Guest Blogger: Five Essential Tips to Consider BEFORE Remodeling your Home

Guest Blog #121, Entry #586, July 13, 2011

Whether you are considering remodeling a small portion of your bathroom, or you are considering adding on an addition to your home, there are several essential tips to follow. Many homeowners jump head first into remodeling before determining, budget, time, what needs to be fixed before remodeled, etc…

Before you start remodeling, see these 5 essential tips

Today, my Guest Blogger, Swan Griffin gives you five essential tips to consider before you start remodeling, to help save yourself time, money, and energy!

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Swan Griffin

Many people feel like it’s time for a change when it comes to their home. Rather than buying a new home they choose to remodel their current home. When planning a home restructuring there are a couple rules of thumb to consider.

1.) Fix What Is Broken First

Home owners tend to think big when remodeling their house. Adding new bedrooms, knocking down walls or adding a second floor are some of the most common goals of a remodel. But these major improvements can deplete a budget, leaving no money to fix those leaky pipes, drafty windows and peeling paint.

2.) Over Budget Your Time and Money

If there was a ever a time when Murphy’s law came into effect, this is it. Hidden problems in the home, alternate products and materials that are more expensive, mistakes; all of these contribute to making your remodeling more expensive than you intend. Leave a little leeway to reduce stress, add 15-20% to your goal budget and a couple extra weeks to your goal finish date.

When remodeling factor in more time and money than needed

3.) Your Yard Is Apart of Your Home Also

Don’t forget to look at making changes to yard. This is the first impression people get when visiting your home. It does no good for your interior to be a beautiful work of art but have a dilapidated exterior. Go ahead and plant a couple shrubs and add a walkway, possibly a nice shed or pagoda if your yard is big enough. It can increase your property value and create a great framework for your home.

4.) Hire a Contractor

Many people will try and complete the repairs themselves or hire a cheap inexperienced worker. This can add thousands of dollars to your home project just from fixing mistakes. Homeowners with full time jobs are only doing spare-time and weekend work which can cause you to live in a construction zone for months. Hire a contractor and sit back. It lessens the chance of mistakes and lowers time.

A contractor can often get the job done faster and possibly cheaper

5.) Research

This may be the simplest of the five but also the most looked over. Before hammering a single nail, make sure you have all your ducks in a row. Can you afford it? Are you prepared for total upheaval? Do you have the most cost-effective materials? What about city code? Remodeling your home causes you to remodel your lifestyle; make sure the impact is minimized as much as possible.

Swan is a marketer for Supplyhero.com, a large internet discount janitorial/industrial supply company. For these and many more green products for your home or business please visit http://www.supplyhero.com

For more Remodeling ideas on Stagetecture, click here.