Tips For Home Renovation:
- Get as many recommendations as you can on the contractor you plan to
use. Don’t be shy about calling references that are provided. You
absolutely must trust this person as he/she will be in and out of your
home for days.
- Know what home renovations you want ahead of time. Otherwise, you
might find yourself being steered toward spending a lot more money than
you ever intended.
- Make it known up front that you do not want people smoking in your
home. A few years ago we had an upstairs bathroom remodeled and the
people doing the deconstruction lit right up while in my house. I put
an end to that immediately because I was home. However, had I not been
home, my house would have smelled like a bar by the time I returned.
- Get every little detail of the home renovation in writing from the
contractor up front, before you sign on the dotted line. This will save
you time, save your credit card, and ultimately make the renovation go
a lot more smoothly. There were assumptions I made in my head of what
the final product would look like and the contractor actually had a
different, ‘cheaper’ plan. I was paying for one thing and the
contractor planned on installing something else (the price paid was
fixed). Examples of this are:
- I thought that since the old fireplace was being torn down and a new
one was being rebuilt, new fireplace doors would be included in the
quote I was given. Unfortunately, they were not.
- I thought the ‘sidesplash’ would be included in the cost of the new
bathroom sink. I was told it was not, although the contractor ended up
throwing one in anyway, and installing it.
- I was having new kitchen cabinets installed with a peninsula. I assumed the front of the peninsula would be wood, but the general contractor
envisioned it being painted drywall. (Drywall would be much cheaper.)
Fortunately this was not a huge extra expense for the project.
- The painting in the quote assumed all four walls and the ceiling
would be the same color, but I missed that. So painting the ceilings
white was an added cost, but that was my fault.
- If you don’t like one of the workers on the job, talk to the head
contractor about it. I regret not kicking out the painter on our home
remodel. He was expensive, and he really didn’t do a very good job.
Had I been more experienced, I would have booted him on day one.
- Make sure you have enough paint leftover for touch-ups and document
the type of paint used in each room. You may remember the paint color 5
years down the road, but you may not remember if you used eggshell,
flat, semi-gloss, etc.
- Make sure the contractor cleans up the mess every single day. You
don’t want all that dust circulating through your heating and cooling
system, which leads me to my next tip…
- Change your air filters during and after your home renovation if you
are having any drywall work done. You wouldn’t believe the amount of
drywall dust you will find in your filters during a renovation. You can
do real damage to the HVAC system if you do not keep the air moving
well with nice, clean filters.
- Be prepared to make a lot of decisions, right down to cabinet handles and knobs. I admit that by the end, I was so sick
of the whole process that I chose any old bathtub because I was just
‘done’. I just went with the standard size because it was cheaper, and I
figured standard would be fine. I still kick myself over that
decision. Had that question come up at the beginning of our remodel, I
probably would have chosen a different tub.
- DO NOT MAKE THE FINAL PAYMENT UNTIL EVERY LAST THING IS COMPLETE.
This suggestion goes way back to my smoky-bathroom renovation. There
was one small tile that needed to be still be installed, along with a
couple other small things. I was never able to get the contractor to
come back, and why would he? He had all his money, and that was all
that mattered to him.
