The prospect of having a brand new interior is exciting. The things about your home that have been irking you can finally be changed and updated. With a little planning and budgeting, your dream home isn’t too far off.
But before you reach that end point and embrace your new interior, there’s a lot that goes into the project, much of which might not be so pleasant. Make sure you prepare yourself for any one of the following things so you’re not caught by surprise.
Lots of Dust
For a little while, it’ll seem as if you’re doing nothing but vacuuming and dusting your home. Dust is a given when it comes to a construction site, so be prepared for a lot of it. Having said that, there are certain ways that you can control it before it completely wreaks havoc on your home.
If possible, close off the construction area from the rest of your home with a compression-fit barrier. You can also run air filtering systems to draw the dust from the air in the part of the house that’s not under construction. In addition, try to block the warm-air and cold-air returns within the construction area to prevent dust from being pulled from that area of the house into the section where you’re living.
Plenty of Noise
Along with all the dust comes the noise. The sanders, electric saws, drills, and hammers will make you think you’ll never get any peace and quiet in your home ever again. But don’t fret: all of that incessant racket will come to a stop at some point.
In the meantime, prepare yourself and accept the noise. If you’re lucky, you may be able to retreat to a friend’s or relative’s house when you just need a little tranquility and escape from all the construction.
Delays
So many things can enter the picture that will put a halt on operations. Inclement weather, illness, backorders on materials, delays in obtaining permits, and many other issues can arise which can push the completion date out even further. Life isn’t perfect, and neither are renovations. Keeping an open mind about potential problems that can delay the project will allow you to be more flexible if the schedule of events is ever affected.
Many Decisions
The decisions don’t end once you’ve decided to revamp your home. Plenty of other choices need to be made both before and during the project. What type of flooring do you want? What light fixtures will you choose? What type of counters will go well with your cabinets? And how about all the handles and knobs?
All of these decisions can leave you feeling overwhelmed. Understand that the choices you make can directly affect not only the end result, but also the costs and the speed at which the project will be completed. You can count on your contractor asking you an endless array of questions before the project is complete.
Unexpected Surprises
Unless it’s a party, a present or a last-minute visit from a loved one, no one likes surprises, especially when it comes to a home renovation project. Once you start ripping down drywall and opening up the flooring, all sorts of little unpleasant things can pop up.
Faulty wiring, a load bearing wall, improper framing, damage from termites, and even asbestos can come up throughout a gut job. Make sure you’ve braced yourself, and have allowed some sort of contingency in your budget to deal with these potential issues so you’re not left cutting corners in other areas to make up for the added costs.
Change Orders
The estimate that you were given from your contractor before the work started could very well be different by the time all is said and done. If any changes to the work will need to be made, a “change order” will be warranted, which is essentially is an added document that lists any changes in work and costs.
Usually, these change orders are necessary to accommodate for surprise issues that come up, or because of something that you decided to change after the work had already begun. Either way, charge orders are common, so prepare yourself for one just in case.
The Bottom Line
In a perfect world, a home renovation job would end exactly the way you had anticipated from the start. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. It’s impossible to predict the precise outcome of a renovation project; issues can certainly arise that can veer the job off its original path. However, if you come into the job prepared for a variety of possibilities and allow for some leeway in your budget, you can come out of the project unscathed.
