When planning for a major home renovation, there is a lot to keep in mind – it is an exciting process that with the appropriate preparation, can happen smoothly and stress free. A solid plan surrounding yourself, your home, and your contractor is paramount in ensuring an enjoyable home transformation. In order to avoid unnecessary setbacks and problems, we have developed a comprehensive guide surrounding the most crucial aspects of preparing for a major renovation.

Developing a General Plan

Before you get started with your home renovation, the first step you take should be to create a general plan that outlines the entire renovation process. In doing so, a good way to approach the plan is to split it up into main sections:

–    Preparing yourself and the people around you

–    Preparing your home

–    Establishing a plan with your contractor

Your overall plan should also cater for possible setbacks and budget considerations. Although the potential for issues to arise should be minimised (through following your overall plan), creating an overall timeline that considers problems will ensure that you are ready for whatever is thrown at you.

Determining an appropriate budget will also ensure that you don’t spend too much, and you might want to consider financing options to get the most out of your renovation – an example of this is an option such as refinancing through Westpac (click here to find out more), which can provide you with usable equity, cashback options and other benefits.

Preparing Yourself

Preparing yourself and the people around you are extremely important tasks in ensuring that your living conditions, privacy, and availability are suitable given the inconveniences of a home renovation. Therefore, it is important to consider whether you will be staying in the home or temporarily relocating, whether or not you will be able to prepare and eat food in the same manner as usual, and if you will need to reorganise living and working spaces.

For example, if you are remodelling your kitchen, cooking will be a significant consideration to make – if you plan on relocating your kitchen supplies to another room, you should consider the most appropriate place to move to, decide what you will be eating, and establish an eating area as well. If you are remodelling your bathroom, implementing a bathroom schedule might help to coordinate larger groups of people who will now be sharing a smaller space.

If you are considering relocating, make sure you can maintain communication with your contractor and can supervise when necessary. While this might seem like a great opportunity to go on a holiday, you may want to be present during the renovation in order to keep the process as streamlined as possible. 

Other things to keep in mind here include rearranging your schedule, briefing any children in the home, and keeping communication open with your partner as well as neighbours.

Preparing Your Home

When it comes to preparing your home, there is a lot involved. You need to decide what tasks you might undertake yourself before the renovation begins, establish limits within your home regarding builders, and consider taking an audit of your belongings.

There are several tasks you may need to complete in preparing your home for renovation, such as clearing out rooms, moving living and working areas around, relocating fragile items, and ensuring the safety of valuable items. For example, downgrading to a mini fridge or investing in a home safe can significantly reduce the hassle and stress involved in the overall process of renovating.

Regarding the establishment of boundaries within your home, consider where you want to allow the builders in your home to go – kitchens and dining rooms are usually off limits for workers; however, this will be up to you.

Taking audit of your belongings will help in keeping track of things while you relocate items and repurpose rooms and can be useful for insurance purposes. In addition, if you are feeling uneasy about being out of the house during the renovation, consider updating your security system.

Finally,  ensuring that your home is in a good condition prior to the renovation will ensure that if any issues arise throughout the process, you know whether or not they were caused by the renovation. Things like fixing rising damp, subsidence, leaning walls and more will give you peace of mind and confidence as you go into the renovation process. 

Establishing a Plan with Your Contractor

The final step in your plan will be to ensure that you maintain effective communication with your contractor. This means you should each have phone numbers and emails, in order to send and receive information in a timely manner. This will ensure that delays and problems are minimised and maintained. You should also make sure that changes to remodelling plans are limited – this will keep costs within your budget and keep the renovation within the planned time frame.

An additional point here is that you should try to avoid making changes to living arrangements and personal requirements once the workers have commenced building – avoiding this is important in maintaining the efficiency of the renovation, and will ensure that the builders do a good job in a timely manner.

Keeping Your Major Renovation Stress Free

Being prepared for your major renovation will result in an amazing home transformation that you will love. If you follow the steps outlined in this plan and make sure to take a proactive approach to your home renovation, the process will go as smoothly as possible. In summary, make sure you have an overall plan that focuses on preparing yourself, your home, and the relationship you have with your contractor.