How To Plan for your Home Renovation

So, you want to plan a renovation? Buckle up.

Renovations are something that I am very familiar with. Partially due to the fact that I’ve been working in the interior design industry since 2014 and partially because I grew up in a house that was ALWAYS under renovation. Read more about my story here.

Living through a renovation sucks. There’s no other way to put it. Renovations are stressful, expensive, and can be a total nightmare. BUT…

It’s usually worth it. That is if you properly planned. At the end of a renovation, you should be in complete and utter awe of your newly updated space that is hopefully more functional and aesthetically pleasing than it was before.

Now, the process of planning a renovation is very very tedious. So tedious that many amateurs and professionals (cough), seem to try and skip the planning and designing stage altogether.

Let me tell you, there are some things in life you can wing. Like cooking. I don’t always follow a recipe. Usually, I make up a recipe on the fly, and it usually turns out pretty good. But winging a whole renovation? NOT a good idea.

Why you have to tediously plan your renovation

If you don’t plan your renovation, there are a few things that can happen, and I’ve made a list for you below. I’ve experienced and witnessed many poorly-or-not-at-all-planned-on-the-whim-renovations, so take it from me.

4 things will happen if you DON’T plan your renovation properly

1. The design of the space will not reach its full potential

When I walk into a space with a client, I immediately get a vision for the space, I might even get a few different visions. The next step is to filter through all my ideas with my client to see what makes my client the most excited. That is usually the winning concept.

However, it’s still important to sit with all the different design ideas and further explore the possibilities. There may be better ideas not thought of yet. That means many hours of brainstorming, sketching, creating floor plans, etc. The design process is extensive and for good reason. It’s extensive and tedious because the end goal of any renovation should be to maximize the space in the most functional manner possible AND have it look outstanding. You also want your space to work for you and your lifestyle, which may mean customization and going outside of the box.

If you don’t dive deep into the design of the space and explore all the options you might be filled with regret once the renovation completes. 

Here’s a scenario: On a whim, you remodel your kitchen and think to yourself…

“hmmmmm, if I had just thought of placing the sink on the other side of the kitchen instead of placing it smack-dab in the middle of my island, my island would be a much more functional workspace….the island would have been sooo great for buffets…you know, we always do buffets for family gatherings…”

“DARN!!!!!”

Welp, it’s too late. 

Now, you’re frustrated with your new space AFTER the renovation when you’ve realize that the design could have been better.

2. You will not have a clear budget and spend more than you’d like

Later in this article, I will cover how to determine how much a renovation will cost.

A crucial part of determining exactly how much you’re going to be spend is by planning. 

As a designer, the million-billion-30 thousand-dollar question is “how much is my renovation going to cost?” And the truth is, until I plan out every element…I don’t know.

Because of how tedious pricing out a renovation is, a lot of people don’t really bother. They won’t know how much their renovation costed them until its complete. I’m no financial planner but I don’t think this is a good idea. I’ve seen people go this route and freak out like “how did we end up spending THIS much?!?”.

When you’re buying material on the fly its easy for everything to add up without even realizing it. Then boom, you get hit with a huge Visa bill and have to eat top Ramen for 4 months. 

When you plan your renovation (tediously) you will have accounted for the cost of every little thing. The sink, hardware, door knobs, hand towels…the list goes on. So, you’ll have a figure of how much your renovation will actually cost before you start breaking down walls.

3. You will not have a clear picture for the outcome of the renovation

When you have no plan, you don’t have vision boards, 3D renderings or even a set colour palette for your space. So, how in the hell are you supposed to visualize the renovated space if you don’t have everything picked out!? With this approach, the outcome will probably be unsatisfactory. 

Going to Home Depot and picking out random tiles that are on-sale that week might seem like a good idea in terms of budget, but its really a gamble in terms of the design. And the design is the whole reason why you’re doing the darn renovation in the first place.

4. You will be stuck waiting for products and materials

So, you start your renovation on a whim and THEN you want to start shopping for material?!! Get used to these phrases…

“Out of stock”

“Back-ordered”

“Not enough quantity”

“Lead time is 4-6 weeks”

“Low stock”

This is truly the worst scenario any person living in a renovation wants to be in. If you don’t have the materials ready to go, don’t bother starting the renovation. Unless you’re okay with your contractor taking off to another project while you wait for the tile you wanted to be shipped from Turkey. 

