Home renovation can be an exciting personal project when you have a considerable budget for it. You can experiment with designs and choose materials without considering their cost. Also, your palms don’t become sweaty when surprise work starts popping up as you move ahead in the project.
In contrast, when renovating on a shoestring budget, you must stay on top of matters right from the start. Home renovations always cost you more than the initial estimates, no matter how comprehensive your calculations are. Working with a tight budget is one of the major reasons many people do not meet all of their home renovation goals.Here, I will share some tips to help homeowners meet their home remodeling goals without breaking the bank and getting the outcome you are hoping for.
Leverage Laminate Flooring
Renovating and remodeling floors can change a house’s look and feel considerably. In some cases, flooring renovation even improves the functionality of a given space. If flooring modifications and upgrades are a part of your renovation project, you should consider laminate flooring for the job. The top reason to pick laminate is its significantly lower cost than all the other flooring options. Hardwood flooring job can cost you anywhere between $12 and $20 for a square foot. Similarly, installing tiles can lie in the range of $5-13 per square foot. However, even the top of the line laminate flooring options (e.g., luxury vinyl tiles) won’t cost you more than $8 per square foot. Besides cost, laminate flooring also involves a host of other benefits. For instance, they are easy to install and maintain. You can install them on any type of subfloor, and they can withstand almost all types of uses and are a great option for any area of your home. Also, you can choose them in a range of designs and product offerings. You can renovate your bedrooms with stone/tile-design laminates. In the living room, you can use laminate with hardwood finish. Going with laminate instead of traditional flooring material can reduce your flooring cost by more than half.
Stress Over Function Rather than Space
Your house is built to certain square footage, and the only way to increase that is to add on to your home and that is not always an option given your lot size and other limitations. Often the only way to update the layout of your home is to take away space from other areas. When you increase the size of any section in the house, you steal the space from other portions. For instance, when you extend your kitchen, you trim down your dining/living room space at the same time. Besides, extending any space requires tearing down walls and partitions and building them again, making this type of renovation a giant sinkhole of expenses. On the other hand, you have the option to improve the function and efficiency of the existing layout without fiddling with space extensions and reductions. For instance, if you need more functional space in the kitchen, just remove the traditional space-hogging, single-story shelves with multiple cabinet-style pullout drawers. This modification will let you put three times more things in the same space. Similarly, cabinets utilizing the wall’s full size will ensure you don’t have to clutter up the room space with standalone storage furniture. Also, you can set up spaces to utilize multiple functions. A spare bedroom should not just be a spare bedroom. You can also renovate it to make it a study or even a small gym. Remember that improving a given space’s utility and function is less stressful and more budget-friendly than remodeling it for space extension.
Go for Rental Equipment and Tools
In the initial excitement of a DIY renovation project, many people blow a considerable amount of their budget on buying tools and equipment needed for the job. They buy construction and remodeling tools and equipment and rationalize the purchase as a lifetime investment. You need to understand that construction equipment is different from other appliances and not used on a daily basis. This limited use stretched over a long duration doesn’t justify spending a high upfront amount on them. Instead, it would be best if you rent them. Apart from what you already have in your hardware toolbox, you may need a power drill, impact driver, nail gun, oscillating tools, step ladder, and scaffolding for your home renovation job. Instead of spending huge sums on buying those articles for later “non-existing” use, look for options to borrow or rent them from your local hardware store. A top-quality impact driver can cost you around $130-$140. However, you can borrow the same model at $10-15 for 24 hours. Similarly, you can get all sorts of scaffoldings on rent at less than one-tenth of their prices. Besides saving you hundreds of dollars, using rental equipment and tools also has another benefit, i.e., you don’t have to worry about where to keep them.
Consider Second-Hand Fixtures
Many homeowners believe that second-hand fixtures can’t be used in renovation projects. One has to steer clear away from the misunderstanding that “second-hand=low-quality/rip-offs.” Suppose you are looking at the right place and assessing items for your remodeling/renovation requirements. In that case, you can find a host of valuable things from stores offering second-hand and salvaged fixtures. They can provide the same functional and aesthetic value as a brand-new fixture after a little do-up. From acrylic skylights to insulated windows and prehung doors, you can find various home renovation items and fixtures from second-hand or repurpose type stores.. For example, a 4×5-foot insulated window that you buy for $600 from a home center can cost you around $300 when you buy it second-hand. Thrift stores are one place where you can find various salvaged fixtures in pristine condition and at a reasonable price. Home renovation is undoubtedly a stressful job with lots of expenses involved. However, if you follow some of the tips laid out here you can renovate your home and come in on or under budget. Choose laminate over real wood for your floors, focus on functional expansion instead of space expansion, borrow tools instead of buying them, and leverage second-hand fixtures. By following these tips, you can keep your renovation job a cost-effective affair.
