Common Renovating & Building Mistakes

In progress home renovation

These sunny spring days rejuvenate the soul from our gorge winter grays. I’m working with many different types of projects currently and I thought I’d share come very common mistakes people make that end up costing them time, money, and frustration. Armed with some knowledge (hint hint – and a good designer), you can easily avoid them!

Underestimating Budget.

Making sure you have a clear budget of every aspect of the renovation is important. Plan for contingency costs. It’s amazing how many items come up and ‘surprise’ people while doing a home project. Just “another thousand bucks” isn’t necessarily a phrase you want to become familiar with.

“Lisa, we need to put in temporary power, it’s going to be about a thousand bucks.”

“Hey Jon, we need more gravel because it’s a mud pit over here, it’s going to be about a thousand bucks.”

“Nick, we just uncovered this electric that’s not up to code, we need to fix it. It’s going to be about a thousand bucks.”

Link those thousand bucks together and pretty soon you’ve got a giant unexpected pile of thousands!

Have you budgeted for items like an architect, paperwork, permits, etc. What exactly is included in your contractor’s contract? Many of these things are unexpected and catch people off guard.  They don’t know what they don’t know and end up surprised.

 Not Hiring a Designer from the Beginning

You are about to invest and ooze more money than you ever thought possible! You should love how it looks and functions at the end of the project. Too often do I get a call mid-project, where the homeowner has reached the point of frustration and needs help putting the train back on the tracks.

I do love to help solve these problems but am saddened by the missed items that could have been accounted for from the beginning, saving time, money, and frustration.

I came on board a project recently and asked why there were no can lights in the Great Room?

“Well we weren’t sure if we needed them here but now it really looks like we should have put them in.” This is so unfortunate. Now they must hire the electrician to come back and add new wiring and light boxes.

If they would have hired a design professional from the beginning, then it would have saved them money & time. Now they are delayed and will be spending extra money for a return visit by the electrician and the patching work.

Meeting with a DESIGNER and creating a clear plan before demo or breaking ground is critical.

If you wait until the builder “needs” a selection made, then look at options and make selections, you will end up stressed and you will needlessly slow your project.

This is the point some folks call and hope there is room in the schedule to help them. Sometimes people end up making a selection that they do not “LOVE” because there was no time to find the perfect ‘thing’. Rushing compromises your project.

This all can be avoided with creating a plan with someone who knows and anticipates your needs even before you are aware.

Catch my drift? These items can sometimes be overwhelming and “un-fun” to select and think about, but to create a space that you will love in the end, it’s critical you go through the steps.

Avoid these mistakes with your next renovation or new home build.

Call today if you’d like help creating a plan for your project.

Until next time, cheers from White Salmon!

Ashley Hinkle
360-909-9503

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