While home remodeling shows make renovating your home seem like a breeze, it’s not as easy as it appears. If you want your project to be successful, it’s essential to avoid the following home remodeling mistakes. Get the details below!
Underestimating Costs
Setting an unrealistic budget is one of the biggest home remodeling mistakes you can make. Your budget guides a lot of the decision-making process, especially in the design phase, so ensuring you have enough money set aside is crucial. Once you’ve determined a budget range that works for you, talk to your contractor to confirm that number is feasible for achieving your project goals.
Having Unrealistic Expectations
Does your knowledge about home remodeling come from watching HGTV or scrolling through curated Instagram feeds? Although both offer a glimpse into the remodeling process, they don’t tell the whole story. So, it’s no surprise many homeowners go into their remodel with unrealistic expectations about the process, costs, and completion timeline. Before you begin, do some research to better understand the process.
Being Too Trendy
Giving your home a fresh, updated look is great, but going too trendy can impact resale value. Remember that trends come and go, but good design lasts forever. Working with a designer can help you incorporate a few of your favorite trends without going overboard.
Favoring Form Over Function
Most people remodel for two reasons: updating the design and making the space more functional. That said, many people get hung up on the visual details without giving much thought to how they use the space. In the end, they may end up with a space that looks good but doesn’t quite meet their needs.
Good design is all about striking the right balance of form and function. As you’re planning out the design, consider traffic patterns and the placement of doors, windows, and outlets.
Choosing Cheap Materials
The phrase, “you get what you pay for,” couldn’t be more accurate than when talking about construction products and materials. While you may save some money upfront, choosing the cheapest materials can lead to costly problems down the road. Investing in high-quality materials results in a better project overall. They look better, last longer, and require less maintenance.
Hiring the Least Expensive Contractor
Choosing the contractor with the lowest bid might seem like a great way to save money, but there are some dangers to be aware of — especially if the quote is significantly lower than others you’ve received. It can indicate that the contractor may be:
- Inexperienced
- Planning to use cheap materials
- Hiding certain costs until later in the project
- Unskilled at accurately estimated project costs
Hiring Separate Designers & Building Contractors
Working with separate companies to design and execute a remodel can be overwhelming for many homeowners. There is often a lot of back and forth that can slow the project down. Hiring a design-build company can streamline the process. The project is handled collaboratively by one team, eliminating misunderstandings, communication delays, and unplanned changes to the design.
Experienced Design-Build Company Serving Greater Chanhassen, MN & Nearby
An experienced design-build company can help you avoid these common home remodeling mistakes. In the Twin Cities West Metro area, that’s Excel Builders. With over 30 years of experience, we have the expertise and knowledge to create a space that reflects your style and needs. Our design-build services include kitchen remodeling, basement finishing, bathroom remodeling, new home additions, and more. We can even design and build custom cabinets, millwork, and furniture in our in-house custom cabinet shop!
When you’re ready to get started, give us a call at (612) 306-4064 or email us at trent@excelbuildersmn.com. Excel Builders proudly serves homeowners throughout Greater Chanhassen and the Twin Cities West Metro, including Eden Prairie, Plymouth, Edina, Minnetonka, Chaska, Excelsior, Shorewood, and nearby in Minnesota.