With the introduction of the The Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC) people will be looking to take advantage and do some upgrades. In August 2008 I completed my own set of renovations for the first time and walked away a bit wiser. Here are 11 things that I learned and will apply to my next renovation:
1: Research everything - I think this is the most important part that will allow you to save money. I did this for every aspect of my renovation. I knew the complete process for each of the individual jobs. This allowed me to both properly assess the quotes and whether the contractors were doing the job correctly. The last thing you need is a contractor to do a crummy job and then pay someone else to fix it.
2: Do some of the work yourself - This one is pretty straightforward but some people over look it. If you’ve done the research you’ll come to realize that there are some things you can do yourself. We were looking for someone to put in our click system floating floor. The quotes we were getting were astronomical. One guy even quoted us $4.50 a square foot when I was looking at $1.50 with $2.50 being the high end that we were trying to avoid. So as I was doing the research on the flooring the manufacturer had installation videos on their website. After watching them it seemed pretty straightforward and decided to do it myself with the help of my fiancé’s father and uncle. It took two days but I was happy with how it turned out. Always keep your mind open but be aware of your limitations and what it will cost for someone to fix your mistakes.
3: Don’t try and do it all at once - Some people are tempted to renovate everything at once, don’t. Either you’ll have to go into debit to do it or you’ll end up with poor craftsmanship that you’ll have to redo down the road. Either way it will cost you more money than it should. If you have limited funds then choose to renovate something that will make you happy. If you can’t be happy at home then you can’t be happy anywhere.
4: Prioritize the work - Make a list of all of your renovations and determine how they will impact one another. This will help you figure out where you can try and save money. If a particular contractor botches a job then it won’t impact the other work, which will save you in the end. For us it was tiles. We paid $2500 dollars just for the removal and installation of about 140 square feet of tiles (this does not include materials). We needed this job to be done right for two reasons. The first being that we live in a condo and removing tiles can be heard throughout the entire building as the tiles are installed directly onto the concrete slab. The second was the fact that the new cabinets and granite counter top sit on the tiles and we wouldn’t be able to remove the granite without cracking it if we needed to fix the tiles. So we decided to pay extra and got a tiler from Holmes on Homes because we couldn’t afford to fix a bad tile job.
5: Get multiple quotes - Get as many quotes as you can. The obvious reason being price comparison but the second is for idea mining. Not all trades have the same experience so different trades will point out difference caveats with a particular job. The more information you have the better you can anticipate issues, which always saves you money in the end
6: Keep it professional - You are the employer and the trades are your employees. Don’t let them walk all over you. If they continuously don’t show up then you need to have a talk with them but keep it professional. You need to take immediate action because if you let these things drag on then they can get worse which will cost you time and money.
7: Be wary of price changes - I’m a big believer in the negotiated price is the final price. Contractors are like everyone else and are out to make money. Some will try and re-negotiate the price once the work gets started. Avoid this by having clear terms in your contract and this will save you money and stress in the long run. However you do need to use reason here. If your contractor opens a wall and finds a surprise than there’s nothing you can do but pay to have it resolved correctly.
8: Do not book your trades to tightly – This is a big mistake people seem to make. They want the job done as quickly so they book the various contractor too tightly together not allowing for any spare time. If a contractor is delayed they may charge you for the day or even worse you may lose a good contractor all together. Give yourself a few days in between contractors and it will save you money and stress.
9: Buy materials in advance - Keep an eye out for sales well before you start your renovations. We bought all of our baseboards 6 months before we ready to do work because they were on sale at Home Depot.
10: Look for materials in unexpected places - Home Depot, Rona’s, and Lowe’s are not the only places that sell renovation materials. We bought our bathroom vanities on sale at Canadian Tire and Zellers. They look nice and cost a fraction of the price.
11: Book a good painter - Painters are usually the last people to touch your home and after a long stressful renovation you are vulnerable. You are so close to finishing you’ll be open to changes in price because you don’t want to argue, you just want it done. Find a good honest painter. Pay extra if you have too because it will save you more than money in the end. We had a terrible experience with our painter with lots of arguing. The money we saved was not worth the trouble of having to deal with this person.
-mfd-
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