Seriously, by planning well and early you can order the material well in advance to make sure all the goods are present for the contractor. This means no renovation delays!!

So, there are 4 good reasons NOT to start your renovation on a whim and plan out everything well in advance.

Check out this before and after of my clients kitchen reno!

So, now that you know why you need to plan your renovation…

Here are the 5 steps in planning your renovation

1. Find a designer you like (me) and call them over

Seriously, it’s worth it, Read Is Hiring An Interior Designer Really Worth It?

Well, that’s it! I’ll take care of the rest.

…

If you’re not planning on hiring a designer that’s OK too. Hopefully, you have really good taste.

2. Get together your renovation plans

Now, as mentioned, if you hired a designer your designer will work on this with you.

If you have chosen not to hire a designer, you need to find a way to communicate your ideas to a contractor. Sketch out what you have in mind, collect inspirational photos, pick out your materials and get a mood board together at the very least.

3. Call over contractors/trades

Once you have your rough plans together, it is now time to start requesting quotations from the trades that you will need. If you call over a contractor without having any sort of direction they won’t have concrete ideas to give you an accurate quote on. The more information you give them the more accurate and detailed their quote should and will be. There shouldn’t be any surprise costs (unless 100% unforeseeable). If your contractor assumes you want a cookie-cutter bathroom but later you pop up with the idea of incorporating tiled mosaic accent art…well, he’s going to freak out and charge you more.

4. Review the quotations from the trades

I always recommend that people get at least 3 solid quotes from any trade before proceeding with one. Of course, there are other factors other than price that will sway your decision on which trade to go with. And hopefully, you make the right choice because this is an IMPORTANT decision. If you hire the wrong trade, no matter how much planning you’ve done, things can go to sh*t.

5. Solidify your design, order materials, and now it’s GO-TIME!

Once your design is confirmed, materials can be ordered, and once you have the materials your contractor can start. By planning and purchasing before the actual labour starts you can ensure that your renovation process will go as smoothly and quickly as it possibly can. 

How to figure out how much your renovation will cost

As I mentioned above in my pointers on what NOT to do. If you don’t plan, you will never have a clear answer of how much your renovation will cost.

The truth of the matter is, budgeting for a renovation is a tedious and tricky process. The cost of labour, materials, and unexpected costs vary from project to project. This is where the professionals such as designers can come in and lend their expertise. To get down to the exact cost of your renovation you need to plan every detail of the design including the materials. Once all the detailed are ironed out, everything can be priced with accuracy. 

But what if you just want a ballpark estimate?

So, you’re not ready to commit to the cost and process of designing and pricing out your dream renovation project…

Ah yes, that’s a phrase I’ve heard a lot “but I’m not ready to commit!!!” Alright, Darius, coffee was nice.

But anyways, as a designer, I hear this question a lot, “What is your ballpark estimate?”.

“I want to do my whole house for $150K, is that doable?”

“Can I furnish this whole place for $15K?”

These are very tricky questions. But I have a way you can get a ballpark budget just to get your toes wet.

How to ballpark your renovation

Say you want to renovate your bathroom. Cool, you have a pretty standard bathroom and you’ll need…

• 60” double vanity 
• New toilet 
• New floor tile
• New shower fixtures 

…the list goes on 

Make the list of everything you predict that you’ll need, and then, here’s the fun part…go window shopping.

Go onto one website which will have all the material you’d need and put a product from each category in your cart. Just choose products that are mid-range in price, and don’t focus on the style too much, this is just to get a grasp of how much things cost.

So, for this hypothetical bathroom we are planning, I might suggest going onto Home Depot’s website (Canadian retailer FYI) and adding all the bathroom items to your cart. Once you have done that, check out the total of your shopping cart. And there you have it, a rough budget for materials. 

So, once you understand how much the materials will be, it’s time to talk to some trades to give you an idea of how much labour costs in your part of the world. 

Call up a contractor and say “Hey, I have a bathroom that is this x this size, I have an idea of how much the fixtures will cost me, can you give me a rough idea of how much your labour charge would be?”.

This is a great way to get a ROUGH estimate of how much your renovation would cost. From there, you can see if the renovation is viable for you. From there, you can invest the effort into getting a detailed and accurate design and quote.

Now, keep in mind this method only really works if you’re okay with a cookie-cutter design.

If your space is extraordinary or you want to do something really custom, you can’t skip the design and planning phase. So, if this is you, call me and let me design your dream renovation.