I think it goes without saying that when you make the decision to remodel your home, you also want to get the best value for your money. Why should your hard earned cash go into someone else pocket when it can stay in yours?
The national average for construction is around $95 per square foot. If you’re planning on living in your home for the rest of your life, then why not pay for the best and enjoy it while you can? If you suspect you may want to sell your home in 3-5 years, then I’m going to give you some tips that will help you keep your costs to a minimum.
Don’t get pressured into upgrading. Often the material or product you were planning to purchase works just fine for your project. While the upgrade may look a bit nicer, you have to weigh the cost and determine if it is really worth it. Don’t make emotional purchases.
Find additional ways to save. You can get sinks, toilets, cabinets, flooring, lumber, tiles and even granite for much less if you know how and where to shop. Go to discount shops, flooring liquidators and discount lumber yards. My favorite place to get granite slabs is from our local granite “seconds” store. Usually when someone buys granite they purchase the entire slab, but sometimes only about half of the slab gets used. A seconds store will give me the granite for free as long as I pay them to install it. That’s quite a deal in my book.
Making changes to your project once you’ve already begun can cost you plenty. Stay on track and don’t let other people talk you into doing something different than your original plan. While it’s a good think to plan for the future, don’t get caught up in the “I might need that someday” trap. Add it when you need it because the majority of us tend to change our minds down the road anyway. Why spend money now for something you may never end up using?
Pinch every penny. I’ve heard people who are remodeling their home say, “I’m spending $50,000 on my home anyway, what’s another thousand?” I prefer to play the game, “how can I do more, for less money?” I almost always come in way under budget when I think like that.
There are so many things that will eat up your money during a remodel. Don’t build anything you don’t really need unless you plan to sell in the next couple of years and you’ll be able to get a good return on money spent. Also only purchase tools that you need. There are so many cool tools out there that it’s often difficult to resist but extra tools will whittle away your money just as extra material or labor costs will.
Sometimes it makes sense to hire a general contractor or a sub to do a project for you instead of doing it yourself. You have to figure out how much your time is worth per hour, then decide if paying someone slightly more per hour than you are worth and who can finish the job in half the time is a money saver for you ( I know it is for me!) Take advantage of cheap and free labor when you can. Get family, buddies, students from the local college, and neighbors to help you when you can (I spent six hours helping my neighbor tear off his roof shingles for free. I was in a destructive mood so it helped us both out.). You’ll save a ton on your project if you take advantage of offers of people who are willing to help for little or nothing in return.
When you can, and it makes sense to do so, then do it yourself. A friend of mine was selling his house and he took a day and a half to add Pergo to the main living areas in his home. Because it got it from a flooring liquidator, he got it for $1,500 and sold his house for $8,000 more than it was appraising for before the Pergo was added. He told me it was the quickest $6,500 he ever made!
Remodeling is a lot of work, but when it is all completed and you are enjoying the fruits of your labors, the blood, sweat and tears that went into it will all be worth it. Especially now that you can brag to your friends and family about how much money you saved.
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More About Monte Bateman: Monte Bateman writes articles for House Remodeling.org |
