If you are just joining us, please read the last few blog posts to get up to speed on our current topic.
So you have now found someone to create your plans. If you haven't done so already, it is time to get real about your budget. This is critical to the design process because you don't want to end up paying for plans which describe a project way beyond your budget.
You must decide what amount of money makes sense to invest in your home. Some projects will add more value to your home than others. For instance, updating you kitchen or bathroom will give you a better return on your investment as opposed to painting or re-carpeting. I will discuss this topic in greater detail in a future blog post.
In my experience, a large portion of prospective clients are surprised at the true costs of remodeling. Often their expectations of these costs are around half to two-thirds of the amount necessary to perform the work they wish to have done. This is why becoming educated about the process is so important.
You may have reservations about wanting to openly discuss your budget with your prospective remodeling contractor(s). However, having open and frank discussions about it can help to avoid sticker shock down the road. Rather than coming up with an exact amount, a better approach is to have a budget range. This is a low to high amount that you are comfortable with investing in your home. If a realistic budget range can be established early on, the design phase can be tailored to create a finished product that you will be happy with.
In my previous blog post (step #2), I recommended having an experienced design/build contractor create your plans. Again, the reason for this is because a contractor will have a better gauge for the budget range you are comfortable with. Designers and architects are not as familiar with actual labor and material costs. Therefore, it is very easy for plans to be over designed or include features that are far too expensive for your stated budget range.
A realistic budget range can be created by having frank discussions with all of the prospective contractors as they each visit with you about your desired project. Their experience on past projects similar to yours, can confirm whether you have a realistic budget range to work with.
Stay tuned for the next step in finding the right contractor for your project.
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