Planning on renovating your new apartment to show your sophisticated style – or just to accommodate the changes in your life? Perhaps you are one of the many homeowners who see their house as an investment. We have gathered the best tips you may want to consider before you dive in deep with home remodeling. After all, this is more than just painting colors or updating the central air conditioning.
You can start with the following steps:
1. Jumpstart the planning process by knowing your end goal
Renovation is a huge undertaking. Strategize and think deeply before starting your remodeling project. Are you renovating to enjoy your property more or to increase its market value? Are you repainting the walls in the dining area to make meals with your family more appetizing? If you are looking to sell your house and move to a new one, a renovation will help you attract potential buyers. But before you decide on open walls or new paint, even before the project begins, you should come to terms if you are renovating the whole house or just the family room. Are you embarking on this project for a kitchen renovation or to simply modernize the electrical wiring around the house?
2. Identify a renovation zone and a renovation-free zone.
Accept that your home will feel more like a war zone than a comfortable haven for the months ahead. These areas might change throughout the project if you are renovating your entire home. To manage stress levels, come up with a contingency plan when the construction dust and noise get to be too much. A surprise hotel staycation for the whole family can be an easy solution.
3. Decide a Budget
How fun would it be if money was not a problem? Unfortunately, most of us need to stay within our renovation budget. You can still enjoy the process while keeping track of costs. Prepare for unexpected costs by setting up a contingency fund specially set aside for your project.
4. Set a schedule and make a master list of things to do and buy
A comprehensive project timeline will help you stay on top of things especially if in addition to your home renovation project you also have a busy career. Plot project starts and end date.
5. Research before you hire contractors.
Engaging a reputable contractor can make or break your project. This will also depend on your renovation requirements. Therefore, it is better to ask relatives and friends for recommendations.
6. Identify your non-negotiables
Will it be a whole home remodel or are you just going to update the light fixtures? Should the walls be redone in brick or you absolutely must have some granite kitchen countertops? Since a home renovation project will cost a lot and take some time, might as well do what you have always wanted for your home.
DID YOU KNOW?
“According to the report by Today’s Homeowners, remodeling projects boost your return on investment (ROI) by 69% on average.”
7. Prepare to pack up your things
If your renovation will be on a large scale, it might cause major disruption to your day-to-day life. It would be good to be ready in case you need to rent a smaller space for a short time or at least while the contractors are trying to replace the roof.
8. Consider your and your family’s routine and lifestyle
If you are a busy entrepreneur who works from home most of the time, you might have to reconsider your business’ peak season before plotting out a renovation schedule. If you have school-age kids, the changes in their home environment might get too overwhelming and might even affect their studies.
9. Organize essential items for easy access even during the renovation process
Similar to setting up a bag of essentials when you are moving out of your house, packing up necessities like toiletries, a change of clothes, and medicines can spell chaos or order for you and your family. Imagine looking for an aspirin while your head is throbbing and you cannot find any in your boxes of stuff.
10. Keep your kids and pets safe and out of the way
Home construction sites can be dangerous. Open floors, loose nails, and scaffolds pose a safety hazard for your kids and pets. Supervise them closely when there is major construction going on to avoid any accidents.
11. Secure necessary permits and insurance coverage
Even before starting anything, research what permits and licenses you need to secure from your homeowner’s association or your city government. Also, check the building code and building plans of your apartment before proceeding to get any work on it done.
It is always advisable to budget for insurance coverage. You will never know when one of your construction workers slips while retiling the roof. It pays to be ready.
12. Set aside a renovation-free home
This project will take weeks, even months to finish. Having workers coming in and out of your private space and the constant drilling sound can make your home life very stressful.
To address this, set aside a space or room where you and your family can relax and tune out all the construction noise.
13. Schedule clean-up and outsource whenever you can
When you have spent a week in dusty surroundings with all surfaces in your house covered with debris, trust us, you would not have any energy to clean up. Allow yourself some respite from all the tiring tasks. There are people you can hire by the hour to clean up for you and make sure you can have some much-needed rest.
14. Check for any significant weather changes
If you are having your roof retiled or repainted, you might want to check if the schedule will coincide with hurricane season. Consider the seasonal changes when planning your renovation. It will be harder to transport construction materials from the store to your house when the snow outside is inches deep.
DID YOU KNOW?
“As per the sources, 61% of Americans would prefer to renovate their houses than move to a new place.”
Is a Major Home Remodel Worth It?
