If you’re renovating your entire home — or even just an expensive room like a kitchen — you want to get the best bang for your buck and look for ways to cut corners. But knowing when to DIY and when to call a professional is so important or you’ll find yourself spending even more to correct mistakes. Here are some of the best ways to save money on your home renovation and still love your home:
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Save Money By Doing the Prep Work and Clean Up Yourself
Doing your own demolition can be difficult, and may not even be advisable if you have a particularly involved project or older home which may have mold in the walls, but if you can do it yourself, this is one area where you can save money. Additionally, construction sites are messy — unless previously negotiated, it is assumed you’ll be handing the clean up yourself, which while tiring and time consuming, will also save you money.
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Save Money By Prioritizing Home Improvement Projects & Staying On Schedule
As the saying goes, time is money, and in home building that is true as ever. Make your design decisions early on and don’t change your mind. Indecision will cost you. If you’re curious about reasons a home renovation is taking a long time, check out this article.
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Find the Best Discounts On Building Materials
Choose mid-grade materials, Utilize recycled materials, or buy materials at auction — Our firm places a huge emphasis on sustainability, so we love working with natural, sustainable and recycled materials whenever possible. Also, working with a trade professional will help you get the best wholesale price for the highest quality materials. And be sure to utilize leftover pieces of material, yourself — projects can sometimes waste 10-15% of their building materials. And you can easily turn granite slabs into cutting boards, or decorative bookends. Get creative!
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Prioritize Efficiency over Increasing the Square Footage of Your Home
Anytime you knock down a wall it will inflate your budget significantly. In kitchens, for example, rather than knocking out a wall to achieve that in-demand open floor plan, work with a designer or builder to maximize the efficiency of your kitchen cabinets and appliances. With that said…
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Don’t Move Plumbing Appliances!
Re-plumbing sinks and toilets is going to be an invasive construction project that will cost you.
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Install Less Recessed Lighting
We’re actually not big fans of recessed lighting– especially when you have a beautiful ceiling! Op’t instead for varied sources of lighting–invest in lamps and utilize natural light from windows instead.
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Plan Your Home Renovation Around When Building Business is Slow
The winter is the least in-demand times of the year, for obvious reasons: You’re likely to have a full house for the holidays so it’s more difficult to move out for a few weeks or months at a time, and noone wants to build in the snow. Specialty subcontractors may be willing to negotiate discounted rates during the slow season. That said, if you live in a climate with difficult winter conditions, you run the risk of more weather-related delays.
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Bright White is Timeless…
A couple fresh coats of bright white paint do wonders for otherwise outdated cabinetry and tired walls and this is certainly a project you can DIY so it won’t cost more than a couple cans of paint.
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Install a Shorter Backsplash in Your Kitchen or Bathroom
Conventional wisdom would have you believe your backsplash has to run up the entire wall, but that’s just not so. Having a backsplash just a few inches above where the counter meets the wall is a great way to save money on materials, but still make a stylish and functional statement.
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Save Money on Your Home Renovation by Replacing the Littlest Details
Rather than get an entirely new sink, replace hardware. Repaint old doors and cabinets and replace the knobs and pulls. And rather than get an entirely new toilet, consider a new lid and seat. Focusing on the simplest of details will save you money and increase your design value!
