My husband and I have renovated two homes. We are still in progress on our second home, which could likely be our forever home. Over the years, we have learned several lessons when completing work on our homes. We continue to learn and by no means call ourselves experts.
Any time we decide to tackle a project, my husband and I sit down and first determine our budget. Once we know our budget, we make a list of all the projects we wish to tackle in our home. We let our budget determine our timeline and the scope of the project. Some projects can be tackled individually, but most result in a snowball effect that other expenses must be made.
Our current home is a four-sided brick home that looked like a grandma lived in it prior to our arrival on the inside and out. Once we determined our budget for desired updates, we made a list of all the things we desired to see occur. After several discussions we decided to tackle the interior first agreeing that the more we could complete prior to moving in, the less headache we would experience in the long run. Because of the decision our home looked old and dated on the outside for almost four years, but we were okay with the plan knowing we would eventually tackle the exterior. We could accomplish this because the interior design did not require new window or exterior door placements.
Because we let our budget determine the projects, we knew there was a limit and stopping point. As fast as we could, we got quotes on as many expected projects as possible. Knowing as many quotes as we could, the better we could plan execute our projects without many unexpected expenses.
For example our last home project was our roof. Yes, we did get recently get to update the exterior of our home. We had some intense storms roll through our region and neighbors around us were getting their roofs replaced through their homeowner’s insurance due to weather damage. Our roof also had weather damage, and our insurance replaced our roof. We had been saving for a new roof so we decided that the funds set aside for the roof should go to another needed expense such as our 40-year-old single pane windows.
Most new windows require a color to be determined up front. Suddenly, we had to pick new paint colors that would go with the new roof color and the new window color. What could have been simply a roof job, was suddenly a roof, window and paint job. Before we proceeded with the roof and choosing a color, we got quotes on windows and exterior paint to ensure that we could do all three within our determined budget.
Got some projects coming up? Get ready to make some lists, get some estimates and options. Home renovations are expensive, but if approached carefully, they will not break the bank.
Writer Bio: Summer Bolte
I spend most of my time and days with my three kids, husband and dog. My kids frequently play near me as I garden, cook, DIY and volunteer. My most unusual paying job has to be feeding fruit flies in a research lab, and my most fulfilling job was being an oncology nurse for seven years.
