A Complete Guide For Your Upcoming Major Home Renovation Plans
Are you considering implementing major home renovation plans to your existing space and wondering where to start?
Typically, most homeowners dream of more space and updated kitchens and bathrooms. Your dreams can become a reality if you carefully plan ahead.
More so, if their needs change due to changes in their family, like the addition of children and aging parents needing a safe place to live.
Carefully Plan Your Major Renovation Plans
Regardless of the type of major renovation you need, you’ll need to plan ahead and carefully.
Additionally, whether it’s for your aging parents or someone with disabilities, major renovations are never easy and can be expensive as well.
Maybe, you need updates like stairlifts, safety bars, updated bathrooms, and wheelchair or walker accessibility that includes wider doorways.
The good news you can add any renovation to any existing home if you choose the right contractor and properly plan your renovations.
Therefore, to learn what to expect, check out our comprehensive guide to performing major renovation plans, upgrades, and additions to your existing family home.
Determine What Type Of Home Renovation You Need
The first step for any major home renovation is determining exactly what you need.
In addition, you can renovate your home in any manner or style. This includes building up and out, refinishing basements and attics and updating every interior space, including removing and adding walls.
Some common renovations and additions include adding bedrooms, theatre rooms, family rooms, and home office.
Furthermore, you can also renovate and expand kitchens and bathrooms and add entire second floors to single-story homes.
Your home renovations don’t need limitations and are free to the boundless vision of your imagination and budget.
Besides, it’s important to place your home renovation ideas into two categories, including must-have projects and what’s on your wish list.
For example, if you have three bedrooms for five people, you’ll absolutely want to add more bedrooms.
Or, if you have an aging parent moving into your home, you’ll want to add a first-floor in-law suite that contains a bedroom, full bathroom, and small kitchen area.
Moreover, if you are getting on in years, you’ll want your renovations to include mobility and safety features, like safety bars, non-slip bathroom and kitchen flooring and perhaps even a stairlift.
Sure, it would be nice to add a sunroof or a greenhouse and extra family living space, like a great room or rear family room. But, do you really need it?
By prioritizing your major home renovation, you’ll be able to get the renovations you absolutely need for your existing budget.
Determine How Much Your Major Home Renovation Will Cost
By doing some online searching, you’ll be able to get a rough estimate of how much you can expect to spend on each home renovation you plan to complete.
Large scale home renovations that involve multiple rooms and at least one addition typically cost $70,000 or more.
For example, a high-end bathroom remodels typically costs $20,000. A high-end kitchen can cost $25,000 or more, especially if you are also getting new luxury or commercial-grade appliances.
Additionally, a master bathroom remodels can cost as much as $50,000. That’s why it’s so important to get a good estimate beforehand.
When it comes to additions, the cost can vary. Gavin Smith from ibuiltmyhome explains that the cost of adding an extension on your home will be largely determined by where your home is located.
Typically, additions for coastal homes cost more than additions placed on homes in the Midwest or rural areas.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t estimate costs prior to contacting a builder. You can expect a sunroom addition to cost about $40,000.
Similarly, if you are bumping out your kitchen along the exterior wall, you can expect to pay about $100 to $200 a square foot.
And an in-law suite addition can cost as much as $125,000, which can cost the same as adding an entire second floor to your home.
Get Several Estimates from Home Renovation Companies in Your Area
Once you have a ballpark figure for your major home renovations, it’s time to start calling home remodeling companies in your local area.
In the first place, to find general contractors that specialize in major and luxury home renovations and additions, you can do an Internet search for sure.
More so, make sure you check with the Better Business Bureau and do a comprehensive check on them.
Also, make sure you ask friends, coworkers and family members who have had a major home renovation done on their homes how well they liked their contractor.
From the list to research or collect, you’ll want to check out every builder’s website to ensure they perform the types of renovations, upgrades, and additions you want.
Then, you’ll need to call the contractors. The first phone call is the most important because it will allow you to answer certain questions, including:
More importantly, make sure to ask the following question.
- Is the contractor qualified to work on my home?
- Was their phone demeanor professional?
- Did they sound knowledge?
- Are they licensed, bonded and insured to perform the type of work I need?
- Did they willingly provide references of past work?
From your phone calls, you should be able to narrow your list of choices to between three and five.
In addition, these are the companies that you need to call back and schedule an in-home estimate for your renovations.
It’s important to understand that these companies may try high-pressure sales tactics in order to get you to agree to let them perform your home renovations without doing any further research.
Pro Tip! Don’t rush into any decision but rather, give yourself a few days to decide.
Resist the urge to sign on the dotted line. Don’t make rash decisions and always double-check your references.
Instead, listen to what they have to say and get your total home renovation estimate in writing from each company.
At that time, once you have all your estimates, you’ll need to compare them with the information you got from each contractor on the phone and from estimate to estimate.
While an extremely inexpensive contractor may be tempting, it’s best to eliminate the lowest estimate.
This contractor may try to cut corners on your renovation, or they may try to tack on extra fees during the renovation process that would cause you to go over your intended budget.
Next, look at your highest-priced contractor. This one may be trying to overcharge you, so you’ll need to look at everything that’s included in the estimate.
