In April of this past year, I started working on one of the most thrilling projects of my career to date: the renovation and extension of my own home. Putting myself in my clients’ shoes was an eye-opening experience. Although I’ve been designing and renovating homes for over 15 years, acting as the ‘client’ offered me a completely new perspective. I learnt some valuable insights that have transformed what I say to anyone looking for expert architectural advice
Make Sure You Get Impartial Advice The whole project started with me wanting to extend my tiny utility room so that I could fit in a larger fridge. The boys were eating me out of house and home, and it was impossible to fit everything in our mixed fridge-freezer.
After a brief look at the space, the shook his head and said: ‘why don’t you extend the house?’ He was right. We'd reached a stage where we were able to do with the extra space and a bigger fridge wasn’t going to improve things in the long run.
Small projects are alright but not if they are only a stop-gap solution. I often meet people who want to put in a additional room or convert part of their home, however the underlying issue with the house is much more significant.
Investing in an attic conversion when the design of the rest of the house is not working is not the best way to spend your money. We’ll all favour choosing the quick win over so getting some impartial advice is essential to ensure you make the right decision. I’m the one dishing out the advice usually, but when it I had to make the right decision about to my very own home, even I needed a second opinion.
Wait Until You Have the all the Money to Do Everything You Want.Wait Until You Have Enough Money ALL YOU Want. When we first bought the house we could have done work immediately but our circumstances were completely different (a three-year-old son and another on the way) and our budget was far too small to attain everything that we had in mind do, so we waited. It certainly was the best decision we could have made.
In the past, I used to try to help clients phase the whole renovation job so their budget can be spread out but now, where possible, I advise my clients to hold back a little. This can indicate I talk myself out of a job but if they can move in and make the house liveable until they have the money to do everything at once, then this is with no doubt the best decision. Not only will they get better value for money and only build process once but they will also have the added benefit of time, which might mean that their programs change leading to a much better job in the future.
Build Up Contingency Into Your Timescale Build some breathing space into your timescale. The build process is an unpredictable one and even the most organised among us will come up against issues that push deadline out.
Our build process took 7.5 months, which is quite good. We'd hoped to be ready in 7, however, some of the changes took longer than planned and so we had to push our move date out to accommodate this.
Waiting the extra time while for the builder to be completed entirely was worth it. Had we moved in two weeks earlier, everyone could have been trying to finish around us and what required two weeks could have dragged out to four, or even six weeks.
It’s never a good idea to move in before the work is completely finished Giving the builder a deadline to work to is essential but make sure it’s realistic and, if things cause the project to overrun you should make allowances and change your plans accordingly.
Over-Prepare The build is an unstoppable process and the feeling that once you start there is absolutely no turning back can be just unsettling. So I recommend you be as organised as you can, while the contractor will need offer a program which can serve you as guide when critical decisions need to be made.
My advice, however, is to have all of your decisions made before the work begins This is something I always recommend to my clients. However, my experience of going through the process myself has confirmed it’s most likely the best single piece of advice I possibly could give anyone who is planning a home renovation project.
Once the build starts you’ll feel under great pressure, there will be distractions and emotions to cope with, and that means you won’t be at your best when it comes to making decisions. Getting the decisions made before anyone asked you to make them will significantly lessen the strain and make the process much more bearable. You may even enjoy it.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize A home renovation is quite a complex process. There are so many moving parts and persons involved that there are destined to be hiccups along the way. Try to anticipate where issues might come up and be flexible. Things will go wrong, but try to keep an open mind and focus on the solution. Be as organised as possible and stick to your decisions.
Home renovations and extensions are exhausting emotionally, so my final little bit of advice is to remain focused on the outcome because I could promise you it'll be worth it.
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