The costly curveball that could threaten your dream home design... 😱

Even after years as an interior designer, when I thought I’d witnessed most eventualities...

It’s this mistake that still leaves me gobsmacked and heartbroken for renovators.

• It piles on the stress during an already grey-hair-inducing project.

• It heavily compromises the vision you had for your dream home.

• It leads to a lacklustre finish that looks rushed and rough around the edges…

What was supposed to become a warm, cohesive home that levels up your life, ends up feeling cold, unfinished, and uninviting 😫

Hardly the result you want when you’re spending thousands on improving your home.

The mistake renovators make with their renovation costs👇🏻

OK, let me explain.

The smarter renovators I work with are budgeting for fixtures, fittings & furniture to a high degree of detail from the very beginning, separate to their structural & labour budgeting.

If you’re doing this already, great 👍🏻

I’ve shared lots of newsletters in the past explaining why this is a crucial step. You detail and portion off enough budget for the improvements that make your house feel like a home. That’s the fixtures, fittings & equipment (FF&E). To ensure your budget is realistic and covers your renovation end to end.

But here’s the thing…

What happens when your contractors’ quotes come back over what you expected?

Or when work gets underway and nasty, costly unforeseen problems present themselves?

You end up faced with climbing costs you didn’t anticipate, that even your contingency can’t pay for 😫

So for a lot of renovators, this means dipping into their fixtures, fittings & furniture reserves to get the structural work completed.

Seems sensible. What other choice do you have, right? 🤷🏻‍♀️

But when this happens, renovators can run into trouble.

To finish the renovation without going enormously over budget, or getting into debt, you have to rapidly make compromises with your design which leaves your vision on shaky ground. This can compromise everything you started the renovation for.

For example, you end up needing to let go of that en suite or utility room because it’s no longer affordable to you. You can no longer afford to fit out the bathroom(s). Or you have to settle for poor-quality fittings because anything is better than nothing.

It can ruin the quality & vision you dreamed about and worked hard for.

You feel defeated & heartbroken 😭

I felt enormously deflated when this happened on a client project last year.

I worked so hard to build an affordable design they adored, in line with their budgets, then work got underway and suddenly my client had to make big changes because the contractors had discovered something unwieldy with the roof, basically absorbing our whole design budget just to get it fixed💰😫

I felt so sad for the client as it was completely unanticipated and they could no longer afford the bells and whistles they originally started the renovation for.

But the hard truth is, that making sacrifices & compromises is common.

Thankfully, I found a solution…

How to get your dream home, despite funds dwindling

I know what you may be thinking…

“If this happens on a lot of renovation projects, how come there are so many renovators on Instagram completing their properties to a dreamy standard? How are they doing it?”

They’re dreamy projects, aren’t they? They’re doing as my clients and students do: forecasting costs in detail, being sensible with their project scope, and adding a healthy contingency. Some of the lucky ones won’t have been thrown unforeseen problems which can completely ruin budgets.

Regardless though, if your project reveals unexpected costs, you need to swoop into action fast so that your FF&E doesn’t end up looking low-quality and compromised.

The answer is my Vision First Method.

Since it’s unbelievably important to me that my clients adore their new homes, I had to do something to prevent rising costs from threatening their results.

If this were to happen again for future clients;

• I needed a way to focus their remaining budget on intelligent spending choices.

• I needed a solution that balanced quality & completion, even if budgets were posing limitations.

• The solution had to help my clients control their renovation costs from start to finish.

• …and the results had to give them a home design that looked like no compromises were made. The dream home they deserve.

So Neil and I got to work 👩🏻‍💻🧑🏻‍💻

I explained everything the method needed to achieve.

We scratched our heads for a long time – then we cracked it! A simple, fast & easy method that saves your renovation from being finished poorly when you’re up against tight budgets.

The Vision-First Method (& Calculator) was born.

We started implementing the method in client projects, stress-testing it and… it’s getting clients incredible results.

The Vision-First Method can be applied to any renovation or home-decoration project, of any size and any budget.

It reduces the stress for clients when their money is rapidly decreasing because of rising construction costs.

It improves the quality of their finish despite having budget limitations, and…

It’s creating their dream home with far fewer compromises so that their initial vision is delivered.

Rather than running out of money, and being left with a space that feels unfinished, cold, and uninviting, their homes feel warm and finished to a quality standard, within budget. Their costs and design have been controlled from start to finish.

Neil and I are now preparing to roll out the Vision-First Method to our online course students. Coming soon:

• A full explainer video to show students how they should apply the Vision-First Method in their projects

• A Vision-First Method calculator to accompany the method

• A complete client example, showing how the Vision-First Method has been applied (including itemised renovation costings for the entire client project).

I know exactly how you’re feeling; you’ve got a million different decisions to make, you don’t know where to start and now you’re hearing me tell you about advanced design budget techniques. But there’s no need to feel overwhelmed.

Our online courses & community have helped thousands of renovators feel more prepared for and in control of their projects.

If you’re a student, look out for the release of this new tool in February and jump on it.

If you’re not a student and you’d like early access to the Vision-First Method & Calculator plus access to our renovation guidance, tools, resources & community support, join our upcoming enrolment.

“How can I plan for big budget curveballs?”

Renovations often throw curveballs, and a careful balance between cost, quality, and design is a must. For experienced renovators, it gets easy to foresee and plan challenges. For new renovators, it’s hard.

Completing projects to a high standard with the money available can be made a whole lot easier when you apply tried & tested methods.

This is what Neil and I continue to develop for our clients & students. We’re passionate about helping you achieve your dream home easily, despite any odds you face and we work hard to give our people the tools and advice to get you there. You can do it!

Here’s the link again if you’d like to get early access to the Vision-First Method when it’s released to our students. Come and join us to give your renovation the best chance of success.

Best of luck with your renovation project, we’re rooting for you!

Fi