As real estate is getting increasingly more expensive as the time goes by, people are starting to realize that home renovation might be a better option when compared to moving. Whether you’ve trying to elbow- grease your way to success or you’ve decided that hiring a professional contractor might be the best idea after all, renovating a home can still prove itself to be far more difficult than you’d imagine. This is why we’ve prepared this useful list of various things you should definitely avoid during your home renovation efforts.
Table of Contents
1. Don’t postpone your decisions
The vast majority of decision-related issues are often about the small things, like getting just the right paint color, finding an adequate trim or having trouble choosing between two equality beautiful faucets. Postponing decision such as these can quickly turn into a fiasco once realize that the plumbing crew can’t finish their jobs due to that one of a kind faucet being a couple of weeks late. This is why it’s best to make all the major decisions before the work has actually begun and avoid putting yourself and those around you in a tight spot.
2. Don’t flip-flop with your decision
Changing your mind during a renovation project is not only inevitable by default, but also a pretty common occurrence that happens even to the best of contractors. That being said, have in mind that every change of heart directly translates into a change of work order, regular schedule and can result in additional costs you now have to worry about instead of focusing on the task at hand. If you end up changing your renovation plans, make sure that everyone on the team is on the same page in order to prevent people from following the old plan without even realizing it in the first place.
3. Don’t purchase all the materials by yourself
Most DIY renovators prefer buying their own materials in order to ensure that they’re getting the best deal for their money. However, you might not have known this, but builders have significantly better odds of getting a good price than you ever would. Guys from Cassaform explain that the reason behind this is pretty simple actually: builders are professional contractors who have been working in this industry for years. This means that they have a larger network of contacts they can use to help them find the best possible deal.
4. Don’t even consider starting a project without an adequate contingency plan
Setting a realistic renovation budget is extremely difficult to accomplish, even for the professionals. Far too often people set a specific budgeting limit for the project only to find out that the actual costs exceed their budgets by a significant margin. Contractors can only make an educated estimate regarding the overall costs and you should always take those estimates with a grain of salt. Home renovation projects often result in some unexpected expenses so try to do all your preparations in advance.
5. Don’t distract the workers while they’re busy
A professional contract is aware that not everyone has the luxury of moving out during the renovation work. However, workers can be more efficient and far more relaxed when there aren’t any children running around and asking a million questions every minute. Kids are not the only issue here and even the adults can end up behaving like helicopter parent out of the best possible intention. Having an insightful conversation with some of the contractors is perfectly fine, but have in mind that they are there to work and not chit chat with the locals all day long.
This list of don’t wouldn’t be made possible without all the people who have actually done the things we described above. Additional examples of a home renovation don’ts are getting the cheapest possible materials to be used in your renovations, as well as insisting on renovating a house that is simply too run down to be renovated properly. Instead of stubbornly arguing with the contactors, you might want to sit down, take a deep breath and be realistic regarding your renovation priorities.
