It’s the usual story, you have a lifelong dream to renovate your home: take control of the place you have bought and tidy it up, knock through a wall, build an extension or even dig underground. How should you go about doing it? Is it enough to have an idea and hope that it will work? Here are some of the top tips for renovating homes:
Plan, plan, plan.
Don’t just jump into the renovation expecting it to all come together and work. These things take time and planning and the real rewards come at the end.
Get the professionals in.
Don’t go down the DIY route unless you are a professional yourself. A renovation is a long term thing, and can add real value to a home. Doing it yourself can result in mistakes which can look ugly, and could devalue your property. Getting professionals in not only means that quality is guaranteed, but that you will also have peace of mind that someone else is getting the work done for you.
Keep the future (and other people) in mind
Yes, your property should say something about you, it should be your dream home, but, there is a limit. Think about the future, about selling the property. You may love that neon pink wallpaper, but a prospective buyer may not, and actually, that might be the reason your home doesn’t sell. You should always have one eye on what people might think of your home when renovating. Tone things down, and you might wind up increasing the value of your home more than you originally thought you would.
Keep your finances in mind
It’s worth working out the budget well in advance so that you don’t run out of money mid-project and wind up with a half-finished extension. For thototallymoney.com/cheapest-way-to-borrow-moneyse who want to borrow to build, which is a very common thing for people to do, a really useful tool comes from Totally Money who has created the ‘Cheapest Ways to Borrow’ tool. It allows you to work out how to save on renovations based on how much you need to borrow, and how long you have to pay it back.