Thursday, March 28

HOW TO PRIORITIZE YOUR HOME RENOVATION PROJECTS

How to Prioritize Your Remodeling Projects

At one point or another most homeowners decide to dabble in renovating their homes. You might realize that your house or condominium unit needs a little bit of sprucing up due to age and the natural wear and tear process. Or you may just renovate it to increase your home’s property value. In any event, you’ll often find that it’s hard to just embark on one renovating project and that’s when it gets trickier on how to start and where to finish. We’ll try to help out by offering a few tips below. You’ll need to consider the costs and time of the renovations as well as the functionality.

It’s also always a good idea to seek out the help of a professional renovation contractor. Before we started our project we sought the help of a top rated home remodeling company in The Bay Area.

Renovation Needs vs Wants

It’s always a good idea to ask yourself if a certain area of your home needs to be renovated or if you’d just like to renovate it.  It’s usually best to tend to your needs before your wants when it comes to renovating. Do what’s necessary first and then take care of the rest afterward. Once you’ve decided on what needs to be accomplished, try to concentrate on just one renovation at a time. It’s best to completely finish one job before starting on the next. It’s also a lot more rewarding and satisfying to complete something and it will add confidence to your next chore.

When looking through your home to see what needs to be done you may want to start with the easiest renovations first such as low budget jobs like painting and updating fixtures. Some areas which may need to be looked after including the exterior, furnace, plumbing, electrical system, roof, flooring, walls, windows, and doors etc. If things are falling apart, like a leaking basement,  you’ll need to take care of the leaking basement to protect the investment you have in your home.

Once all of your necessary renovations have been completed you can now turn your attention to your wants and remodeling wish list. You can prioritize these by creating a budget for your renovations and then estimating the cost of each individual job. Once you know the approximate cost of each renovation you can decide in which order you’d like to do them. In some instances, you may need the assistance of professional contractors and you should always ask them for estimates and guarantees on their work.  They can also give you accurate cost estimates based on what type of renovation project you are interested in.

Renovations For Return On Investment

If your renovations are being carried out solely for the return of investment in the future when you sell the home, it’s always a good idea to do some research on the subject. For example, you may find that renovated bathrooms and kitchens are the most common ways to recoup the investment costs. You may also want to contact a real estate agent when it comes to this as they may have some helpful suggestions on where exactly to focus your time and money regarding renovations.

You can typically add value to a home as well as more storage space when adding on square footage via something like a mudroom. But in the long run, your prioritizing will usually be ruled by your budget. You simply can’t renovate the things you can’t afford unless they’re absolutely necessary or need to be done for safety reasons. If that’s the case, you’ll need to get financing help.

To recap, you’ll need to know which renovation jobs you can handle yourself and which ones will require professional assistance. Be sure to estimate the costs and ask contractors for written estimates and guarantees. Do the necessary repairs and renovations before simply cosmetic ones and don’t be afraid to ask for assistance and/or ideas from professionals. Another set of eyes and ideas could help you save a great deal of money and time in the long run.