Starting any sized home renovation is intimidating. When you start planning a remodel that might take up multiple rooms or even whole floors on your house, it can be downright scary. So here we’re going to address some of the things we think homeowners might not think about when considering a major home renovation. Hopefully, we will give you some helpful information you can take with you on this journey.
Estimates on HGTV Are Not Accurate
Right off the bat, we want to ensure that your expectations are in line with reality. Don’t get us wrong, HGTV is an excellent source of inspiration and ideas to use in your own home. However, the prices, estimates, and budgets they work with are often nowhere near reality. This is primarily because of movie magic, television funding, and regional differences. For example, remodeling a high-end kitchen in New York will cost significantly different than a kitchen in a traditional Missouri home. The best way to understand what a remodel might cost is to call some local contractors. They work in the area all the time and have a deeper understanding of what materials and labor costs.
Making Decisions is Exhausting
It can be exhilarating to start planning a significant home remodel that you’ve been dying to get to for years. You’ll finally get to have the cabinets, fixtures, appliances, and countertops you’ve always wanted. So it’s hard to imagine that you’ll be sick of selecting materials by the time you’ve finished your remodel. To avoid resenting your project and to help keep your design alive, we recommend hiring a professional designer and sticking with a Design-Build firm like McDermott Remodeling. With a whole team of professionals behind you, not every decision will be on your shoulders. You can focus on the more fun aspect of things, while your designers can handle the details that simply make the space work.
It’s Sometimes Better to Use Phases
You might be thinking that you want to rip off the band-aid and renovation your whole house at once. This has an appealing “just get it over with” aspect, and maybe that’s the right fit for you. However, sometimes it’s best to complete a major home remodel in phases. Think of it like this. You want to renovate your kitchen and master bathroom, and the contractor can complete the kitchen by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, but your master bathroom will be in the middle of demolition when your in-laws are in town for the holidays. We’re going to guess this isn’t the ideal situation to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas. By breaking up the projects into phases, you can plan your renovations around holidays, birthdays, or even financial elements too.
Upstairs Plumbing Uses Downstairs Walls
It’s obvious when you think about it, but the plumbing changes you make to the second story of your home will often affect something in the walls of your first floor. You can definitely move that bathroom across the house, but the pipes have to move with it. This might cause a whole plethora of other changes that have to happen. Of course, this is just an example of how major home renovations sometimes can get bigger and bigger. The more you change about a home, the more you might have to change. While this isn’t always true, it’s essential to keep in mind and we prefer our clients to be prepared and educated about the process to make the best decisions for you. We can all agree that the least amount of surprises is best.
You Might Have to Redo the Floors
We don’t mean that the construction will be so hard on your floors that you might have to have them replaced. A quality contractor will be able to protect your floors from any remodeling activity. However, if you have an older home and you start making significant changes to it, you might find that those stunning hardwood floors are not the same throughout. There might be a reason previous owners covered them up! It’s best to be prepared and maybe even ask upfront about the need for new or refinished flooring.
Use The Opportunity to Make Things Flow
Over the years, a house can have minor changes made to it to suit the needs of the current homeowner. This might mean that things don’t exactly flow from room to room by the time you get the home. With a major home remodel, you can take the opportunity to bring the home back into balance by tying in all the spaces to make them feel like one cohesive design. Like this whole house renovation in St. Louis, MO that McDermott Remodeling did.
It will be a significant change, and with big changes comes lots of anxiety and growth. Ensure you’re ready for your major home remodel by doing your research, talking with professionals, and starting the planning process early.