Some people are remodeling their homes into smart houses so that their families can enjoy them better. Others are updating house facilities and built-in appliances for retiring members of the family. Those with kids find it beneficial to add a playroom or a nursery. The secret of making your home remodel worth it is ensuring the changes you will implement will increase the market value of your property, the renovation costs can be treated as a long-term investment. A good example of this is upgrading your home’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). Reportedly, realtors estimate an 85% recovery of costs spent on HVAC replacement upon a house sale.
The expense that a major overhaul will entail can be worth it depending also on the age of the house and its location. If the years have been good to where you built your family home and the surrounding areas have developed into commercial centers and urban locations, chances are, the price of your land has also increased. To attract potential buyers, you will just have to upgrade your house’s aesthetics and facilities. Imagine how impressive a rustic mid-century house with smart devices and home technology can be. Another thing to consider is choosing higher-quality materials for the long term. Purchasing higher quality items for renovating is more cost-effective than going for cheaper materials that can easily deteriorate or chip.
How to Prioritize and Prepare for the House Renovation Process?
Planning and preparation go hand in hand, especially in big projects. As part of the preparation, sift through every item you own and think hard and long if you should dispose of it.
Do you want to repaint the walls in the living room to match your aesthetic? Are you too busy to do this or to attempt this project on your own? Decide on a project lead time and end date. Search for a contractor for these renovations.
Before remodeling a house before you put it up on the market for sale, make sure things are clean. Declutter your cabinets. Donate some of your clothes and start on a clean slate.
If you are too busy to do a deep clean on your own, you can hire general laborers fromthe Community Labor Partnership (CLP). For a fixed basic rate of $100 per laborer, you can have your space cleaned and ready for your renovation projects.
What is Considered a Major Remodel?
Technically, a major remodel means a substantial addition to an existing building, or changing at least 25% of the structure resulting in a substantial change to the interior configuration or the electrical system in the building.
A major remodel can also mean a dramatic and glaring change in the space. This may involve demolition and tearing down of walls and removing the roof. It may also mean changing the structure and layout of the entire house. Better to have your building plan available so you know which construction and reconstruction are allowed. Since a major remodel will involve drastic changes, it can also pose a safety hazard. Beware of weakened walls and crumbling stairs which are to be demolished later on. Better to be safe than sorry. Cordon off areas that will be demolished and have the area cleaned up immediately. You can book our general labor service to throw the trash and do debris cleanup.
Benefits of a House Remodel
Home renovations allow you to enjoy your property better. When the time comes that you decide to move to another location, you can thank yourself for the improvements you made that increased resale value. Adding a pool for your lawn or front yard is a home improvement that can drive prospective buyers to your property. It may seem purely for aesthetic and design reasons at first but these big projects tend to be cost-effective in the long run. Decide what you want to prioritize depending on your budget. If you think a major repainting job will be sufficient to spruce up your house, go for it! If you have enough budget for a mini theater or mini golf set up in the garden, there is no reason why you should not indulge yourself a little.
Hire CLP General Laborers to Assist Your Team of Renovation Experts
Since this is a major project, you will need all hands on deck. Aside from hiring a contractor for the construction and other major tasks, you might consider adding workers to the team.
Here at Community Labor Partnership (CLP), our general laborers can do drywall installation, basic painting, and even debris cleanup. This will free up precious time for your core home renovation team to focus on deciding which walls to demolish or tile flooring to rip up and change.
Our general laborers can also help with furniture painting, kitchen cabinet painting, deck staining, and even industrial painting. They can sand walls, fill cracks and holes, paint ceilings, and apply coat finishes and varnishes on doors, windows, etc. They can take care of the small things so you and the renovation team can focus on the big things.
CONCLUSION
To summarize, here are a few key ideas to remember:
- Plan before you start the renovations.
- Compare price rates and labor costs versus speed and fast-tracked timelines.
- A good contractor can help you get through the whole process. Multiple contractors can help you curb unnecessary costs.
- Explore the possibility of boosting your property’s return on investment (ROI). From this perspective, hiring professionals makes sense.
The general idea is, if you engage the services of an expert contractor, your whole home renovation project will go smoothly and efficiently. Sure, there may be challenges and unexpected situations ahead but you will have someone to guide you to get through them. In such a huge undertaking as home renovation, you will need all the wiggle room you can get. However, when the going gets tough, just think about how your future self will thank you when it’s all finished.
