The excitement of extending or renovating your home is often overshadowed by the concern of working with other people to execute what you have envisioned.
Further to that, there are other worries involved with remodelling your home such as the disturbance of your family routines, how much it will cost and whether the contractors you choose to work with will get the job done in a satisfactory and timely manner.
Properly managing these concerns is crucial for your overall satisfaction of the project.
The truth is, a home renovation takes a lot of planning. To plan effectively is to map out a path to a successful outcome.
To do these successfully, make sure to follow these 4 steps.
1. Do some research
When it comes to hiring contractors to renovate your home, you have to do research. Whether that is spending hours on Google trying to find the right company for you or spending time meeting with potential contractors, you absolutely need to interview them.
During this process, you need to take note of how they communicate, how they quote and pitch for the work, and how they propose to do the job.
Afterwhich, review their previous work and call their references to see if they fit with how you want to do things. Personality clashes are a genuine concern, so bear this in mind when interviewing candidates.
You want to work with like-minded individuals because they will be in your lives on a daily basis for the foreseeable future.
2. Get a detailed quote
Once you have chosen the contractor you will be working with; then the next step is to get a comprehensive, itemised quote. You will be making so many choices, from what colour you choose to paint the walls, which kind of countertop material to go with, to the finishings. All depending on what you are renovating or extending, of course.
There is a lot to get through, but by figuring it all out at the very beginning, before you get a quote, it will prove beneficial in the long run. Especially when it comes to avoiding going over budget.
The last thing you want is for the contractor to include “estimates” in your quote as this can often make the home renovation more expensive.
Be specific. This way, you will have a better idea of what you will spend throughout the course of the job.
3. Plot a timeline
The last step in ensuring a swift home renovation process is to plot a schedule. If you do not plan this in the very beginning, then you will have no leg to stand on should the renovation take too long.
You will need to specify deadlines for when certain “checkpoints” should be reached. These checkpoints should be in sequential and logical order. To establish these, work hand in hand with your contractor to set realistic ones. Ask them how long things take and hold them to that.
This timeline should be in your project management plan within your app so that you or your contractor can check items off of the list once completed.
4. Communicate with your contractors
The next step is establishing seamless communication. For you to be kept in the loop and to receive regular updates, you need to ask this of your contractor at the very beginning.
Look, you won’t always have the time to go through and inspect progress on your home renovation, so perhaps consider a home renovation app.
The KnowMyBuild app will help you monitor the entire process to make working with contractors a breeze.
During home renovations, many people choose to check out the work that’s been done at the beginning of every day for 10 minutes or so. It works, to a certain extent, but what if you could manage and control the plan, budget and quality of your home renovations in one centralised place?
This way, you will be able to see what needs to be paid, and what has been paid, and see ongoing renovation progress by designing an easy to follow project management plan.
KnowMyBuild lets you be more confident that you are in control of your home renovation project.