Renovation mistakes won’t just set your project back time-wise; they can be extremely costly, too. Luckily, when it comes to renovating your home, every mistake under the sun has been made a million times before. While this is unfortunate for the hapless renovators who had to learn the hard way, you can avoid falling into the same traps by learning from their mistakes.
So before you start swinging that hammer or pulling up those tiles, take a moment to read through our list of the most common renovation blunders.
1. Taking inaccurate measurements.
There’s an old saying, ‘measure twice, cut once’. This should become your mantra when renovating your home. Taking accurate measurements is important from the very start; you can’t even work out a proper budget without knowing exactly how much of each material you’re going to need.
If you’re getting kitchen cabinets made offsite, getting the measurements right – down to the millimetre – is absolutely vital. The same applies for buying a bed, ordering a kitchen counter or working out how many tiles you’ll need for your bathroom floor.
If you’re going the DIY route, check your measurements twice (better yet, three times) before cutting a piece of wood. If you cut the piece too small, the wood is rendered useless and you’re going to have to shell out for brand new replacement material.
2. Embracing wacky trends that have no staying power.
If the latest décor trend resonates with you, by all means incorporate it into your plans for renovating your home. However, beware of any trend or décor piece that’s too ‘in your face’ or unconventional. Crazy colours might be ‘in’ this season, but décor trends change as often as fashion trends do. If in doubt, err on the side of caution and go for classic, timeless décor styles that you’re unlikely to get sick of in a few months’ time.
3. Overestimating your DIY prowess.
There’s nothing wrong with rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty when renovating your home. Apart from the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve built parts of your home with your own hands, doing some renovations DIY-style can save you money.
That being said, don’t make the mistake of taking on DIY projects that you can’t handle. Make sure that you have the expertise, necessary tools and time to get the job done properly before committing to doing something yourself. Botching a DIY job can have consequences beyond just wasting time and money or damaging expensive tools – you could end up seriously hurting yourself.
There are some jobs that should always be handled by expert contractors. Cabinetry crafting and installation is one such job. If you cut corners trying to do your cabinetry DIY, you’ll be stuck with the shoddy results and ultimately end up devaluing your home.
4. Neglecting to do background checks on contractors.
Don’t simply hire the first contractor you speak to. Getting stuck with a difficult or incompetent contractor can turn your home renovations into an absolute nightmare, so it’s worth spending some time finding the right one.
Ask contractors for references and call previous customers to find out what they have to say. Are they still happy with the work that was done? Was the project completed in the agreed time? Was the contractor easy to work with? Would they use him again? If possible, check out some of their previous work. This is the best way to really judge the quality of the craftsmanship. Always check whether your contractor is properly licenced and insured, too.
