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Renovating your home is an important step in your life. Regardless of the reasons: be it renewal, new family member, or recovery after cataclysms, the home renovation will change your life. It means a lot of creativity, thorough planning, hard mental and physical work, and, of course, a lot of money. Our home renovation costs guide will help you plan your renovation and estimate your renovation spends without stress.

Pros and cons of home renovation

Renovation may be exciting, but it could be a bad idea in your case. Before we speak about renovation costs, let’s take a look at the perks and drawbacks of renovation itself.

What are the pros of renovation?

1. Improve your living space. In any sense. Stylish interior design, beautiful arrangement, new appliances all contribute to better home functionality and overall well-being of the home residents.
2. An investment in the future. Make a good renovation now and, under normal circumstances, forget about it for the next couple of decades.
3. Unleash your creativity. Isn’t it a marvelous feeling to finally get a kitchen of your dreams or home cinema, home library? The renovation will make your interior design dreams come true.
4. Increase your home’s market value. It is a known fact that newly renovated homes have a higher sales value and attract more potential buyers or renters. And you can demand more money than for a non-renovated home.
5. It’s cheaper than moving. If you’re not doing a total replacement of all appliances and plumbing system, your home renovation costs will be pretty reasonable.

What are the cons of renovation?

1. It’s very stressful. Apart from finding workers and storage for your things, you will have to observe the renovation process and control it. During the renovation, you must always stay alert. Any unpredicted costs or trouble can always occur.
2. It’s time-consuming. Thorough home renovations can last for a month or more. If you are not ready to sacrifice your time, you’d better postpone home renovation when you will be free enough.
3. It’s more expensive than moving. Of course, usually, renovation is better than moving. However, a major renovation of your home can cost you a fortune, especially if your home is old. Replacement of major appliances and plumbing can cost as much as buying a new house!

In other words: if you do not have enough time and money, if “stress-resistant” is not about you, postpone or reconsider renovation. If this is your case, maybe you’d better move to another home?

Types of home renovation costs

All home renovation costs can be loosely divided into three groups:

1. Hard costs – costs of builder’s work and material. Up to 80% of your planned renovation budget will go on them.
2. Soft costs that include fees for your outsourced helpers, planning costs and similar. How much of your budget will go on them depends on how much work you do by yourself.
3. Emergency costs may occur in case something unexpected happens, or if you decide to change your renovation plan. It is useful to have money in at least 10% of your budget for these cases.

Planning home renovation costs

Home renovation costs depend on numerous factors. For example, the age of your home, on what you are planning to renovate, and how thoroughly. The remodeling costs guide for 2018 might give you a clue about approximate renovation costs. However, the exact price might be different from what you read there.

The most important stage: Preparation stage

First and foremost, you need to create a clear renovation plan and set realistic goals of your home’s renovation. Determine what needs urgent renovation and what’s just a matter of comfort and beauty. This plan will not only help you organize the process but also reduce your expenditures. Setting limits onto your initial renovation budget is also a good tip to avoid extra home renovation costs.

On this stage, you must also do research on legal matters, reliable builders. The main mistake people make is not enough research. This can also result in extra home renovation costs. If you stick to your plan and initial budget, this will not happen.

Optional: Do outsourcing

Is creativity not your strong side? Well, it’s architects’ and interior designers’ job! You might want to hire them to help you turn your renovation plan into reality. This is especially true if you are planning to do some extra building.

Decide on the source of money

Needless to say, the entire renovation project should be based on your income. Improving your home must not leave you broke. That’s why thorough planning is so important.

There are numerous ways on how to cover your home renovation costs. The easiest one is to spend your savings on them. But if you don’t have enough, or if your inevitable home renovation costs are too high, there are other options. For instance, various credits or home improvement loans. Do research on financing options and choose the right one for you.