Renovating your home or even a single room takes a lot more time, money, planning, and effort than you may have initially thought. Unfortunately, most renovations expand beyond just painting the walls. You have to think about cleaning, prepping (which includes priming and repairing any holes, dents, or scratches), layout changes, electrical changes, new appliances, and everything in between. 

You may need help to know what you should do, and advice to avoid mistakes that may ruin or worsen your renovation process. After all, there is no shame in admitting that your DIY project isn’t exactly as DIY as you thought. 

To help you along the way, we’ve compiled 5 of the most common mistakes we’ve seen during a renovation project. 

Choosing the Wrong Water Heater

Choosing the right water heater that suits your needs and uses best is important as it may cost you money and time if you chose a water heater that isn’t sufficient for your needs. Do you want a sustainable water heater? Do you want to heat the whole home or just a faucet? Or you have a family or is it just you?

All of these questions need to be answered before you choose a water heater. Once you do answer them, you’ll need to know the differences between tankless water heaters, on-demand water heaters, and traditional tank water heaters, and the capabilities of each size. We always recommend consulting a professional plumber, such as the ones at the BC Team. They’ll be able to provide the right recommendations for your needs and install it at a fair price. 

Before you call, here are few tips to help you choose the right water heater:

Not Leaving Space for Convenience

Is there something you would change about your home right now? Chances are, there is. If we had to guess, it would be that someone is not very convenient, like the laundry room is far away from the bedrooms, or you don’t have a place to store your shoes and coats. 

Renovations can fix this, if you plan for it. 

Ditch the Laundry Room For a Closet

Leaving enough space for your laundry and washing machine and making it as organized as possible will facilitate the laundry time for you and make your tasks easier. The best renovations we see often create a laundry closet between bedrooms. It’s convenient and easy to access, without needing to haul baskets all over your house. 

It’s a time-saving idea to consider a space specified for an easy access closet where you store the items you regularly use and find them in one place, instead of searching every day for these items in multiple places. There are plenty of storage options here too, so you won’t need to worry about storing cleaning supplies or detergent away from the machines. 

If you absolutely need to have a laundry room, consider ways to make it more efficient for your family’s needs. Install a shoe rack and wall hooks for coats, put in shelves above the units to save space, and take out that garden sink (if you don’t need it, of course) to make room for more storage. 

Not Thinking of the Future

When you’re renovating a home or a room, you’re doing it to fulfill an immediate need. Never forget to plan for the future. Think of how each room will be used in the next 1-5 years and consider all of the changes that may happen. 

Are you going to start a family? If so, is this room toddler safe? Can it be converted into a playroom? Can it be converted again when they’re older? Is it easy enough to clean? 

Are you adopting a pet? Are you going to move in under 5 years? How are you going to use this space now and in the future? Can it be easily changed to fit any of your future needs?

It’s a lot of questions, we know, but asking them before you take a sledgehammer to a wall will save you a lot of headaches in the future. 

Choosing the Wrong Contractors

Going with cheap or low-cost contractors isn’t always the best choice. They might lack the expertise you need and their work may cost you more than what you thought you’d save. Here are a few reasons why you need to avoid hiring the wrong contractors.

We’re not saying all contractors who accept lower prices are bad. However, you should expect to get what you pay for. 

You could waste the materials you paid money for as a low-cost contractor may ruin it and not use it properly. Or, if you’re supplying your own materials, they may not be as experienced with handling them. 

In addition to ruining your material and wasting your money, you could be wasting more time because your contractor is too slow, or the results you get aren’t what you asked for, which delays the renovation process and requires repetitive modifications.

Chances are too, a cheaper contractor will be busier, which means they won’t have the time to spend on small details with your project, or to keep on top of communicating with you. 

We always recommend spending a little more on contractors so there is less risk involved. Always bid out your project first and do your research too! 

Being Convinced to Overspend in the Wrong Places

Overspending in the wrong places and items may not be beneficial for you as you could end up with fancy spaces that you do not even use or need. We get it too — it’s hard to say no when specialists are trying to convince you that you need marble counters or a Smart coffee maker. 

You should keep these two things in mind.  

Identify The Places Where You Spend Most Of Your Time

Ask yourself where you usually sit more. The answer will probably help you identify these places where you usually spend your time and lead you to spend money in the right places and areas.

If you need new appliances and new flooring, sit down and do research before you start shopping. Find out what brand of appliances you like and what features, then look into flooring options. There are so many types that offer the same look and quality, that there are many cost-saving options available. You don’t need to choose the finest redwood floors when bamboo or pine might save you more money for the same look. 

In other words, all that glitters is not gold. If you don’t need it, don’t get tempted to spend money on it. 

Set Priorities

Knowing the most and least important places for you in your space will help you prioritize and easily decide where to spend money and effort. You can probably go another year with your old stove, but you can’t leave your floors bare. Setting priorities and goals will help you budget wisely. 

And that’s it! Those are the five most common renovation mistakes we see and how to avoid them. We hope this blog helped you!