How To Streamline Your Next Home Project With Ease

Whether you want to fix up your home because you want more space or you want to increase your home’s value before putting it on the market, starting a home project can be daunting. If you’ve ever attempted to fix up your home before, you know it comes with a lot of stress and chaos. However, that doesn’t mean you should continue to put off your home projects. Here’s how you can avoid stress and streamline your next home project with ease. 

Make a Plan

Before you start your home project, have a detailed plan in place to help you navigate through the process. You don’t need to have blueprints with you while doing this; instead, just list the basic details for your project and predict any potential problems. Ideally, you’ll have some ideas before you start meeting with contractors, including:

Projected Budget: Your budget will tell you how much you can spend on the total project. Make sure you share your budget with the contractors you work with so they won’t go over it. Of course, we all know budgets are made to be broken, so it’s important to give yourself a little wiggle room. Instead of listing the maximum amount, you’re willing to pay, reduce it by a few hundred dollars so you can prevent going way over budget. 

Goal: Consider the purpose of your project. If you want to add square footage to your home or redesign your bathroom, it’s important to clarify your overall goal. Instead of beginning with a rough idea, make yourself a mood board so you can visualize what everything will look like in the end. 

Timeline: All home project timelines will be different. Whether you’re redoing the laundry room or you need a full kitchen renovation, you can’t expect things to happen completely on your schedule. However, you can predict a timeline and try to meet the deadline.

You should also plan for other things, such as hiring movers who can help you put your stuff in storage during the renovation. 

Hire Your Contractor

Working with contractors is a lot like recruiting employees. After you find the right person or company for the job, you’ll need to onboard contractors by giving them all of the necessary information about the project, including the goal, budget, and timeline. If this is a major home project you’re taking on, such as remodeling the kitchen, then make sure you try not to DIY too many aspects of the project, especially if you’re not experienced. 

Instead, find a contractor who can guide you through the process so you can make the right decisions. Contractors can help you plan and manage the project from start to finish while keeping you on budget. 

Hiring the right contractor is key. While you can search for a contractor online, you should always vet them and call their references so you can ensure they’re trustworthy. We’ve all heard contractor horror stories about contractors who started jobs and didn’t finish them until months later. Make sure you talk to your contractor to ensure he won’t leave the job site to go to a higher-paying job. If he has a schedule to keep, make sure he won’t put your project on hold. After all, you want to have a home that’s livable within just a few months. 

Focus on the Long-term

Even if you have a huge budget, you may find yourself worried about pinching pennies and saving on everything. Instead of searching for any shortcut you can find, consider the big picture. While you should always be conscious of how much things cost so you can control your spending, you also have to enjoy your home project after it’s finished. For example, if you decide to save money on the kitchen countertop, ask yourself if you’re still going to like the cheaper counter in 10 years or if you’ll regret not spending a few extra hundred dollars. 

Get Help

There are many more people you can work with other than contractors. If you’re working on a huge home project, like a home renovation, then you might want to call in a designer as well. Someone who can help you pick out tiles and find the right countertops will ensure that you love your project and think all of the hard work was necessary. 

Be Flexible

While streamlining your home project is all about making it go as seamless as possible, things are going to happen that can be stressful. Your contractor can get sick, they could find problems with your plumbing, and a whole other mess of things could go wrong in the middle of your project.

Plan for problems and be flexible. While you may have wanted your kitchen done by a certain date, understand that things come up, and that won’t always happen. Your timeline should be used to help you organize people and tasks, not be the date when you decide the project needs to be finished. 

Your budget should also be flexible, allowing you to spend more money on more expensive items. Many people go over budget when working on home projects and others finish the project under budget. Ultimately, remain flexible, but try not to get caught up in the excitement. For example, if you had planned on a certain countertop but find one you like more even though it’s thousands of dollars more expensive, try to remember why you liked the original countertop in the first place. 

Keep What You Can

If you’re renovating a room or adding new decorations, try to keep what you can. For example, when renovating the kitchen, try to keep all of the appliances that work in the kitchen. Remember, you can always buy new appliances after the project is done if you don’t like the way the old ones look. By keeping what you can, you can save more money and put it towards something your new kitchen needs. 

Home projects can be stressful, but you can make it easy with the right planning and help from professionals. 

About The Author: Marné Amoguis holds a B.A. in International Business from UC San Diego. She is a contributing writer at 365businesstips.com where she loves sharing her passion for digital marketing. Outside of writing, she loves traveling, playing music, and hiking.

Photo by Greyson Joralemon on Unsplash