A home remodeling project can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, you are doing something for your home, making it better, more beautiful, one step closer to your picture of an ideal home. On the other hand, these projects often end up being a lot of work, requiring quite an investment and leaving you exhausted after they are done.
The good news is that remodeling projects do not have to be that stressful and that time and money-consuming. What you need is a checklist that will help you prepare for your remodeling project and that will ensure you have worked out the best way to approach your project.
Set aside enough money
One of the most common problems that people have with their remodeling projects is when they realize that they hadn’t budgeted properly and they end up with another expense on their hands which they are not able to cover at that time. This means that the remodel needs to stop or that it needs to be abandoned altogether. This is the worst thing that can happen to you and this is why you need to ensure that you do everything right when doing your budget.
The best way to approach this is to put everything on paper, absolutely everything. Including the cost of the ink that you will spend making the budget. We are exaggerating a bit, but you get our drift. Furthermore, whenever you have two or more prices available, put the higher one in the budget. In essence, you need to be as pessimistic as possible when budgeting. And then, when everything is put on paper, you take the final sum and you add 10% to it, at the least. This is the money that will serve as a safety net if something wrong happens.
Set aside enough time
Your time is just as valuable as your money and it also plays a very important role in every remodeling project. When setting aside enough time for your remodel, it is of utmost importance that you factor in the possibility of unforeseen problems that always occur when doing a remodel.
Another reason why you need to be precise and smart about time-allocation is the fact that you will most likely not be able to use certain parts of your home while they are being remodeled and you need to know how long this will last, simply to stay sane.
Prepare tools and material
Every remodel will require the right collection of tools and material and depending on the scope of your project, you will need more or less of it. While a simple project like putting a new coat of paint will require little more than some brushes, paint and strips; more comprehensive projects like building an annex or expanding a room might require something as big as a jackhammer or a practical walk behind forklift.
When preparing your material and your tools, you need to know where you can save money and go for cheaper alternatives and where you cannot. For instance, purchasing cheap knock-off power tools is never a good idea while you can save on something as trivial as painting strips, for example.
Get ready for problems
Another huge part of your preparation process needs to be getting in the right mindset for it. Namely, all remodeling projects encounter problems sooner or later. Sometimes they are trivial, sometimes they are serious. Regardless of their severity, they will happen. And when this goes down, you need to stay calm and approach the problem rationally and without investing yourself emotionally. It is best to prepare in advance so that it does not hit you like a ton of bricks when it happens.
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