Expect the Unexpected: Mistakes to Avoid for a Successful House Renovation

James Scully
 | September 15, 2021

As a homeowner, you don’t just love your home because it’s where you live in, but also because you take pleasure in having the opportunity to improve, extend, and remodel it. You can exercise your freedom to renovate it the way you want.

However, doing a house renovation by yourself can be overwhelming, and you’ll be able to miss a lot of essential details. Apart from it being overwhelming, renovating your house can also be an inconvenience and a challenge, based on the size and duration of the project.

Knowing what to expect during a major house renovation can help relieve the stress that builds up during the project. Also, you’ll be able to plan and prepare yourself for what’s coming to prevent further expenses. Here are some of the crucial mistakes to avoid making mistakes during and after the project.

DON’T FORGET TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK

Homeowners tend to rush how they choose their contractor. The best thing you could do to have the best experience in renovating your house is to take time to research. Also, you could go with a referral from your friends, to ensure that the contractor is reliable.

However, if you don’t have any referral, you could bid out contractors and compare their prices to determine which contractor best matches your set budget. Following this, you could also ask the contractor to see how they work in multiple sessions or their reviews from previous clients.

Knowing how your contractor works on the job will help you distinguish their carpentry skills, as well as how they work with their clients. Since your renovation project is a timely and pricey process, and it should be taken care of with precision.

STOP HIRING UNRELIABLE PROFESSIONALS

You should scout for professionals that you could rely on for the entire project. Having a reliable architect and designer for your house renovation can help smoothen your plans, and which they will also do their best to meet all your requests.

Another advantage of having a reliable architect and designer will benefit you in terms of saving a bit of your budget. Following this, architects and designers have their supplier where they regularly buy fixtures and furniture. As a result, you’ll be able to able to renovate your house efficiently by cutting costs on fixtures and furniture.

On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with renovating your house by yourself, but DIY also has its drawbacks. DIY allows you to save a lot of money because you won’t need to pay for labour or a professional’s help. But, you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew, because renovating a house isn’t as easy as it seems.

Consequently, you should always welcome all hired help. Moreover, since there are a lot of home renovation companies near you, home renovations Melbourne are most willing to manage all the aspects of the renovation process. Peace of mind is ensured from design to implementation since you’re provided with a customer focused experience.

STOP OVERLOOKING THE MOST-USED ROOMS

Although it’s quite cliché to say that the kitchen and bathroom is the heart of every home, it’s still true. However, homeowners often don’t take these rooms into priority and spend more time and money on other spaces.

Functional spaces such as the kitchen and bathroom should be kept updated, especially if you think about selling the house in the future. Further, you should only move onto the less-crucial rooms such as the bedroom or office after the kitchen and bathroom are in great shape.

PREVENT YOURSELF FROM SPENDING TOO MUCH ON THE WRONG THINGS

If you are taking your kitchen and bathroom into priority, and you want to invest in expensive kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures, you should stop. You’ll be able to balance your expenses by buying affordable items elsewhere, saving you from going past your budget.

Stopping yourself from spending too much will also prevent you from mismatching your design and colour scheme due to being short on budget. You have to avoid the idea that you have to reduce costs for one thing because you overspent on the other. Keep in mind that renovating your house is a give-and-take process.

NEVER IGNORE THE BATHROOMS

Apart from the kitchen, your bathrooms should be the second priority. Your bathroom is a sanctuary of your daily hygiene activities. Keep attentive to your bathroom and you should feel comfortable and relaxed when you use your bathroom.

You’ll be spending most of your time in the bathrooms before the day starts and ends. Further, you also have to think about the resale value that your bathroom will contribute if you’re thinking about selling your house in the future.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE LANDSCAPING

Your landscaping will serve as an introduction before relatives or visitors enter your house and see your interior. More importantly, your landscape should be able to set up the mood and create an atmosphere that will highlight the exterior design of your home.

As a homeowner, you should be able to have a point of view of your landscape, no matter which room you are in. Having a point of view with regards to landscape will help create dynamic spaces when you’re inside or outside the house.

YOU SHOULD RESPECT THE BONES OF THE HOUSE

Your house won’t have the potential to be a great home if it doesn’t have good bones. Good bones refer to the structure of your house before the renovation, which has been constructed with quality.

Remember, you’re only doing a house renovation, you’re not reconstructing your house. Although, the idea of mixing and layering new styles with different time periods is excellent. But, it will also change the entirety of the project, as well as the potential to increase the costs.

TAKEAWAY

Taking part in a significant project such as renovating your house can be a bit of a challenge. You will tend to lose perspective of the outcome because it may appear to you that the project is taking longer, costing more, and becoming even more stressful than you expected.

However, if you keep in mind the reason why you started the project, you will realise that as each day passes, you are getting closer to achieving the home you’ve always wanted.

James Scully

James Scully

Operations Manager

James studied Property at RMIT University where he learnt the fundamentals of construction and project management. Over the last twelve years he’s spent time working on both commercial and residential projects, working closely with all trades to gain valuable knowledge in all aspects of construction whilst honing in the skills he studied at RMIT.

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