With 30 years in the renovation industry, I can tell you from experience that mistakes are common, but hopefully not costly. Here are the top 5 #renovation mistakes to avoid to maximize your ROI.
First, use #quality materials! During a renovation project it is common to have a tight budget, especially at the end. Cheap finishes such as plumbing fixtures are something to avoid. While these fixtures may look nice, the last thing you want after all your hard work is to have a water feature that isn’t working properly. Flooring can also have the same quality appearance as its #NAMEBRAND twin, however, 99.9% of the time, budget-priced materials quickly show wear and tear and need to be replaced too soon. It costs you more in the long run.
Second, during the renovation, if you discover some issues that can wait 6 months to a year to fix, DON’T DO IT! Go ahead and fix them now while you have the walls open, the flooring down, and in the long run it will be cheaper to do it now than to wait. If you have any electrical or plumbing problems, you definitely don’t want a simple preventable problem to turn into more than it could have been. The additional damage these can cause could be enormous.
The third mistake to avoid is using carpet. The carpet is not only very dirty, but it must have constant maintenance to maintain the guarantee. Especially if the renovation is in a rental property, the carpet will need to be replaced more often than other flooring, which will make more money in the long run.
The fourth thing to avoid is underestimating the cost of the renovation. Renewals are tricky because you can’t see what everything looks like until the demo process is complete. Not to mention, things you never thought of suddenly come to mind when you start the installation process. Fresh paint and other new items suddenly make it necessary to replace items previously thought to be reusable. So in the planning and budgeting stage of your renovation, try adding an extra 20% to your budget to cover it. Simple or #LUXURYRENOVATIONS alike tends to be very surprising in what “could” be replaced.
Number five is always a problem in the #renovation industry, estimating your time. Give yourself a 7-10 day completion window, especially if you find yourself with additional work that needs to be done. After all your hard work and planning, you want to rush through the final steps.