In this episode I speak about a few basics. The first part of creating a vision is to set a budget. The budget is used to ensure you stay within your means. Setting up a budget goes beyond having a number in mind. The last thing you would want to do is set a number, then be disappointed because what you’re looking for goes beyond the budget. To help create an end to end vision, there are three things to consider:

1) Identify and Prioritize

2) Establishing a reasonable budget by understanding the true cost

3) “MUST” it

4) Finalize the Vision

Identify and Prioritize

To start your vision, you will need to identify what you really need versus what you would like to have. You need to be really critical in helping to separate your needs and wants because often homeowners will want to “slide in” things as a need. You have to ask yourself, do you really “need” those upgraded tiles? Is this strictly cosmetic or does it have a functional requirement? Once you have created that list, you will need to then look to set up a realistic budget.

Setting Up a Realistic Budget

You want to establish a baseline for your home renovations. The best way to do this is to get a couple of contractors to come in and give you a free quote. You may want to get 4-5 contractors come in. Although this seems like a lot, it really helps with establishing a baseline. Naturally you will have some contractors that are too high and others too low. You want to eliminate the high and low bid (assuming the scope of the work is the same for all) and the remaining three will give you an indication of what this will cost. Ensure any contractor you bring in is licensed and insured where applicable. You want to ensure there is some kind of recourse in case anything goes wrong. Pull out your “needs list” that you created earlier and use that as a guide for your estimates. Be sure to stick to your needs. You can ask the contractor to price out the wants separately. This will be a nice list to have in case your project comes in under budget. When setting any budget be sure to use 5%-10% as a contingency fund. Assuming nothing goes wrong, your contingency fund will help fund your “wants” list. Now if you are planning on doing some of this as a DIY project, then its still great to benchmark what a contractor would charge vs. how much you can do it for yourself. There are some components you can outsource and others you can do on your own. This should be documented in your plan. We’ll cover that off in a future episode.

“MUST” It

Over the years I’ve learned a valuable lesson about visualizing a space. There were many properties that I overlooked because I couldn’t get past how unattractive they looked. I was so fixated on what was there that I wasn’t looking to look beyond that point. So I’ve taught myself to view properties in a way that others may not see it which works in my advantage. I always MUST any new property that I look at whether it be an investment or something for a client.

1) Measure It: You need to be thorough with your measurements and not rely too much on rough measurements. Sometimes 1/4 of an inch can make the difference between a successful project to one that will need a lot of re-work which will end up costing you. To avoid any mistakes I use a distance laser measurer to ensure I get accurate measurements. I use the Bosch DLR130K  (affiliate link) to take my measurements. It gives me measurements that are fairly accurate and I don’t have to worry about fumbling with a measuring tape. Once I get my core measurements in place I’m ready to move to the next step.

2) Understand It: Now that you have your basic measurements in you need to expand on it by understanding additional constraints. Locate things you don’t want obstructed like electrical outlets, or heating/cooling vents as an example. Be sure to document these in your initial measurements. Measure how far they are from a wall so that you can plan around it.

3) Strip It: Refers to taking what is physically in the room and stripping it out of your mind. The best way to look at a room and identify potential is by envisioning it is as nothing more than an empty room. This way you can visualize where things go.

4) Think It: Now that you have a visual, you should create a few sketches with different possibilities. The only constraints you have are the ones you documented in step 2. For example, when I did my kitchen reno, one of my constraints was not to move the water lines. I’ve narrowed down my possibilities but the trade off is cost of course. If you are ok with moving your lines, then that shouldn’t be listed as a constraint in step 2 and you can visualize alternative formats.

Once you land on your final sketch, this is your vision for your project. Now that you have an ideal current state and future state, we’ll talk about creating a plan in a future episode.

 

Helpful Links

Bosch DLR130K

As always feel free to send me a note at [email protected]

 

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