4 Renovation Mistakes to Avoid Before Starting Your Project
sharpening my communication skills 😂
Renovation mistakes can cost thousands to put right, but some of the most expensive problems happen before building work has even started.
4 of the biggest renovation mistakes to avoid are:
Hiring the wrong builders or contractors 😬
Making poor layout decisions 😭
Underestimating your renovation costs 😳
Leaving interior design decisions too late 🤯
We’ve made some of these mistakes on our own renovations when we first started out, and have now helped more than 1,500 renovators plan their projects successfully. And it’s these four areas I'd pay particularly close attention to before you start work.
1. Hiring the wrong builders or contractors
Choosing the wrong contractor can lead to poor workmanship, unexpected costs, delays and disputes. And unfortunately, a professional looking quote or a convincing first meeting doesn't necessarily tell you whether someone is right for your project.
How can you avoid hiring a bad builder?
Before appointing a builder or trade:
Get a detailed quote in writing rather than relying on a verbal estimate
Ask how long they've been doing the specific type of work you need
Ask who will actually be working on site, how many people, what their experience is.
Speak to previous clients and look at examples of completed work
Make sure your own plans and scope of work are sufficiently detailed before requesting quotes
If they're charging VAT, check that the business is actually VAT registered
One of our students was initially given a verbal plumbing quote of £20,000. When she repeatedly asked for it in writing, the eventual written quote came back at around three times the original figure. Crazy!
That is exactly why you want important details documented before work begins 👍🏻
scaled drawings are still one of the most powerful forms of communicating your reno vision
2. Making expensive layout mistakes
Changing a room layout on paper costs very little. But changing it after plumbing and electrics have been installed can cost thousands.
A poor layout can also leave you with a home that feels awkward to live in long after the renovation is finished, and can become a nightmare to resell.
Before finalising your renovation layout, consider how you will actually use each room, circulation through the house, furniture placement, storage, natural light and the relationship between adjoining spaces.
Don't rush into architectural or construction drawings simply because you're eager to get the project moving. Give yourself time to test different layouts first.
There’s sooo much more advice I can give you on this, but yep. If you can avoid layout mistakes, you’ll prevent big headaches later.
Dropped in on our student’s project to support them
3. Underestimating how much your renovation will cost
Running out of money midway through a renovation is one of the most serious problems you can encounter. All renovators (even the most experienced) are terrified of this.
Renovation budgets can disappear surprisingly quickly once you're paying for structural work, windows, doors, roofing, electrics, plumbing, finishes and dozens of smaller items simultaneously.
We learned this ourselves during our first major renovation and it’s why we now control budgets so tightly.
We initially paid an architect thousands of pounds to design an extension. But once we started getting construction quotes, we discovered the scheme was far more ambitious than our available budget. We eventually abandoned the extension and the drawings we'd already paid for.
Should you speak to an architect before setting your renovation budget?
Ideally, you should establish whether the project you're considering is realistically affordable before committing substantial sums to detailed architectural work. We show all of our renovation course students how to confidently run feasibility checks on their properties before hiring professionals so that money isn’t wasted.
Recent costs from comparable local projects can provide a useful early benchmark and lots of our students compare costs with each other in the private Reno Club community they gain access to. Experienced contractors can also help you understand current construction costs, while a quantity surveyor can provide more detailed cost advice for larger or more complex projects.
You should also include an appropriate contingency rather than budgeting right up to the maximum amount you have available.
i knew that window design long before it ever existed! 😅
4. Leaving interior design decisions until building work starts
One of the easiest renovation mistakes to underestimate is simply making decisions too late.
Once work begins, your contractors may need answers surprisingly quickly:
Which flooring are you using?
Where are your lights going?
What type of heating do you want?
Which sanitaryware have you chosen?
What skirting and architraves are you using?
Which finishes and colours are going where?
If those decisions haven't already been made, you can end up choosing products under pressure. It’s why we show students our Holistic Renovation Planning method. They’re building their full vision to ensure the runnings of their renovation is completed with accuracy and far less stressful.
Lead times create another problem entirely! The flooring or tiles you eventually choose might have a six-week delivery time when your contractor needs them next Tuesday. And that’s why knowing what you want, long before you need the items, results in a better finish.
When should you make interior design decisions during a renovation?
Ideally, develop your overall interior design scheme before construction begins and make as many important product and specification decisions as reasonably possible in advance. Our online course students are following our holistic renovation planning method to ensure they’re gaining accurate quotes from the outset.
Preparing in advance gives you time to compare options, understand costs, check lead times and make sure individual decisions work together as part of one cohesive design.
What should you do before starting a renovation?
Before you begin building work, you need to get clear on three things: your layout, your budget and your design plans. You also need a detailed enough scope of work for contractors to understand exactly what they're pricing.
The problem is, when you're renovating for the first time, it's difficult to know what you should have decided, researched and budgeted for before work begins.
And once contractors are on site, those gaps in your planning can get super expensive. Unexpected costs crop up, decisions need to be made under pressure and work can end up being delayed or even redone because something wasn't considered early enough.
This is exactly why I created the free Survivor's Guide to Renovating to instil some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my 10+ years managing renovations for myself and clients.
It walks you through the key things to know before and during your renovation, so you understand what's ahead and how to avoid some of the costly mistakes first-timers make.
Download it for free here →(by the way, you’ll be accessing a lot more renovation advice than I share publicly!)
After reading this, I hope you feel more prepared for your project.
Interior Designer
If you’re not on my mailing list (link above) or subscribed to my youtube channel, you’re probably never going to see my content again. But I’d love to continue helping you at every stage of your renovation because it really helps to have an experienced mind giving you impartial support.
So start with the free guide and that way we can stay in touch. If you don’t like what I say, you can just unsubscribe :)
I can’t wait to help you more. Speak soon,
Fi xoxo
