The Realistic Costs of Renovating Your Home
Renovating a home is a new experience for most, so many individuals don't know what to expect or how much things should cost.
A lot of people like to watch HGTV, but unfortunately they have done the home renovation industry a huge disservice in that many individuals now have unrealistic expectations of what a renovation actually costs and how long it takes. Most people go into a renovation project with their budgetary expectations too low.
The first step many will take is talking to a general contractor (GC) while in the initial planning phase. Unfortunately this isn't always the best solution either as most GC's will not take any design elements into consideration.
One of the most heartbreaking scenarios we see all too often is when a GC gives someone a number for their renovation, based on "past projects", and by the time the client has selected all of their finishes and fixtures the cost estimate has now doubled.
This is also assuming that the GC has updated the estimate for the homeowner. There are many situations where the GC will simply do all the work, never updating the investment amount for the client, and will simply bill them a much higher amount once the work has all been completed.
This situation could have been avoided if the GC took the design elements and quality of finishes and fixtures into consideration while estimating the job. Unfortunately, all too often, they will quote based on the cheapest materials and homeowners are unpleasantly surprised when the bill comes due.
When designing for a client, we focus on three levels of finishes: good, better, and best. We do not use cheap or bargain products in our projects, so good, even though it's entry level, does not equate to cheap. We design and build spaces to last for our busy families.
Here's a quick description of each category:
Good is our entry level finishes. In this category you will typically see vinyl plank flooring, semi-custom cabinetry, moderately priced engineered stone countertops (such as quartz) and moderately priced tiles, such as a timeless subway tile.
Better is our mid level finishes. In this category you will typically see a moderately priced engineered or hardwood floor, semi-custom or custom cabinetry, a higher end engineered stone countertop or a lower end natural stone countertop (such as granite or quartzite), and more luxuriant tiles, such as mosaics or marble.
Best is our highest level finishes. In this category you will typically see a higher end engineered or hardwood floor, custom cabinetry, higher end natural stone countertops (such as marble), and very luxuriant tiles or even solid stone slabs on the walls.
We understand that it may be difficult to know what category you want your project to fall into, especially as we can mix-and-match from each by incorporating some higher end finishes with a few moderately-priced features to help with costs.
We cannot stress enough how important it is to talk to a design professional about your specific project and the details involved when budgeting for your project. When we create our build proposal, which lays out the costs of renovating your space, we take every single design choice that's been made into consideration, allowing you to know exactly what your renovation will cost.
In our Investment Guide we lay out our good, better, best pricing for various types of renovation projects. Download your free copy today to learn more about the true costs of a renovation project.