The Ultimate Renovation Checklist
Renovating any home can be tough. From all the costs involved, to deciding which contractor to hire. So much can go on during a renovation that it’s easy to miss things and get lost in the process. I've created a renovation checklist to make the whole process easier!
Create Your Priority List
Before anything else, you need to actually list down what priorities you have for your home. Just have a list of do’s and don’ts that would make talking to an architect or a designer a lot easier. So if you feel that your homes living area has a lot of potential, it may be worth noting and you want to put that on your list. Once this is done, you can then move around the items you feel is least important as you look into your budget.
Permissions and Permits
You need to look into the permits that are required when you plan to renovate your home. And it’s actually easy to ask about this by calling the city building inspector who can tell you more about rules and regulations in your neighborhood. And if you don’t feel like talking to the building inspector yet, you can ask people you know that has done renovations for their home so you can just get an idea of what you need to do to make the renovation happen.
Finding the Right Contractor
Finding the right people to renovate your home means you need to ask around. A good way to do this is to get three bids for each area that you need a contractor. And you need to remember that contractors need a detailed list of everything you need to be done so that they can give you an accurate price. Because without this detailed list, each contractor would just pull off estimates and you may end up paying more than you expected.
Material Cost
Figuring out the cost of each material you will be using gives you peace of mind. You could actually take your project plan to the local stores that you will be purchasing your materials from and try to get the price for each item. Some even give package prices so this can be a good way of canvassing for a good price and just having the right idea about all the material cost that your renovation would be incurring.
Checking Contractor References
Ask each contractor about their references, because it’s always a good idea to check the people that are working on your home. Ask them to give you names of three of their previous clients then call these previous clients about the quality of the work they have done and definitely ask them if they have complaints or problems about their work. This can let you breathe easier knowing that you are hiring competent people to do the job.
Financing the Project
Talk to your bank before you spend any money on the project. This way you can actually figure out if you need a loan or want to just spend what money you have right now. You need to know what your options are when it comes to financing your home renovation so talk to the right people or even talk to people who have done it and don’t just blindly spend on the project.
Insurance
There are risks involved, even with renovations. So ask about insurance and policies that cover losses that involve this type of project. It’s always a good idea to nail down the kind of policy that you can have during the construction phase as well because you never know when something can go wrong.
So there you have it, a checklist of the things you need to do and check before and during the renovation of your home. Yes, there will be people helping you out through this process, but knowing about them firsthand can save you a lot of worries and can make sure that each of the people working in the renovation of your home is doing their job right. And if you want some advice about property investments or anything property related, please get in touch with me at 0402 909 727.
