Renovating your home should be an exciting & rewarding experience and it will be if you take the time to achieve successful results. Whether you are planning to renovate a kitchen, bathroom, living spaces, or a major portion of your home the process will go much, much smoother if you take the proper steps. Budgeting for your home renovation costs is a major step in the success of your project.

Have you ever taken a vacation without knowing the costs ahead of time? Well, this is kind of like that. If you take the time to plan ahead it will be a heck of a lot more fun.

renovating projects require a good amount of patience & professional guidance.

It will be tempting to skip some of these steps but I promise, you will never regret taking the time to do it right.

I know there are some standards out there as to how to calculate the cost per square foot to achieve your renovation costs and they might not be a bad place to start, however, I think they tend to give an unrealistic number.

I have found that income doesn’t always reflect what my clients are willing to spend. I have worked with very wealthy clients with very simple & conservative tastes. I have also worked with clients with less income & very extravagant tastes. That’s why it’s important to take some steps to avoid sticker shock when it hits you in the face.

I use an intake form I call a Client Profile before meeting with a client for the first time. No surprise that one of the questions is Do you have a budget for this project? It used to be What is your budget for this project? Either way rarely does anyone fill it out. I have learned over the years that either they are afraid of putting down a number that’s higher than it should actually cost or they just have no clue what it should cost. But I do believe everyone does have a cost that they would be comfortable with.

Whether you have a large dollar amount in reserve, you’re taking a home equity loan or you have been putting aside a little each month it can become extremely stressful when the costs start stacking up, especially when you’re not prepared.

My goal is to help you avoid the aches & pains of spending your hard-earned money. Let me help you get off to a great start.

Here are the 5 essential steps for budgeting for your home renovation costs

Let’s go…

1.Do some shopping

If you’re someone who loves shopping like I do you just got excited. If you’re not, well then you need someone like me.

Each space has some major components that will be a large part of your expense. For your kitchen it will be the appliances for a bathroom it will be plumbing fixtures. For a family room, it might be the fireplace. Establishing these major costs will guide you on the other large ticket items.

Maybe you envision a fabulous chandelier or ultra-modern fixture that will set the tone for your home, that’s where you should start. Or it could be a sleek, modern staircase. If it’s a unique and out-of-the-ordinary element it’s a good place to start shopping & determining the cost.

Once you start selecting & pricing the high ticket items you start establishing your budget.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read my earlier blogposts that will help you shop for some of the major spaces What You Need to Choose for Your Kitchen and What You Need to Choose for Your Bathroom. These are your grocery lists to get you started.

Don’t be afraid to utilize the showroom or online experts with making your selections. Even myself & other designers rely on their knowledge to guide us on what would be a good fit for our projects. They are immersed in the products they specialize in so will know costs to guide you appropriately. They want you to be successful too.

Even I rely on the knowledge of the experts in each category. Local Showrooms & Online Vendors have Sales Staff that are trained to know their products well. there is a lot of value to gain from them.

2. create & maintain a spreadsheet

If you’re someone like me who loves exploring the right side of your brain but cringes when you’re forced to utilize the left side of your brain you will be tempted to skip this step. But for all of us, it’s a necessary step to avoiding misery at the end of the month & the end of the project.

A while back, one of my clients who I had been working with for several years asked me What comes easier to you, being creative or managing your business, because you are really good at both. I was taken back when she asked this because she & her husband have run their own wealth management business for over 40 years. I had always thought that it was obvious that the creative aspect of my business came naturally & that I had to work overtime to get the business portion right.

Face it, I don’t think anyone decides to become an interior designer because they love running a business. LOL! I must admit, I am very proud of the fact that I have learned to be very successful at the financial end of my business & have made it through a few recessions to prove it. But in order to do that, I had to learn to embrace the numbers & you can too ; )

If you have never used Microsoft Excel well it’s time to learn. If it intimidates you then chances are you have a family member or a friend that can set up the template and formula for you & you can learn to input the information. You’ll be surprised at how addicting it is once you start. It’s rather fun.

Another good place to create a spreadsheet is on Google Docs, this is what my daughter prefers to use and kept track of the renovation projects we recently worked on for her home.

If you’re still struggling with the thought of sitting down in front of a computer & inputting information, well there is nothing wrong with a pen & paper. Just create a way to keep the information in ONE place listing every aspect of your home renovation costs & keep a tally.

