6 Tips to a Successful Home Improvement Project
Fall is a great time to start your home improvement project. The kids are back at school, the routine returns, and you can focus on your housing needs and dreams. Maybe your kids have gone to college or married, freeing up some space for that much-anticipated home office. Or the reverse—they’re moving back! Now you need to create a somewhat private space for your adult children within the family home.
Remodeling your home could also allow you to join the gig community, earning easy money as a host on Airbnb or other online vacation apartment platform. Let’s take a look at these potential home improvement projects to see how you can save money and possibly even make money.
#1 A Plan
Before you begin anything, you need at least a crude sketch of how you want the new or redesigned room to look. One of the many awesome things about social media is that you can find all kinds of great design ideas with just a simple flick of the keyboard. One of the most interesting sites is Pinterest, where you can find before and after shots of many different room and home improvement projects. A detailed plan will help you stay on track and save you money.
#2 A Budget
As with all endeavors, you need a budget. In an earlier post, we examined the question of whether every home improvement project is ultimately worth it—does it return to you the cost of the investment? Our website also has a fact-filled article about home improvement in general, which projects make financial sense and how to finance them.
For today, let’s assume that your home improvement project is not only necessary but also makes financial sense. Then you need a realistic budget. There are many online resources to help you with formulating a budget for your home improvement project, with an excellent break-out of the costs involved in remodeling your home. Some allow you to plug in where you live, adjusting your budget accordingly.
According to renovation experts, if your project involves turning your basement into a private suite for your returning child, you can expect to spend, on average, as much as $27,000. All depends upon the extent of remodeling or construction you need to do. If your basement is pretty much ready to go, and you just need to maybe add some walls to make a bedroom, plus a bathroom, your costs may be more manageable. Installing a bathroom, by the way, can cost you between $3,000 if you simply need to upgrade, to $25,000 if you are starting from scratch. Of course, the more luxurious the bathroom the more expensive it will be. On the other hand, you may decide in the end to move to the basement suite yourself and boot the kids upstairs.
#3 Recruit Talented Assistants
You can save money by doing the work yourself, assuming you have the talent for it or by recruiting friends or family. A key point to keep in mind is that if you make a mistake, it will cost you twice as much as originally envisioned. Therefore, do not hesitate to call in the experts to handle those more complicated components, such as plumbing and electricity.
#4 Renovating for the Gig Economy
There are a number of private vacation rental platforms, but by far the most successful is Airbnb. The founders of Airbnb wanted to provide an opportunity for anyone to become an entrepreneur, by renting out the extra space or unused bedroom in their house. As with all things, Airbnb has morphed, but it is still worth it to embark upon a home improvement project with the goal of capitalizing on this growing international phenomenon. How extensive should your remodel be? How much should you spend? What improvements are worth it? The best source for these answers is Airbnb renters themselves. Here is an excellent article that provides a good overview of the priorities of Airbnb guests. According to the statistics on overall Airbnb rental income, if you create an inviting space, you should see the majority of your investment returned to you in a very short period of time.
#5 Preparing for the Boomerang Kids
As reported elsewhere, the reality of boomerang kids—kids returning home after school—has become mainstream. You could opt for renovating the basement to give them ultimate privacy, or you could just turn their old bedroom into an inviting, chic, more grown-up space. Myhomeideas.com has great ideas for how to transform the childhood room, along with budgets and suggestions on where to buy furniture and furnishings.
#6 Paying for it
Hopefully, you have had some time to budget and save for your home improvement project, especially if it is something you have been thinking about for a while, such a new kitchen, bathroom or home office. If you are falling short, resist the temptation to use your credit card. Turn instead to P2p lenders. Peerform offers personal home improvement loans at reasonable rates and fees. You will have the money you need quickly so you can get started with your remodeling project and reap the rewards as soon as possible.
