At some point in your life, you will need to renovate your house. The reasons may vary. It can be due to the design that has become outdated. Or, you may need extra living space at your home, and you want to build a room addition there. Whatever your reasons are, you are going to involve a second party for those needs, the renovation contractor.
Your Experience in Monitoring Renovation
Monitoring a renovation in progress requires experience. You are going to waste your time if you do not know whether the builders do their jobs properly or not. It is not uncommon for contractors to commit frauds and make markups on the expenses without the knowledge of the house owners.
First, you need to specify which parts of your home that need renovation. After that, begin your research online. Watch DIY channels on YouTube and see how the steps to the installations are done. Even if it doesn’t give you real experience, you can still get the basics.
Second, read a lot about the materials’ quality and price. You can even try to contact home depots near you and consult them directly. Document your findings so that you can compare them with the ones provided by your contractor.
The Contractor’s Reputation
These days, you can measure a business’s integrity by checking their portfolios online. Referrals and testimonies are supposed to be accessible to you. Once you pick several renovation contractors, inquire further by asking them about references.
Moreover, you should also check the company’s rating on Google, Yelp, or any other local platforms that contain reviews on services. However, be aware of the authenticity of the bad ones since they are possibly made by competitors who just want to ruin the reputation of the contractor you are about to hire. Crosscheck everything before you make a decision.
Prepare Reserve Budgets
Renovating with a tight budget is a bad idea because you may find damages or extras that you have not foreseen before. The rule of thumb here is to prepare at least 20% of your original budget as a reserve.
Furthermore, please scrutinize the warranty terms provided by your contractor as unexpected faults may happen. And you need to know exactly who is going to be responsible in that worst-case scenario. Reserve is not meant to cover up expenses that are not your faults.
