5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Starting Any Major Renovation

Before you jump head first into a major renovation on your home or cottage you should be asking yourself these questions, if you don't you are asking for trouble.

Can You Commit To A Major Renovation

Major renovations take longer then you think. The longer the renovation takes the more a lot of people become disinterested in it. Life can get in the way. Having major renovations is a big commit of you (the homeowners time) even if you have a contractor.

Can You Find A Good Contractor To Do The Job

In these busy times finding a good quality contractor to do the renovation for you is harder, the really good ones are usually booked and pretty busy. But if you star the process early enough and you look around for the right one you should be able to find the right contractor. Contractors will make time and space for you, as long as you appear to be serious about the renovation and you will be committed to having it done in a timely and efficient manner.

Can You Make Decisions In A Timely Manner

A good contractor will give you options on your renovations as the project proceeds. You the homeowner will have to make timely decisions or the project will come to a stand still. Some decisions will cost money others will save you money. Your ability to make an efficient decisions will help keep the project on schedule.

Can You Afford It And Can You Handle Paying For It

Renovations are expensive, the cost of labour and material has risen every year especially in the last couple of years. When you and your contractor figure out a budget you should add 10 to 15 percent on top for a contingency fund, this will allow for anything that was forgotten in the budgeting, changes to what you want and for fixing problems that are always found when doing major renovations. If you go into your renovation thinking that your going to be able to bring your renovation in under budget then your going to be in trouble.
The other problem some people have is that even if they have a budget they can't handle paying, renovations that last a long time require you to write a lot of cheques. You will be paying for things on the time. This can wear on a lot of people to the point were they come to a point that they just stop paying and the renovation comes to a grinding halt.

Can You Handle People In Your Home

Major renovations are invasive. You will have people (mostly men) in your home, their will be different people all the time as different sub-contractors come and go. In any renovation a good contractor will end up using up to 20 different subs. That's 20 different companies with 20 different sets of workers. Every sub will need access to a different part of your house. One thing you should consider is that you should move out during the renovation, this will help you if having people you don't know around you all the time.

Do You Know Why You Are Doing The Renovation

Sometimes people get it into their heads that their home needs to be renovated. This sometimes comes from what they have seen on TV or what their friends have had done. People get caught up in the "keeping up with the Jones", there neighbour got a new laundry room so they should too. Most homes that are older then 20 years usually need to be renovated, but its the amount of renovations that are needed is the big question. Everyone has a limited amount of resources that they can spend on renovations, you should make sure that you are spending them on the right ones.

Before you start any kind of renovation, or before you even start interviewing contractors you need to come up with a list of things you want to do to your home or cottage. From that you need to come up with a rough budget. With those two things settled then you can start the process of finding a contractor and planning your renovations. If you can't answer yes to all the questions above then you really should rethink having your home renovated.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Renovating do's and don’ts

Renovation dos and don’ts

Do set a proper budget before you decide to start any renovations.

Don’t do cosmetic renovations when your home is in need of serious repairs. A lot of people fall into the trap of renovating places like their bedrooms, basements or mudrooms when their kitchens or their bathrooms are falling apart. Kitchens and bathrooms are accentual parts of your home and need to function properly for the family to function properly.

Do make sure that you have a reserve fund for emergencies. A lot of times when contractors start removing drywall and tearing up floors they find issues that they have to fix before they can proceed with the rest of the renovation. Electrical wiring, plumbing and load bearing beams are just some of the issues that can need to be fixed before you can properly proceed with a renovation. A contractor has a duty to fix something that could damage the house or hurt someone in the future. As the homeowner you can always refuse to let them do the repair, but why would you though when you know it will cause problems in the future.

Don’t spend all your money on the fixtures like ovens and fridges and neglect the cabinets. A lot of people think that they can purchase a cheaper kitchen and then brighten up with expensive appliances. This works until a couple of years down the road and the kitchen starts to fall apart and you either end up with a kitchen that looks a lot older then it is with nice appliances or a kitchen that is in such bad shape after a couple of years that people don’t even notice the fantasy appliances.

Do hire a professional interior designer to help you with all your choices. Something that people don’t understand is that whatever the cost is to hire an interior designer, you will make most of it back in the discounts and bargain finds that they are able to get you when they help you pick all the items in your in renovation. Also an interior designer can help lower the stress that you will be under during a renovation by making smart decisions for you.

Don’t hire a contractor that you haven’t had the time to check out. When I say checkout I mean you need to ask around to people that you know if they have used them. Ask for a list of references; ask to see some of the places that they have renovated and check the internet. This should take you sometime, the more time you put into researching and interviewing your contractor the better you will feel when you give them your money.

Do ask questions. No legitimate contractor will be upset with you if ask them questions. If you don’t understand why they did what they did that day then ask! The only thing that will happen is that you will be given an answer, if you don’t like the answer ask more questions. If you hired the right contractor then they will have nothing to hide.

Don’t start a renovation without a proper plan. If you are doing renovations that are extensive then you better have some sort of drawings so that everyone knows what is to be done. The worst thing to happen is if you have to give them a list of things you want them to do every day. Also if you don’t have a proper plan then the contractor could end up doing things twice, the more information the better and more efficient they can be with your money.

These are just some of the dos and don’ts of having renovations done.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.