3 Budgeting Tips for Your Next Home Renovation

Before you start picking out bathroom tiles and paint colors, you need to think about your budget. It’s the first big step of your renovation. To make sure that everything goes smoothly, follow these three essential budgeting tips:

1. Do Your Research

A renovation shouldn’t be a “learn as you go” experience — not unless you want to burn through all of your money in a hurry. You should dedicate some serious time to research. It will help you figure out exactly what you want to do during your renovation and, of course, how much it will probably cost you.  

Here are some things that you can do:

• Look up the average costs of renovations for certain rooms.
• Contact contractors in your local area and ask for quotes. 
• Browse online stores to get a good idea of current material costs.
• If you’re intending on doing any DIY to save money, you should look into what projects are the riskiest to DIY and what ones are safe for you to attempt. This will stop you from wasting your money and putting your safety at risk.

2. Add Some Wiggle Room

Your renovation might have some nasty surprises sitting behind the walls, like dangerous electrical wiring, mold, water damage or pests. You can’t ignore these problems to save money. You have to address them — sooner rather than later. 

This is why you need to add wiggle room to your budget before you start your renovation plans. At the very least, have a 10% buffer. The extra funds will help you manage any costs that you didn’t consider, including these surprise fixes.  

What if it’s not enough? If you didn’t add enough wiggle room and you need more funds, you could consider applying for an online loan to get past this obstacle. It’s also an option that you can use to cover the costs of a small emergency, like an urgent plumbing repair or a quick roof patch-up. 

When you’re looking for online loans, make sure that they’re available in your location. Not every loan will be open to your specific state. So, you need to get an online loan in Tennessee when you live in Memphis or Nashville. You don’t want to waste your time searching for solutions that you can’t even access. 

3. Don’t Just Think about Project Costs 

There are lots of things that contribute to the overall cost of renovating — it’s not just labor and materials. If you’re getting your kitchen done, you’re going to have to think about food costs. There are ways to cook during a kitchen remodel when you have no major appliances, but this might prove difficult when you’re tired or busy. You might find yourself getting takeout or going to restaurants for the sake of convenience. 

Do you have pets? Another renovation cost that you might not have considered is keeping your pets safe and happy. They won’t like the constant noise. They might be terrified by the parade of strange contractors walking into the home. And it can be risky to keep them around so many dangerous tools and chemicals. You may need to pay a pet daycare, pet-sitter, dog-walking service or kennel to take care of your pets until things are back to normal. 

A bad budget will turn your renovation into a disaster. A good budget will make the entire process a breeze. Follow these three tips so that your budget is undoubtedly good.