We bought an old cottage, it needs renovations but we don’t know where to start?

Q:

We bought an old cottage, it needs renovations but we don’t know where to start?

A:

This is a very common occurrence for people when they purchase older cottages.

What you’re going to have to do is decide on what you really want to do with the cottage and how you want to use the space. The reason that people buy older cottages even though they know that they will require renovations is usually because of the location. In real estate location is usually everything.

There are many things that you will need to decide on;

• Can the cottage work for your family as it presently is?

• Can you use the cottage at all or does it need immediate repairs?

• Is the cottage large enough for your family and what you want to do to with it?

• What is your budget for renovations?

• Should you use the cottage for the first couple of seasons until you know what you really want to do with it?

• Do you want the cottage to be usable in all 4 seasons?

• What are the restrictions for renovating and adding additions in your area?

• When do you want to accomplish the renovations and when do you want them finished?

• Do you want to renovate over several years to spread the cost of the work around?

That seems like a lot of questions to think about, but most contractors that you call for renovation quotes will ask you a lot of these same questions. A lot of these questions will affect the contractor’s ability to schedule the work, complete the work and how extensive of a renovation that you will be able to afford.

Once you have figured out some of the questions listed above then you can call in a contractor and start working with them on what you want fixed, repaired, renovated and the cost of what it will be and also what they think you will require now and into the future.

The worst thing you can do is buy a cottage, call a contractor over and have none of these answers ready.

Remember that the contractor will be into their busy season and without at least some of these questions answered above they might not have the time or the schedule to help you.

Plan ahead and then you will always be ahead of the plan.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.