Useful Home Renovation Tips You Will Want To Hear

Table of Contents

1. Home Renovation Tips[+]
   1. Consider if it’s Better to Renovate or Build a New House
   2. Plan Ahead
   3. Consult an Architect
   4. Hand-Pick Your Contractors
   5. Do Your Research and Get the Permits
   6. Don’t Compromise the Materials’ Quality
   7. Look for Efficient Solutions
   8. Plan For Outages

Home renovation projects are surely exciting. With a few tweaks here and there, you’ll be amazed at how different your home feels – as if you’ve just moved into a different home altogether!

At least, that’s the end goal of the process. Unfortunately, many homeowners get hit hard with reality once they start with the renovation. From expenses appearing out of the blue to facing a much bigger hassle than they’d expected, home renovation projects can become your worst nightmare.

Luckily for you, it doesn’t have to be. Before turning your house upside down, we’ve gathered a few hard-learned tips for you to help set your expectations true and proceed with a seamless and organized plan. Let’s get started!

Home Renovation Tips

Consider if it’s Better to Renovate or Build a New House

You probably don’t want to hear this one, but we have to discuss it anyway. Before you start renovating your home, you need to make an honest assessment.

Are you absolutely sure that a renovation is what you need, or is it better to build a new house from scratch? If your renovation is going to tear down the structure and start anew, then you’re probably better off building a new house with modern infrastructure and advanced systems. However, if you’re only going for minor renovations, then you can proceed ahead without any worries.

Plan Ahead

If you ask any businessman in the world, they’ll tell you that the most important phase of any project is planning. Likewise, it doesn’t make any sense to start a project as important as renovating your home without a well-devised plan.

In your plan, you’ll need to figure out the items you’ll upgrade, the resources you’ll need, the time it will take, and the budget you’ll use to get the project done. You can’t leave anything unplanned – the more detailed you are, the smoother the process will go.

Consult an Architect

You can only do so much on your own. You should definitely do the research and plan out the project, but, unless you’re an interior designer or an architect, it’s better to consult a professional.

This is especially important in the case of a huge-scale project that requires various renovations, such as changing your floorings, walls, structure, or roof. For simple projects, you can book a one-time session with an architect who can direct you in the right direction.

Hand-Pick Your Contractors

Before you start the operations, you’ll need to decide on the tasks you’ll do yourself and the ones you’ll outsource to contractors. It’s totally cool if you know your way around the tools and want to pick up a DIY project for the holidays.

However, if you’re about to hire contractors for the job, there’s some more research you should do.

Let’s say you’re worried about the security of your family and you want to renovate your roof. After all, living in a city with a high tornado risk like Olathe, Kansas, puts a lot of stress on roofs and their owners.

Instead of hiring the first contractor who comes your way, you’ll need to inspect a variety of Olathe roofing companies out there to see if they meet your specific criteria. For starters, they need to be licensed and insured.

They should provide evidence of their work, their customer reviews need to be great, they should provide you with a solid plan, and their packages should fall within your estimated budget.

A good roofing company will be upfront about everything, relieving you from the pressure of hidden expenses and unexpected hassles.

Do Your Research and Get the Permits

Speaking of doing your research, did you know that code requirements demand permits for most home renovation projects? Whether you’ll need one or not depends on the scale of your renovation, but you should be well-informed in case you need to obtain one.

For instance, you may unwittingly perform a few National Electrical Code violations while doing the electrical work, which is not only dangerous but can also lead to inspection problems down the line.

Although obtaining a permit may slow down the process, it’s definitely better than being forced by code inspectors to rip out the non-conforming work if your renovations fail to meet structural and fire safety requirements.

Don’t Compromise the Materials’ Quality

Renovation projects can be quite expensive, but just because you can buy cheaper materials at second-hand stores doesn’t mean you should. In fact, choosing quality materials can be the most cost-effective choice, even if they are more expensive than their counterparts.

That’s especially true for all appliances and materials that work at high energy efficiency rates, as they’ll cut down on energy consumption and electrical bills.

On another note, quality materials will live long and withstand weathering conditions, so you’ll also be investing for the long run.

Look for Efficient Solutions

Chances are, there are a billion things you want to renovate in your home. Instead of going the long road, how about you do it smartly? Instead of blowing out the walls to add some extra shelves, you can make some extra storage room by reorganizing your furniture and exploiting unused space.

You’ll find that space under the couches or bed, overhead in a narrow corridor, or under the staircase. Instead of opening the walls to install a window and get more sunlight, you can install a light tube that funnels the sunlight straight to your rooms.

Plan For Outages

If your home renovation demands you shut off electricity or water from part or all of your house, you need to plan for the outages. Consider taking it one area at a time instead of shutting off the whole house. If you’re going to shut down an area, be sure to create a proper alternative for you and your family to use.

Although home renovation can be overwhelming, you can exponentially smoothen the process by planning everything out in advance. Meanwhile, be sure to keep your mental fortitude and patience. Do prepare yourself for disruption and exhaustion, but rest assured that, at the end of the process, it will all be worthwhile.

Thank you for reading!