How To Avoid These Top 10 Mistakes Homeowners Typically Make In Home Remodeling

1. Don’t Hire the Wrong Guy.
The number one home remodeling mistake people make while remodeling their home’s is hiring the wrong contractors. Hiring the wrong guy can make your life miserable and make you regret ever trying to improve your home in the first place. Make sure you investigate a proposed contractors credentials and get referrals. When considering a home remodeling contractor a good place to start is your local BBB. From there use common sense and ask questions. If something doesn’t feel or sound right move on to the next guy until you are comfortable. Lastly, get Everything in writing, you’ll be glad you did.
2. Do Your Research.
Being well informed about not only your home but the options you have and housing trends will prevent you from making big mistakes down the road. For instance even if you love pink walls and paneling its probably not a good idea to install them in your house. You may love it and if you never plan on selling or having company then great go for it, make yourself happy. But resale should always be kept in mind since you never truly know what the future will bring.
3. Honey Do, Doesn’t Always Mean Honey Can.
Keep your own abilities in mind. It is better to hire a professional for a task that you are sure you do not know how to do. By the time you figure it out, you will have more money and time involved than hiring a professional from the start. Save money and build sweat equity by accomplishing tasks you are comfortable with. You will not be doing yourself any favors by doing shoddy work on your home. Poor workmanship stands out and never adds value to your home.
4. Plan for the Future.
When Home Remodeling consider how changing life styles will be accommodated by your home. If you finish your basement for a play area for your kids it would be a good idea to run wiring for media areas, or pool table lighting so that when the kids out grow the play room you can easily covert the function of the space without elaborate remodeling costs.
5. Don’t Throw Good Money at Bad Money.
Make sure you take into account long term home remodeling goals. It doesn’t make sense to install new flooring this spring if you plan to build a room addition in the fall. Make long term goals and follow them. Make sure that you tackle tasks in the right order to prevent double paying or getting stuck short of your goals.
6. Don’t Band-Aid a Mistake.
If you put a Band-Aid on a mistake it’s a mistake with a Band-Aid on it. Make sure you are not covering up problems but instead addressing them properly. For instance, if you open up a bathroom wall and you see mold and structural water damage address the new found issues before covering them up. Putting a Band-Aid on it, or covering up the issue will only prolong your problems.
7. Allocate Enough Money.
Due to the common occurrence of unforeseen issues it is always a good Idea to allocate 10–15% in addition to your proposed budget. Having the extra money available will make life a lot easier if problems occur. Not much could be worse than running out of money before completion.
8. PPPPPP.
The old six P’s from college also applies to your home remodeling projects. Proper prior planning prevents poor performance. Make sure the plan is clear and your budget allocated before beginning. Making changes in the middle can jack the price through he roof. Re-designing your original plans mid-way through the remodeling phase always affects construction schedules and always increases the cost of your original plan.
9. See it Through.
When getting involved in any home remodeling project be prepared to go the distance with it. Often times unforeseen issues arise and need to be addressed accordingly. Stopping short will leave you with a half finished look.
10. Selecting the Wrong Materials.
It is a common mistake to select materials that by themselves look great, but when combined with other selections just do not work. Common examples are flooring, paint color, wall and floor tile, countertop selections and even lighting and fixtures. A good tip is when planning your project attain samples of each product so that the items can be physically placed together providing you an actual visualization of the final result. There’s nothing worse than realizing after your home remodeling project is done that, the colors and designs you have chosen clash or just don’t compliment each other well. Do not forget this important step.