If they listed more detail than the other contractors, it may not be an overcharge. They may simply be listing every charge so that you have the most accurate estimate possible, which reduces the chances of huge increases in the cost of your renovation.
Lastly, compare your mid-range contractors against each other. Are their quotes less or more detailed than your highest priced contractor and how did you feel about their knowledge and professionalism?
Your answers to these questions will determine whether you choose the most expensive contractor or one of the mid-priced contractors.
After all, this is a company that will be coming into your private spaces.
Make Sure To Secure Your Financing
Once you’ve chosen a contractor and have a detailed estimate, it’s time to secure your financing.
However, homeowners have a variety of options when it comes to financing home renovations.
You can go to your bank and request a home renovation loan for your estimate. This is where you should make sure you have your estimated numbers well researched.
More so, you can dip into your retirement savings in order to pay for all or part of your renovations. This is an allowed method of using your retirement savings before you reach retirement age without garnering any penalties for early withdrawal.
As a result, you can get a home equity line of credit, and you can opt to finance your home renovations with the contractor.
You can also use a combination of these methods, like withdrawing the down payment or security fee from your retirement account and financing the rest of the renovations with a home improvement loan.
Decide Whether You’re Building Up Or Out
Once you’ve hired a contractor, their design/build team will start to work with you on the specifics of your major home renovation plans.
This includes whether to build up or out or both and what finishes best meet your needs and your budget.
Let’s say, if you need a master bedroom suite, you can opt to build a partial second floor or you can add it onto the back of your home.
If you need an in-law suite and a master bedroom suite, you can add extensions on both rear edges of your home to create a symmetrical look for the exterior with a courtyard in the middle.
Rather, if you require a larger kitchen, you can opt to do a three or five-foot bump-out, or you can build a new kitchen, onto the back of your home and renovate the existing kitchen space into a new dining room.
Pro Tip! Try to save money where you can but don’t buy your own materials. The builder might mark up the cost of materials and pass that added cost on to you.
Your current dining room can easily transform into another bedroom, a family gathering area or even a home office. You can also take this time to determine if your preferred finishes are within your budget or if you need to downgrade slightly.
For example, if you foresaw hardwood flooring throughout your entire home, you may find that it’s not affordable after all your other renovations, upgrades and additions.
As a compromise, you may decide to go with luxury laminate flooring or luxury vinyl flooring for all the rooms in your home. If you further need to decrease your flooring costs, many homeowners choose carpet for the bedrooms, even if there’s no carpet anywhere else in the home.
Ideally, another place to save money is kitchen appliances. You may have dreamed of having commercial-grade appliances.
Maybe, the step down from commercial-grade may meet your needs and shave thousands off your home renovation budget. Then, you could use the savings to install energy-efficient features, like new triple-pane windows and exterior doors.
Schedule Your Home Renovations
Once you’ve finalized your plans, it’s time to schedule your home renovations with your chosen contractor.
Above all, when your renovations begin will depend on your contractor’s schedule, the season and your personal schedule.
If you live in a four-season area, you may want to start your renovations at the end of spring, in the summer or at the beginning of the fall season.
Additionally, you probably don’t want to start your renovations during winter, especially if your area tends to get a lot of snow or ice.
If you live in an area that is nice year-round, you can schedule your renovations any time you like.
More importantly, remember to give yourself enough time to properly prepare your home.
Remove Your Personal Belongings
Prior to the scheduled start date of your renovations, you’ll want to partially and/or completely move out of your home.
At a bare minimum, you will have to remove all the items from the rooms for renovation as well as any adjacent rooms.
Besides, if you are putting a second story on your home or renovating every room, you’ll want to completely move out of your home and store your belongings in a large storage unit so that they are safe and secure.
You Might Need To Temporarily Move Out of Your Home
Most contractors don’t recommend trying to live in your home while under renovation.
Mainly, you will want to move out because you can imagine how messy and noisy living under those conditions are. Also, living there can cause unneeded stress and anxiety as well.
Not to mention, it’s difficult to live in a space that periodically doesn’t have water or electricity, which will need to be partially or completely turned off in order to complete some renovations.
Instead of trying to save money by living in a construction zone, consider temporarily moving out.
Move-out options can include moving into a hotel, moving in with relatives or moving into an apartment with the option for a month-to-month lease.
If you choose the latter option, you’ll want to start applying to nearby apartment complexes as soon as you schedule your home renovations.
Typically, this is because some complexes can have waiting lists that are months long, especially if you live in a popular or growing area.
Enjoy Your Newly Renovated Home
Finally, once your renovations are complete, your contractor will take you on a tour of your newly renovated home.
Mostly, to ensure your major home renovation meets your expectations and provide you with a walk-through of the new features.
Most renovations and additions come with a warranty for a certain amount of time after the renovations are complete.
This means that if you find flaws or need corrections, your company will come back and perform them. Once everything is to your satisfaction, it’s time to move back into your home and enjoy it.
Moreover, by utilizing these tips, you can plan, prepare and know what to expect when performing major renovations to your home, including whole-house renovations.
In conclusion, these tips may even help you take steps to stay within your home renovation budget and timeframe.
Be sure to read How To Effectively Organize Your Home For The New Year too!
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