You’ve lived in your home for a few years now and it’s starting to show signs of wear and tear, or maybe your appliances and furniture are in for a re-do. Whatever your reasons are, renovating a home is no easy task. You should prepare yourself for the unforeseeable, and acknowledge the fact that it will take a lot of time before the ordeal is done. There are a number of things you should keep in mind before renovating, and in this article, we will list a number of them to help you better prepare for remodeling your home.
Consider Financing Aspects
An important aspect of home renovation is the budget, and you really can’t start this journey unless you’ve got a fair bit of money in your bank account. From buying furniture to hiring professionals to help with home reparations or painting your walls, renovating will cost you quite a bit. If you’re lacking in funds, you could always try for a home-equity loan to cover the costs.
While taking out a loan isn’t always the best idea, if you’re in a situation where, for example, you’ve got a baby on the way, and you really need to renovate the house to suit the new arrival’s needs, a loan might just do the trick. Other options for financing might include taking a loan from your parents, which would probably be without interest, or postponing the renovation until you’ve managed to gather at least part of the funds in order to be able to pay cash.
Hire the Right Professionals
Florin, owner of an NYC movers company, started renovating his home. With his business flourishing, he was lucky enough to afford being able to pay for everything. The problems came when he was knee-deep in renovating. The contractors he hired to paint his walls started asking for more money than was agreed upon, for no discernable reason. While he did eventually manage to get another crew to paint his walls, this shows how important hiring the right people for the job is.
Try to hire people using word of mouth, or, if you can’t do that and have to rely on the internet, look for online reviews. They are invaluable in finding out the work ethic of the people you’re hiring. Make sure the contractors come prepared, and try to spend at least a couple of hours each day with them, to see if they’re doing a good job.
Be Realistic About How Long This Will Take
If you’re renovating your entire house, or even if you’re just renovating your kitchen, you have to set a realistic timeline. Understand that this won’t be over in just a couple of weeks. There are numerous things that go into renovating a house, such as finding the right contractors, or buying the materials required for the renovation process. All of these things take a lot of time.
Also, take into consideration where you’ll live during the renovation. If work is only being done on, say, the bathroom, you might be able to live in your house, but if you’re renovating the entire building, then you might have to consider living with your parents or getting a hotel room for the duration of the process.
Plan Around the Weather
If you’re doing outside renovations, then you will definitely need to consider the weather. You probably shouldn’t renovate during the winter, or when it’s rainy season. No contractor will take on a job when it’s snowing or cold, and if it’s raining, it might mess up the process entirely. Imagine laying down roofing during a storm, it’s simply not doable. Make sure you plan your renovation during the late spring, summer or early autumn.
Also make sure to plan the days your contractors will be working based on the weather forecast. Accept the fact that if it unexpectedly starts raining, and your crew is doing outside renovations, they’ll simply have to stop working. These sorts of situations are nasty but expected, as the weather is fickle and forecasts aren’t always accurate.
Try to Focus on Structural Issues First
Structural issues in houses are some of the first things that need to be addressed when renovating. Whether it’s a leaky roof or an unstable foundation, you should always focus on them before doing any other work. Other things that might require attention could be uneven floors, or cracks in the walls. Whatever it is, you should fix it as soon as the renovation starts.
While it might be tempting to skip over these necessary repairs, you’ll be doing yourself a favor by not doing so. Trying to repair structural issues after renovating your house is an exercise in frustration. They might look small at first, but they will quickly turn into a very costly repair bill. It’s also unsafe to keep them on the backburner, since these problems could become bigger in the long run.
