House Renovation – Tips for Renovating Your House
Whether you’ve lived in your current house for years and are wanting to freshen it up a touch, or have purchased your first property and are desperately needing to do some work to it, renovating your home can be an exciting experience.
However, in order to get the best results and keep stress levels to a minimum, it’s absolutely imperative that you’re fully prepared for the project. Preparation is key and will help to reduce the chances of you encountering any significant challenges or difficulties throughout the process. It goes a long way to ensuring you achieve the desired outcome.
So, to help make sure your project runs smoothly and avoids putting a considerable dent in your bank balance, here we’ve provided some of our top tips for renovating your house.
Managing Your Renovation
The most cost-effective way of managing your renovation is to manage it yourself, but only if you have the right contacts and project management skills. Rather than employing a single firm to come in and take care of the whole project, putting yourself in charge and hiring separate tradesmen as and when required will keep costs down.
This way, you’ll be responsible for making the key decisions and stay in control of how much you’re spending. For example, if you manage the project yourself, you’ll be the one purchasing all the materials and resources, ensuring you avoid any markups that an external company is likely to add to the price.
Before starting the project, it’s worth contacting your local council just to check if you need approval or planning permission for the changes you intend to make. As most councils have planning policies that enable you to make internal and external changes that don’t alter the structure of your property without council approval in place, you’re unlikely to need any permission, but it’s always best to check beforehand.
How to Stick to Your Budget
When carrying out a renovation, extension or any other type of major project, it’s important that you establish a budget and stick to it. Costs can build-up pretty quickly, so it’ll be of huge benefit to sit down and calculate the price of your planned changes and evaluate what you can and can’t afford.
A good idea to make sure you stay within your financial allowance is to create a list of changes you must have completed, and a list of changes that you’d like to have completed but aren’t essential. If your kitchen unit is falling apart and is in desperate need of replacing, then this makes sense to go on your must-have list, for example. But if it’s still in good condition, is fit for purpose and only has a few scratches on, add it to your nice-to-have list and perhaps consider replacing it if you have any left-over budget at the end. These steps will allow you to prioritise what needs to be done and help shape your decision-making process from the beginning.
Another helpful tip we recommend is to aim to only spend around 80% of your overall budget. With such a big project, you’re probably going to come across a few unexpected costs during the process, so having this budgeted for will ensure you stay inside of your original expectations.
Keep to a Strict Schedule
You’re destined for disaster if you don’t have a schedule in place. With tradesmen constantly coming in and out your house and your home turning into a construction site, the whole process can become extremely chaotic if you haven’t created a schedule stating the work that needs to be done and in what order.
It can be helpful to break the project into smaller phases, such as ‘living room makeover’ and ‘bathroom repaint’, so that you understand exactly when each mini-project will be completed.
Employ Professionals
Although you might think you’re saving yourself a few quid by conducting the entire renovation yourself, it’s important to recognise your limitations. Failed DIY attempts can end up costing you greatly, so it’s best to get trained professionals in for all electrical, plumbing and other technical jobs.
Don’t just go for the cheapest or first company you find, though. Get at least three quotes and ask friends for recommendations. You need to be confident that the money you’re spending is worth it, so don’t be afraid to ask the company for references and images of previous projects they’ve worked on.
Purchase Appropriate Materials
The materials you choose to purchase for your renovation will impact how your home looks and behaves. Be sure to visit multiple stores and compare the range of materials – you need to ensure you find one right for you and your home, so don’t panic and buy the first product you see.
If you’re wanting to revamp the exterior of your house, timber cladding is considered by many as the ideal material. Its stunning appearance and ability to be manipulated into a range of shapes makes it the ultimate product for transforming the aesthetics of all-sized homes.
Here at NORclad, we offer a large selection of the best timbers available for cladding – view them here.
Be Decisive
It doesn’t matter if you’re renovating just one room or the entire house, stick to your plan as closely as possible throughout the process. You need to know exactly what you want the finished product to look like to avoid any confusion and minimise wasted time.
Those who frequently change their mind or are unable to make a decision are usually the ones who end up delaying the completion date and spend money on unnecessary work.
Getting Started with NORclad
For help, advice, guidance or any other queries related to the renovation of your house, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team today. We appreciate that the process of renovating can be complex. We will be more than happy to talk you through our recommendations to help make sure you get the most out of the project.
See more: Timber Cladding Colour Guide
See more: How to Use Timber Cladding Effectively
