5 Mistakes To Avoid When Renovating
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Renovations are huge investments and if you've never carried out one before, it can all feel overwhelming. Being time pressured and unsure of the process can lead many renovators to make mistakes, which can mean the renovation feels more stressful than it needs to and you don't ultimately end up with your dream home.
By learning from previous renovators mistakes, you can make sure your renovation goes as smoothly as possible. Here are some of the mistakes that we commonly see which are easy to avoid.
If you are thinking about a renovation project in the near future and need some help with where to start with your project, try our renovation advice session.
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1. Rushing The Process
Rushing through the renovation process can lead to so many issues, including not getting what you want out of your renovation and being disappointed with certain aspects of your new home.
To begin with, we recommend that you live in the property for a while before you start pulling together renovation plans with your architect.
Living in our home for a while will allow you to understand some basics such as which rooms are important to you or how the light flows throughout the day. It might be that you would really like an open plan space but do appreciate the separate lounge that you currently have, so you may decide to keep that.
You may find living without a utility room is a challenge and it's something that could make a huge difference to your day to day living. So extending a little bit more to incorporate a utility would be money well spent.
By living in your home for a while and not rushing the design process means you will be able to give the architect a good brief of what is important to you, making sure that you're not disappointed with the end result.
The same is true for choosing your products that you would like in your newly renovated home. Spend a lot of time looking at the big items such as kitchens, flooring, bathrooms and windows & doors. By doing this, you will settle on a style, colour, manufacturer that you like. Don't rush these decisions as you will ultimately end up spending a lot of money on something you don't love.
By spending plenty of time planning which products you like means you will also get an accurate view on the overall cost too. So maybe your budget won't stretch for your kitchen of dreams, but there will be an alternative and you have time to shop around for this. Make sure you spend the time up front, rather than rushing a decision when the builder needs the product ordered.
A design lead project by Bureau de Change Architects
2. Working With The Wrong People
Having the right team of people for your project will make the whole process far easier from start to finish.
Starting with choosing the right type of architect. Renovators often say that the architect gave them no design ideas, they just drew out the brief that the renovator gave them. This is probably because they didn't specifically ask the architect to lead on the design and they didn't choose a design lead architect.
Similarly, often renovators work with a design lead architect, when actually they only need someone to help with the measured drawings for the planning application and building control application, therefore spending too much on a skill they didn't need. So making sure you find the right architect professional is so important and dependent on your budget, scale of your project and what you need help with.
Once you have found the right architect, it's important that you choose the best builder for your project.
Start by tendering to around 3-5 builders and you will immediately get a feel for who you build up a good relationship with. You want to choose a builder who comes back timely with a quote and can work through issues with the build, someone who appears easy to communicate with.
Once you have selected your builder, you must speak to references and go and visit previous work, find out how they are to work with, how they cope with issues and how tidy they are on site. Make sure you do thorough due diligence on them including seeing certificates and insurance documents.
Lastly with the builder, make sure they have an abundance of experience on your type of project. It might be that they are amazing with internal renovations including new bathrooms and kitchens, but they haven't got lots of experience with extensions or loft conversions. If you are renovating a period property or a listed building, you need to make sure your builder has worked on similar projects too; they could be an amazing builder but just don't have the right type of experience.
3. Underestimating The Costs
Nearly every renovator underestimates the cost, particularly if they haven't been through a renovation before.
To start with, you need to get a high level cost to give you an idea of how much your renovation could cost you. Our extension cost calculator is a great place to start and will give you a feel for how much it is likely to cost and whether it's something you want to start now or put off for a little while.
There are five buckets of cost which you need to start breaking down early in the process. These are:
- Professional fees and application costs
- Labour and build
- Large investment products including the kitchen, windows, doors, flooring and bathroom
- Decor & finishing (these can add up!)
- Contingency
By estimating the details early in the process you will start to get a real feel for how much your project will cost. Our budget tool gives you a breakdown of these costs and you can update as you go.
Once you start working with your architect and tendering to the builders you will get an accurate view on the costs of your project. At this point, if the costs are coming in far higher than you had anticipated, look at what you can change in either the design or the choice of products.
4. Following Trends That Don't Work For Your Home
Of course get inspiration from Pinterest and Instagram, but make sure any choices you make in the design of your home work for you and your home.
It might be that you saw an amazing extension with a glazed ceiling, however your home might be south facing and could potentially overheat in the summer months.
You could have your heart set on a large island unit, but the dimensions of your kitchen extension means that a peninsula would work so much better.
The same goes for paint choices, flooring or the kitchen, make sure it's something that will stand the test of time. If you love a colour of kitchen that's on trend, choose something that can be repainted in years to come if you get bored of the colour.
Make sure your renovation project expresses your personality and style rather than someone else's.
Beautiful extension by CCASA Architects
5. Missing Important Paperwork and Rules
There are obvious rules that need to be considered which everyone is aware of - planning application and building control. But there are many others which could impact you which you should be aware of early in the planning process - your architect will be able to guide you based on your local area and property itself.
Common ones include the Party Wall Agreement (if you live in England & Wales), build over agreement and tree surveys. These may take time to get approved and have the relevant paperwork in place and can impact the work being started, so building in the time in your project up front will help.
Making sure that you file the relevant paperwork including building control certificates is also so important, particularly when you come to sell your property. This is your responsibility and not your builder or architects.
Published: January 4, 2023
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