After many years of remodeling/maintaining my own homes and helping others remodel theirs I've come up with a number of guidelines to save myself time, headaches and money. Below are five that are relevant to just about any project you may undertake.
1. Budget and Timeline. Create a realistic budget and timeline before spending any money. Remodeling is one of those activities where costs can just keep adding up with no end in site. Pricing out your ideas first will not only give you a plan to execute, but in some cases will be a deciding factor in how you go about doing the remodel. Knowing this upfront will definately save you money.
2. Consolidate Tasks. Many times when remodeling there are multiple types of construction that need to be completed. For example when remodeling a bathroom, plumbing, electrical, tile, drywall, trim and painting will all need to be done. For small jobs a lot of the expense is just getting a contractor to the job. If you can find someone who can properly do a couple of the items you won't have to have as many contractors and will save some bucks.
3. Stay Within Your Walls. There are a lot of older houses in Austin and moving interior walls to open up rooms is a popular and cost effective remodel. However, moving exterior walls brings on a whole other set of expenses. Then you have to think about foundation, roofing, siding, access to the existing house and electrical as a minimum. Tying all of these into the original house can get expensive fast. I'm not saying don't add on to your house, but if you do I'd recommend adding a sizable amount of square footage (to increase your house value and cover your additional costs) and budget accordingly.
4. Don't Fix What isn't Broken. When remodeling you'll find all sorts of things that you can alter and/or upgrade. I'd recommend setting out in advance what you will or will not do. If you go outside of your set boundaries, be prepared for your costs to rise. If possible stay away from electrical, HVAC and plumbing as hiring these contractors will cost you the most. *Of course if your plan is to remodel a bath or kitchen or upgrade your HVAC you'll obviously need to hire these professionals.
5. Do It Yourself. The biggest way to save on labor costs is to do it yourself. If there are things that you are confident you can do, and do well, it's in your best interest to do them. I'll put in a disclaimer here that you shouldn't do anything that will put you in harms way. But items such as landscaping, painting and laminate floors can usually be done well by the homeowner. If trying out something for the first time, alway start in a semi-hidden place. You'll make some mistakes at the beginning so it's best to do those in a closet than in the middle of your living room.
I have many other tips that I am happy to give you. If you'd like to discuss your upcoming remodeling project please let me know. billconover@america-lending.com
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