When it comes to renovating, you need to have a clear idea of exactly what you want your completed home to include. There are many questions and considerations that you’ll have to take up with yourself, such as, who should I build with? What’s my budget? And how can I create a functional yet stylish design?
The best way to approach a renovation is by being prepared and knowing what to dodge along the way. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of the 3 biggest mistakes to avoid when considering your renovation project. Keep reading to discover what they are…
Mistake 1. Choosing the Wrong Builder
To put it simply, your builder is hands down the most important part of your renovation project. After all, you’ll be putting the future of your home into their hands. Choosing a builder who doesn’t understand your vision or simply isn’t interested in trying to, can lead to a stressful building process and disappointing results.
How to Avoid It: Do Your Research
Start by investigating potential builders online. Compare quotes, inspect their websites and social media pages, review their testimonials, explore their previous projects (including in person if possible) and read any reviews that they might have.
Once you’ve created a shortlist of the most suitable candidates for your project, make an enquiry with each one and monitor their response times and processes. This will give you a clear indication of their organisational skills and reliability.
Once you have selected a builder that understands your ideas, ask if you can speak to previous clients. They will be able to give you an idea of the builder’s workmanship, procedures and overall project management skill.
Mistake 2. Not Designing to your Budget
Having an unrealistic budget or extravagant ideas that don’t align with your budget will do nothing but make the building process more stressful than it needs to be. You need to be real when it comes to your budget and understand that renovating isn’t cheap. In fact, it can sometimes be more costly than building from scratch.
The reality of the matter is: inaccurate or under budgeting can bring your entire renovation project to a stop.
How to Avoid It: Overbudget
Be realistic when it comes to your renovation – make a list of wants and needs and work out an accurate budget, alongside your chosen builder, based on this list. If your budget is starting to blow out, it’s time to remove some of the ‘wants’.
It’s also important to overbudget where possible as unexpected costs are likely to spring up along the way. Having a few extra dollars in the budget will allow for unforeseen incidentals like product upgrades, extra materials or costs arising from unexpected site work.
Mistake 3. Not Considering How Your Home Will Function
When renovating, you should already have an idea about what works well in your home, what doesn’t and what needs to change. However, don’t get wrapped up in the idea of what’s trending in the industry. The practicality of your design needs to come before style.
How to Avoid It: Be Conscious of your Requirements
The location of each room in your home is of critical importance. You want each space to easily flow from one room to another. Therefore, you need to be conscious of your requirements and decisive about how each space will be utilised and align with your lifestyle.
A renovation project is a big undertaking so you need to consider how your home will continue to function into the future. For example, if you’re planning on starting or growing your family, extra bedrooms and living spaces for future use should be taken into consideration.
At iConstruct Building Solutions, we ensure peace of mind for our clients. We are passionate about working closely with clients during every step of a build to ensure our dream renovations are delivered on time, on budget and without any unnecessary stress.