Your spreadsheet is your place to keep you on track. If you set a total budget of $100,000 for your kitchen & your appliances are $20,000 & your contractors' fee for demo & labor is $30,000 then you have $50,000 left to work with. Now it’s time to start breaking down what you can afford to spend on the cabinetry, countertops, flooring, etc. Once you start playing around with the numbers you might have to go back & reselect or omit some appliances to maintain your $100,00 budget.

the key to a successful budget is keeping it up to date

3. make Sure Your Contractor is Clear About the Scope & Details of Your Project

One of the reasons it’s important to start shopping ahead of time is to help your contractor have a clearer idea of what you want to achieve.

A good example is my daughter had an inspiration photo for her bathroom tile. The pattern was a herringbone. This is a labor-intensive design to install. If her contractor didn’t know this ahead of time he would have probably estimated the tile work based on a subway tile in a brick pattern which is much more basic.

When it came to installing the herringbone pattern around the plumbing fixtures & niche he worked on those for a full day to get it exact. Don’t get me wrong, he is a very qualified contractor & does amazing work for many of my clients which is why he spent so much time on this.

You want to be fair to your contractors by giving them as much information about the details of the project BEFORE they give you an estimate.

By giving the contractor as many details upfront you will not only get a realistic labor cost, you will help narrow down the best contractor for your project & establish a good relationship with the contractor you hire.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read my earlier blogpost Choosing a Home Remodeling Contractor to guide you in the selection process.

4.Be prepared for change orders

Even the best-laid plans will have a hiccup. There will always be something along the way that you didn’t expect or didn’t think of beforehand. So the best thing to do is to add an extra line item to your budget for the UNKNOWN. It used to be that we added 10% but 20% is more realistic. I know this isn’t what you want to hear but I have seen it happen time after time & if you’re not prepared it’s a slap in the face.

What are these unknowns lurking around the corner?

Well, sometimes they’re fun things like when my husband & I decided to add a hand-drawn Dumbwaiter to our 1893 Farmhouse. I remember when I called our architect & asked him to work it in he thought it was a passing fancy & he said there wasn’t really a good spot for it since it had to accommodate a 3- story shaft to make it work. Guess what, I got my way & figured out a good spot for it on my own.

But as you can imagine, I not only had the cost of the Dumbwaiter itself but the plans had to be modified & there was the labor cost of creating & installing the shaft & carrier. So this was a fun addition to our home that I am glad we had room in the budget to add.

We also decided to change the depth of our side porch from 5 feet deep to 8 feet deep. It’s like an extra room in the summer.

However, there are extra costs that can arise like discovering black mold or lead paint that need to be abated. If you haven’t already, be sure to read my earlier blogpost What to Know Before Starting a Home Renovation where I cover more on this topic.

If you don’t have to spend on extras it’s a feather in your cap & money in your bank. The important thing is to plan for it ahead of time regardless.

Be prepared for the unknown

5. Plan for the furnishings & decorations

You might not be thinking about the items that finish the space. I know it might feel like you’re jumping the gun. You have time to select these items later. Of course, you do, some of these items can wait but wouldn’t it be better if you planned for them ahead of time at least designating a portion of the budget to reserve for the furnishings & embellishments.

what fun is extra space without the dollars to decorate it?

A few years back I worked on an 18,000 square foot home from the ground up. I was hired to select everything. From the exterior stone down to the knobs on the cabinets & everything in between. It was like painting a masterpiece. Fortunately, they had established a budget beforehand and had a designated amount to spend on furnishings, area rugs, window treatments, and embellishments. She protected this with her life because every once in a while He wanted to borrow from it to spend on the construction. Well fortunately She got her way.

This massive home turned out beautifully & you can see it on my website in my portfolio. In the end, it was the furnishings & decorations that really pulled the look together.

Now that you know what you need to do for budgeting for your home renovation costs make your plan to get started. Do your searching, hone in on the amenities you know you want, build & budget from there. Budgeting ahead will put you in control of your project and will relieve a good portion of the stress that will come with taking on a renovation.

Renovating your home is a wonderful & exciting venture when you do it right.

I promise you that taking all the right steps will lead you to a successfully finished space that is within your budget. This will significantly help the renovation process go MUCH smoother.

Have fun & enjoy the process. The dream of renovating your home is an exciting & rewarding venture when you are in control of budgeting your home renovation costs.

Enjoy!

I Look Forward To Your Questions & Comments Below & Hope You “Like” This Blogpost.

If you need more direction on getting started consider my Local or Online Design Services! I’m here to guide you! My Finish Selection package might be a perfect place to start.