The Top 5 Home Renovation Mistakes People Make
It’s easy to get excited about renovating your home when you’ve been waiting months, even years, to do it. In our years of experience here at Action Plans, we’ve seen the same mistakes time and time again. When people are raring to go, DIY home reno-ers can easily become distracted or overzealous and make mistakes that cost them valuable time and money – leaving them with an expensive mess in need of repair or setting themselves back months in their ideal timeline towards completion.
So, to make sure that you don’t become one of these people, we’ve compiled the top five home renovation mistakes that people often make – and how you can avoid making them!
1. Not Sticking To Your Budget
Before you got started on your renovation journey, no doubt you set yourself a budget. That was the easy part, because you were thinking purely financially. But as soon as you get started, that’s when your imagination starts to take over. While some parts of your project can and should have some wiggle room in the budget – you can’t stray too drastically! Remember to stick to what you originally planned. If you can’t afford everything you absolutely need, consider waiting until you have the funds or taking out a loan that you can afford to repay.
2. Picking A Designer That Doesn’t Get You
Your building designer has to be the right designer for you. While a referral from your friend or coworker can be very valuable in finding somebody you can trust, you also need to make sure that they have the skills and vision to bring your dream home to life. You want someone who gets what you’re looking for and is excited about making it happen.
3. Making Changes During The Building Stage
Once the construction crew has broken ground, it is too late to start making design changes. Your designs will have been approved and calculated, and the building materials already purchased. Your building designer should always tell you if a particular design isn’t a good idea before you begin construction, so there shouldn’t be any need for changes at this stage. A change of mind at this stage could mean the quality of work will be inadequate, and you will almost certainly need to spend a lot more money to accommodate it.
4. Choosing An Unrealistic Timeframe
No doubt you’ve heard this before; good work takes time. If you give your building designer and the construction crew an unrealistic timeframe that they feel forced to agree to, the work will be rushed and the outcome will suffer because of it. Rushed work means that the quality of the construction will be poor and lack attention to detail. If the timeframe is rushed, you’ll have your renovated home completed when you want it – but may need to spend more time and money on maintenance and repairs in the future.
5. Doing It Yourself
DIY projects are exciting, involved and engaging. However, for major home renovations, we certainly wouldn’t recommend going it alone. Quality design work and safe, top tier construction work requires qualified contractors and experienced and trained construction workers. Laying brick upon brick might look easy, but do you want to do the job yourself – cheaply – or have it done well the first time?
The five mistakes listed above are commonly made by people who are excited to get their dream home up and running – but get in a little over the head. It’s only natural – the home of your dreams is one of the most emotionally driven journeys you’ll ever go on. However, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth all the stress, as well as losing time and money over due to impatience or the desire to save a buck.
It’s better to take it slow and let your building designer steer you in the right direction. If you’re looking for a building designer who’ll do all this for you – all you need to do is give us a call here at Action Plans! We’ll help you to create the home you’ve always dreamed of and make the process stress-free, mistake-free and produce an outcome exactly as you envisioned!
