget would be tight. Now take what you have and multiply it by 20%, this becomes your budget. If you have $50,000 x 20% = $10,000. Now leave that 20% in the bank like it doesn’t exist. I know this hurts, but there will be unforeseen expenses.
How Are You Going to Organize and Keep Track of Your Money?
Step 2: Open a separate bank account for your home renovation. Whether you have money saved or you are looking at types of financing, it’s incredibly helpful to have a dedicated account for your renovation. This way, you won’t have to weed through personal transactions versus renovation transactions when you’re trying to balance your budget. Trust me when I tell you it saves so much time and stress in the long run! Home renovation updates can also potentially be used as tax deductions. Government incentives are always worth looking into.
What’s the Plan for Your Renovation?
Step 3: Figure out exactly what you want to get out of it. At the end of it all, what does your space look like? Start planning exactly what you want to do to your home and get the bare bones of a plan on paper. This plan may change over time, but it’s good to have a rough idea. Figure out whether you want to renovate the entire home or just a few rooms. Maybe renovating your bathroom or giving your bedroom a makeover will be enough to breathe new life into the entire home. Once you have the bones of a plan down on paper and an idea of what you want to change, you can start to tweak it for a more accurate picture. Think about what materials you want to use, which styles and designs you like, and what colour schemes would work best. You don’t need to create a complete blueprint, but this information will be very useful when you start to speak with contractors.
Who’s on Your Team?
Step 4: Find your Contractors. Once you know what you want, start researching local contractors. Take time to research as many as you can, taking recommendations from friends, family and co-workers into account. When you meet, discuss your plans and get feedback from each one. A good contractor will generally offer constructive criticism where needed, and alternative ideas that might save you money. Most importantly, are they listening to what you want? Ask as many questions as you can think of and be sure to get a detailed estimate. Meeting with several contractors allows you to get feedback from a number of professionals, as well as getting an idea of which you feel you’d be best working with. I lost count of how many we interviewed before we found a team we knew we could trust. At the end of the day, that’s what it come down to. Do you trust this person with tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars? If they make you uneasy or if you have a small nagging feeling? Don’t hire them, move on.
Recheck Your Numbers
Step 5: BUDGET. With a contractor in mind and a detailed estimate to go on, you can start to create a more accurate budget. Work backwards when you do this. Be sure to take into account additional expenses such as eating out, accommodation, and the thing everyone seems to forgot – décor. Are you going to refinish your spaces right away? If yes, set another 25% aside for this. Using our previous example, $50,000 became $40,000 after setting aside “Ah $%!&” money. After 25%, that $40,000 is now $30,000 for the construction portion of the reno.
It’s good practice to also consider the return on investment (ROI), even if you don’t plan on selling any time soon. Make sure you’re not going to end up pricing your home out of your neighbourhood and think about whether it’s worth going all out on a luxury remodel. Now is the time to change the plan and to go for a more mid-range renovation if you think it might be the best thing for your budget and ROI.
Are You Ready?
Step 6: Set a Date and a Timeline. Using your budget, ROI and your plan work with your contractors to tweak your plans until they’re feasible—and until you’re happy. These steps to plan your renovation are in your control, you don’t need to please anyone else. Meet with your contractors to discuss the revised plan and finalize the small details. Finally, fix a date for the work to commence, being sure that you know how long it’ll take. You may choose to do everything at once or stagger the work room by room. The choice is yours and mostly depends on your budget, schedule and the urgency of the work in question. If you do need to stagger, target the rooms you use most first, favouring kitchens and bathrooms over bedrooms.
Time to Prep & Purge!
Step 7: Go over all the details and PREP. Make sure you have all the pieces in place and your materials are ordered. Do not start a reno until you know you will have what you need when you need it. (Especially considering the way the world works in 2022!). Take this opportunity to clean and purge the space. Do you have old pots and pans you throw into the back of the cabinet and never use? Are the curtains in your living room falling apart? Take the time now to get rid of those eye sores and headaches so that you can be sure you’re able to fill your new space with only the items you love!
These are 7 steps to plan your home renovation to make it as smooth as possible. It’s a starting point. It can be incredibly frustrating trying to find the cost of all the materials you are look at when you are being pressured to buy right away. Don’t worry, I’ll be back with more tips and tricks to make your renovation plans easier to set and and less stressful to execute! Stay Tuned…
