How can you save money when doing home renovations?

Renovating your home can be one of the most frustrating and expensive projects that you will ever undertake.

The time and effort involved in negotiating prices with contractors, dealing with sloppy workmanship or staying within your budget can seem to be interminable.  Often people put home renovation projects on hold for years as they struggle to find the finances and the time to complete them.

Financial planning

Consumers are not aware that financial planning is essential in order to ensure the success of their project. This involves strategically outlining the funds for the venture including making allowances for things such as inflation, rising cost of materials/labour while still maintaining the household’s basic needs.

The services of a quantity surveyor are often scoffed at, but if you are not able to afford one then you have to become your own estimator and cost each stage of the construction process.  Bear in mind though that having this qualified  member of a construction team on your payroll serve as a bridge between contractors and customers.

The use of a quantity surveyor on your construction project can also prevent problems in the future and save you money as there are contractors who try to convince you they can do a project for $50,000 but which will actually cost you $100,000.

Do-It-Yourself

The main cost for doing home renovations besides materials is labour.  Finding reputable workmen is not easy as many have learned the hard way, as they often are only interested in finishing the job as quickly as possible regardless of the quality of their performance.

The best thing to do is to try some smaller projects on your own. Although some skills such as tiling floors might be difficult to acquire, others such as painting can be self taught.  If you are not sure of your skills, enlist the aid of friends or family to lower or eliminate the need to pay for workers.

Repair and Reuse

There is also no need to always buy brand new items to decorate a newly renovated house. Items are always been sold by individuals who are leaving the island.  These so-called ‘migration sales’ can sometimes offer attractive deals.

However, it pays to be careful and examine carefully any household items bought second hand as there is no return policy if they are damaged.

So how will you save when you do your renovation projects? Let me hear from you!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley

Gleaner online writer

Tags: home renovations, save