10 Essential Tips For Your First House Remodel
Are you overwhelmed by the idea of starting your home renovation? Let's dive into 10 essential tips for your first house remodel. These tips will give you the insights you need to start your reno organized and confident.
Starting Your First House Remodel
Your first house remodel may seem overwhelming if you haven’t experienced construction work before. The key to success? Prepare in advance! Thinking through your timelines, budgets, and design details will help you to plan and implement a smooth house renovation.
From trusting your gut feelings, to financially preparing to go over budget, below are 10 essential tips to keep in mind for your first home renovation.
10 Tips for Your First House Remodel
1. Plan the scope of the house remodel.
Decide on scope of work and discuss where potential risks may come about- although always quite unpredictable when drywall is still intact. It is always good to plan for problems or delays.
Making a thorough plan and schedule will help to implement everything smoothly. There are so many working factors and people involved that it makes a big difference if you are prepared and can make decisions quickly during each stage.
2.Consider the ripple effects of your renos.
If you plan to renovate one space in your house make sure you understand tampering with existing electrical, plumbing and HVAC may cause issues that expand into a different part of your house.
When you begin to peel back the different layers of materials, be aware of poor conditions, unforeseen damages or mold that can then add extra labour and cost to each job. It is hard to predict the exact locations and conditions of everything that is behind your walls so sometimes planning can go different routes.
3.Avoid partial renovations for a seamless look.
When removing materials such as flooring or drywall keep in mind it is always a better idea to completely renovate the entire space if you want to have a clean and seamless end result. Although patching drywall is possible and matching old materials to new has been done it may not turn out the way you expect.
Save up a budget for a full space and properly finish it from start to finish in order to achieve a desired look. You may also find more complications down the road if you do not fix the issue thoroughly.
4.Have realistic expectations for the renovation timeline and budget.
When thinking about your timeline and budget- it is true what they say. Estimate for approximately +/- 30% higher and longer. If you have never experienced a home renovation before you will be amazed at the hard work and human strength it takes to build a home.
Although experience and proper planning can make each stage move quickly, there tends to be unforeseen problems that arise and are harder to plan beforehand. Your decision making process can also slow things down if you are not in a position to move forward creating the other hired works schedules to change as well.
5.Contractors who communicate well are key.
When choosing a Contractor or sub-trade- it is always best to work with someone easy and honest to communicate with. These people will be guiding you along the way and potentially helping you make important and sometimes expensive decisions for your home.
This can get very emotional. At the end of the day, go with your gut feeling and choose someone that matches your communication skills and someone you can trust.
6.Trust your gut feelings when it comes to your home remodel.
If you have a gut feeling, like anything, go with it! If a price doesn’t feel fair, quote elsewhere. If someone doesn’t complete something to your satisfaction, say something! In some cases, solving a problem quickly or by passing it feels like a better choice in the moment since you are dreaming about being in your new and completed space.
This may cause you grief in the long run. You are the person that has to look and use your space for the foreseeable future so when something occurs that isn’t up to your standards it is best to fix the problem as soon as it arises even if it takes longer.
7.Measure pros and cons to make home reno decisions.
You will hear many, many different opinions with the amount of people walking through your space. You will chat with many trades people and find that their opinions on how to build or install something can be different from one another.
A simple pros and cons list, and again, your gut feeling, will help you make a decision. Sticking to your plan can also help stray different opinions throughout the process. Knowing that you have already considered all of your options you are more likely to implement them without being swayed to make changes on the go.
8.Don’t be afraid to demo right at the start of your home remodel!
It is much easier to demo everything at the beginning, and if you have one thought in your mind to get rid of something - do it! Most of the time if you are trying to salvage something to save money a lot of the time it ends up costing just as much time and money to make it look good again. If it is something important to you it is best to keep that mind at the beginning planning stages.
9.Be prepared for never ending cleanup.
Cleaning up is never ending. During each stage of the project a different crew will be completing their work and there will be left over materials, garbage and dust. If you make sure each crew is cleaned up after the next trade will have an easier time getting right to their job. This leaves the workers with a good impression and sets a standard for your expectations.
10.Appreciate the people supporting your home renovation.
Appreciate the labour each tradesmen puts into your home, most things look very “easy” to do. Until you try something yourself you will find that a trade deserves appreciation for their time and skill.
Watching the process of your home being built can feel slow at times but when things function the way you planned out it feels very satisfying to understand the work that goes into every stage.
Tips for Hiring Contractors for Your Home Renovation
How to decide what people to hire:
Part of the initial process is to figure out what type of roles you would like to hire for. Some companies have a full service approach where they have an Architect, Designer, Engineer and Project Manager on staff working together as a team.
You may go in the direction of hiring an architect firm; if you are in the very early stages of trying to figure out a design and possible budget this may be a good place to start. An architect company may have referrals or possible candidates who can price out your construction plan. Your architect firm can go over what they provide for their services.
You can decide if you would like them to be involved in overseeing the construction process in order to help bring their vision to life or you may just want the initial plans and trust that your project manager can interpret everything drawn out.
If your project requires building permits with the city you must decide who will be applying and overseeing each inspection. This is something you are able to do as a homeowner but most of the time it is more comforting and efficient to utilize the team you hire. They will understand when each inspection should be scheduled in order to move forward to the next stage.
If you are not changing your floor plan and you already have a good idea on what your design plans require you may be someone that will hire a Construction Contractor/Project Manager. You already have items and finishes chosen but you just need the Contractor to manage the trades, schedule and budget for you.
When choosing the people you want to work with it is also a good idea to keep in mind your risk factors. It is smart to discuss possible threats and problems throughout every stage. When tampering with existing parts of a house you want to understand what it will affect and possible problems that could arise if you are not starting from scratch.
You will also want your trades teams to keep in mind avoiding future problems as well. For example slightly sloping your floors into a drain or recommending waterproofing your basement. You want to be confident that the company you hire is trustworthy when choosing good practices and bringing them to your attention.
Your Pre-Renovation Checklist
To have a successful renovation you will need a team of people that you can trust. You may go in the direction of hiring a General Contractor to manage and hire tradespeople for each part of the job. His job will be to keep your project on schedule, maintain the budget agreed upon, communicate any issues that come about and have your site ready for each trades team to start.
If you decide to take on the role of Project Manager then there is a lot more planning in advance. If you do not know company’s and tradespeople that you can trust or want to work with it is a good idea to try and meet with at least two or three different people/subtrade. This will give you a good idea on what things cost and who you feel a connection with.
I have included this checklist for you to begin with for the planning phase. If you are already working with a General Contractor he/she will be in charge of these things but this may be helpful in realizing what their duties are. If you are starting to meet with sub trades it is always helpful to ask them if they have referrals or people they work well with. If tradespeople have experience working together their line of communication will already be formed and this may come as an advantage to you.
Ready to Start Your First Home Remodel?
After dreaming up a brand new space you can start to think about all of the details that need to be planned out and chosen before construction starts. Having a well thought out plan is going to help you stay on track and give you peace of mind at each milestone completed. Your support system will help you along the way and also enjoy your newly renovated home with you at completion!
Want to book a free design meeting with me for support in planning your first home reno? Send me an email and we’ll get started.
