How to Modify Your Home While Sticking to Your Budget

Modifying your home can be a costly and time-consuming affair, depending on precisely what work you’re having done.

For example, a single story extension costs between £40,000 and £67,000, while taking up to three months to complete. Conversely, plastering a single room can cost around £390 and be completed within a single day.

But if you’re thinking about renovating your home, what steps can you take to do so while also adhering to your financial budget?

Getting Started with the Basic Rules

Before we delve into the details, there are some golden budgeting rules that can stand you in good stead.

Firstly, you’ll need to ensure that you create a realistic and well thought out budget, and one that has been accurately priced and made allowances for all potential costs.

These include material and labour costs (where necessary), alongside the cost of planning and waste disposal measures such as the hiring of skips.

While your budget must be realistic, however, it’s also important that you never spend more than you have. After all, this can create a debilitating cycle of debt, while you won’t bank a return if you don’t intend to ultimately resell the property.

Sure, it may be worth taking on some form of secured or unsecured lending to help boost your funds, but this must be well-planned and easy to repay within the agreed time-frame.

What are the Best DIY Tips for Saving Money?

When it comes to managing the project, the best opportunities to save lie with the biggest and most strategic costs.

Take materials, for example, as it’s easy to overspend on new flooring or shelving or potentially order too much and create a large amount of waste.

So, in addition to ensuring that you order roughly the amount that you need, we’d also recommend checking out local suppliers to see if they’re running any promotions or are willing to provide a discount.

It’s also important not to rush and allow time for individual tasks to be completed, otherwise you’ll either end up cutting corners or not having the time to shop around for the best prices (this rule applies to labour too).

When Do You Need Skilled Labour?

Another way of saving money is to complete some tasks yourself, particularly those that are unskilled and rely more on hard work and effort than any kind or knowledge or acquired skill.

To achieve this, break down your project into individual tasks and categorise these, either as skilled or unskilled. You can then get onto the latter yourself, while engaging the services of qualified tradespeople to undertake the former.

For example, you can repaint or wallpaper rooms yourself, while delegating the installation and maintenance of boilers to an accredited gas expert.

Once again, planning is key here, so take the time to organise your tasks and move through them strategically in the most cost-effective way.

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