Before you do anything, read about the top 3 items to get in order prior to doing work on your home, office, retail or hospitality business. Give yourself the time and space to prepare mentally, emotionally and financially and your renovation will be much smoother, easier and happier!

Are you looking for a home renovation? Whether you’re thinking about adding an extra level, extension, or kitchen & bathroom renovations Kaiko Design can help and these three tips will put you in great stead for what lies ahead.

Here are my top 3 tips to prepare yourself for a renovation:

• Prepare yourself mentally and emotionally

It’s important that if you have a partner or significant other, you are totally aligned in what you from your new home or business renovation, how much you’re willing to spend and also what level of spec you’re after. In fact, the more you can communicate your wants, worries and expectations, generally, the better the outcome.

These decisions tie in with your long-term plans as well, and you may want to consider things like how long you’re likely to live or work in the property/ location, and what your non-negotiable items for the renovation are e.g. if you’re looking to have children or more children, you may need extra bedrooms/bathrooms, or alternatively, you plan to expand your business – be that retail or service-based and will require added functions.

• Be on the same page

Doing any sort of significant work to your home or business can be stressful and overwhelming for many. Especially if you have a family. I’m sure you’ve heard the horror stories but we’re not here to dwell on the negatives. The fact is, no matter how much we plan and prepare, the likelihood is, something will go wrong. The sooner you accept this the easier your renovation will be. This could be something as minor as the wrong tapware being delivered, or as major as discovering termites and requiring structural work. These things will happen, and they will be managed. What’s important is how you react emotionally to the issue and having realistic expectations of what happens on a work site. It is a stressful process – especially if you are tackling it alone but hiring a team — like us — to handle all the ins and outs of the work can alleviate a lot of this pressure too! See how we can help you here.

• Sort out your financials

Many of my clients find it difficult to come up with a budget because there is a lot of misinformation about how much a renovation can cost. So much time is wasted when a clear budget is not established from the beginning. Truthfully – it doesn’t really matter to us what the figure is, what’s important is it’s realistic to what you want to do. A bespoke kitchen or bathroom renovation costs more than ten thousand dollars.

When deciding on your budget, my advice is to make sure the number you come up with (including 20% contingency) doesn’t scare you. You want to feel comfortable with what you invest, and you also don’t want to feel like you’re sacrificing your lifestyle because you’ve spent everything on the renovation. One thing that can help in figuring out a budget is to write a wish-list — and dream big! Then sort it into negotiable and non-negotiable items. This will give you a good starting point for when you engage us. There is so much to consider when defining the budget, consider how long you intend to live there, are you renovating to sell or renovating for lifestyle?

If you’d like help on your renovation or interior design projects, we love taking care of every detail, and acting as an advocate on your behalf with builders and suppliers. Get in touch here or see how we can help you.

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Kaiko Design's top 3 tips for a successful renovation: mental & emotional preparation, aligned expectations, and financial planning.