Sooner or later, you’ll get tired of the look of your home or simply need to update. But, renovation can prove expensive… especially if you don’t manage the process with care. Here are a few tips for renovating on a budget.
1) Don’t Move Plumbing
Unless it’s absolutely unavoidable, leave your sink and toilet where they are during a renovation. Moving the plumbing is a time and work-intensive process. That adds up to a much bigger bill. Installing a new sink or toilet with existing plumbing is comparatively fast and simple.
2) Buy Used
Renovating doesn’t have to mean all new everything. With some careful shopping, you can often find highly serviceable building materials. They are often available on Craig’s list or at your local Habitat “ReStore”. You can often find lighting fixtures, small batches of tiles, countertops, windows, doors, pedestal sinks, appliances and furniture. These can change the look and feel of your home without driving costs through the roof. Also, remember that a fresh coat of paint can often turn a used item into a great feature (just ask Joanna Gaines of “Fixer Upper” fame) .
3) Pick Up Materials Yourself
While you might not want to haul around kitchen cabinets and appliances, you can often save on delivery costs by picking up materials yourself. If you don’t own a truck, you can often rent a trailer for far less than the costs of delivery. With a trailer, pick-up truck, or minivan, you can pick up:
• sheet wood
• boards
• bags of concrete
• nails and screws
• plasterboard
• plumbing supplies
Every single thing you pick up yourself is one less thing you pay someone to bring to your home. Many “big-box” stores even have a truck you can rent (usually for about $20/hr).
Rubbish Control
Renovating often generates a lot of waste, such as construction materials, white goods and even garden waste. Rather than hiring someone to take it all away after the fact, you can get a bin delivered ahead of time. This lets you control the cost of rubbish management and means you can dump your trash directly into the bin meaning less handling of the waste.
DIY Some Projects
Not every project lends itself to the DIY approach. You can easily burn through a lot of time, money or both with the wrong project. There are several projects that do lend themselves to DIY, such as:
• Sealing your windows
• Building a patio or deck
• Creating a home office
• Installing vinyl tiles
These days there are instructions on how to do almost every renovation project imaginable on Youtube so DIY projects are more accessible than ever.
Renovating on a budget is all about finding ways to curtail costs. That can mean not moving things like sinks or toilets. It can also mean taking on projects or materials pickup yourself. Vinyl tiles are easy to install and sealing windows is inexpensive. Don’t be afraid to look in secondhand shops for deals. You can find some real treasures in those stores. If all else fails, though, you can always scale down your plans.
You might also like:
- 4 DIY Ways to Increase Value of and Help Sell Your Home
- Think Ahead: 4 Steps You Can Take Now to Prevent Expensive Home Repairs Later
- Apps for Home Improvement
- 4 Updates for Your Home Worth Saving For
- How to Save Money on Utilities Comfortably
