How to budget for home renovation

How To Budget Home Renovation with all hidden costs?

Last Updated: 2021-08-12By

A few times in life, we can either buy a new house or move to the place we want, but making spare parts or renovating a home is available to everyone if we save some money or take out a loan and plan different stages.

Gradually, we can reform each environment and renovate our home in a process of time – months or even years. We share some ideas on how to budget home renovation project without major investments or works that pass us from stress.

Do you want a kitchen renovation? Are you anxious about a kitchen or bathroom remodeling? The best approach is knowing your goals for your home remodeling and working towards achieving the goal.

So, whether you are planning to keep up with your large family, create a bigger office space, or increase the value of your home, this information will assist you greatly in how you can budget for your next home renovation project.

We recommend breaking down each step:

  • List All The Renovation Needs
  • Designer And Architectural Fees
  • Required Permits And City Fees For The Job
  • Cost To Move
  • Living Expenses During The Renovation
  • Budgeting For Appliances
  • Renovation Costs And Options
  • Unexpected And Additional Work

There are few more things that can come along in worst case scenario, but we think On Point Remodeling covered most of expenses and steps in remodeling.

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1) List All The Renovation Needs

This is the first stage of the renovation process. Here, you need to clearly make a list of the areas you wish you renovate or work on in your home. Do you wish to renovate the entire home? Do you just want to work on a few parts of the home?

Providing smart answers to these questions will greatly determine how to budget for renovation project and also determine exactly what you need to prepare to make this renovation.

In short, this is part of the planning process which greatly determines what you will spend, how you’ll spend, and for how long this renovation project will take.

2) Designer And Architectural Fees

The designer and architectural fees simply talk about the architect’s fees taken to design houses and provide other valuable services for homeowners. Although most of these architectural firms have different names for residential architectural fee packages.

So, for every renovation, the designer and architectural fees must strictly be considered. Most clients are advised to engage their architects to provide a minimum of Tier 5 services. Reason being that very few of them have the knowledge on how to deal with contractor bidding.

It could possibly be the most expensive effort during the renovation process, nor to deeply understand the environmental implication of what they are seeing being carried out during the construction or renovation.

The truth is, these designer and architectural fees being paid to an architect to provide the renovation design are really worth the price and can make a very big difference between a properly build or renovated project for the best reasonable price and disaster.

3) Required Permits And City Fees For The Job

Required permits and city fees for remodeling

Surprised home owner with city permit fees.

Each city has its own renovation permit and city fee. Depending on the level of the renovation project at hand, and your state, all necessary dues and city fees in this regard must be dully paid before the commencement of the renovation exercise.

Following the building Code Act in your state, a building permit is being required by the government for the construction of an additional building, a new building, an alteration, a renovation, or for building a structure over 10 meters square.

Before freaking out about how to budget home renovation city fees, contact municipality and ask them about associated fees with work you are planning.

4) Cost To Move

The entire moving process is actually more expensive than you might think, with all sorts of little moving costs that will eventually add up and take a big bite out of your wallet – unless you plan ahead.

While preparing for the renovation process, you need to consider how much it takes to move your furniture in and out of your home.

The moving process is usually more expensive than you might think, with different little moving that will eventually add up and take a big portion of your wallet.

If you have a whole lot of furniture to move plus other items, hiring a professional moving company might really be a good idea, at least, to handle your stuff for you. Although rates will vary depending on the items you are moving, but in most cases, you get exactly what you pay for.

5) Living Expenses During The Renovation

Making an extra commitment for a major renovation in your home is a decision you don’t have to take lightly at all.

One of the major decisions you have to weigh up is whether to stay at home during the course of the renovation or whether to make room for a temporary accommodation arrangement.

Either way, you need to really prepare yourself for one of the major stressful and inconvenient times of your life. But the truth is, you must prepare some money to arrange for other living expenses during the renovation and other temporary rental fees.

6) Budgeting For Appliances

It is very important that you make budget for appliances before you press the button to open the flood gate of several months of consistent expenses, project management, noise, dust, mess, and tradesmen, things might go wrong while the moving company is packing your furniture and other appliances out before the renovation, and back after the renovation has been completed.

7) Renovation Costs And Options

It’s very important that you budget for the entire renovation cost before the start of the renovation process. So, we advise that you to be realistic on how to budget home renovation process and the standard material finishes that will be needed after the completion of the project.

The truth is, a renovation project will always set you back more than you earlier bargained for. There will be rusted pipelines, leaks, and other luxuries and material finishes which you need begin to notice at the start of the renovation project, leading to extra expenses.

The best way to adequately plan for unforeseen expenses and the total renovation cost is to add about 20% to 25% to the total renovation cost you have already made.

8) Additional Work And Feature Items

Additional work and feature item costs

Man confused with extra costs added to the project.

Most of remodeling projects have some sort of additional or unexpected costs involved. There are several reasons for not including some scope of work and paying extra at the very end.

The first reason that we see very often is due to home owners or clients asking for additional items throughout the job, that they did not think of before. Remodeling projects last several month and there is plenty of new things you can think of.

Building inspector may order some extra work to be done for safety or code measures. If you have inexperienced contractor or manage project by yourself these could be costly mistakes.

Concluding On How To Budget Home Renovation

Before committing to the job, be sure of know how much it costs in details. If your builder or renovation company charges by percentage as management of trades, we recommend getting familiar with local costs.

Our team has plenty of articles on how much certain renovation projects or specific trade work costs. For additional assistance, contact our team by email.

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Each building has some sort of driveway or at least should have. The main reason is for vehicles to come closer without need to walk all the way. Some homes are residential with small driveway for their car to come in and park before garage or front entrance, and others can be large commercial buildings with loading docks, delivery entrances and casual parking entrances. On Point Remodeling was asked for suggestions on residential driveway for new home construction, and we decided to write detailed article for all our readers. Using this guide you can select the material for your driveway and see what works for your budget. Here are the materials for driveway we will be discussing in our guide:
  • Asphalt
  • Concrete
  • Paver Stone
  • Crushed stone
  • Brick
  • Seashell
  • Gravel
To find good contractor for your driveway, you can either ask our team by email or try to find someone local that worked with neighbors or nearby buildings.

Installation process of any material surface on your driveway

a) Demolition and Excavation – Before anything is done, your contractor will get heavy machinery and scratch off old layer of driveway. They need to go down at least 5-6 inches to insure proper layering before your final layer of material is installed. b) Material Purchase and Delivery – At this point your contract is signed and you already know how the surface will look. Contracting company purchases necessary materials and delivers them to site. Double check if material is correct and not damaged. c) Preparation of Sublevel – Whatever you place as final material, it cannot just be installed directly on top soil. Gravel is the first choice of material that goes down at this stage. Other preferred material is screen sand that can go on top of gravel and works better with stone and bricks. d) Compaction of Ground – To prevent your driveway from moving and changing shapes, all the layers from bottom up have to be properly compacted. Do not leave any spot untouched while doing this or you can get small holes and cracks in driveway after installation. E) Final Installation – This is when all the magic happens. After all preparations and dirty work the final installation is made literally within hours and you can enjoy new driveway. Stone and brick is set up by hand, while other materials require some sort of machinery with manual labor to even out surface.

1. Asphalt

Probably the most used material for road top surfaces as well as driveways is asphalt. This is a mix of gravel and sand that is mixed in and combined by asphalt cement with crude oil. Pros of Asphalt Driveway
  • Very popular and easy to find materials/contractor
  • Completed in 1 day and you can drive on it after
  • Patches and small holes can be fixed fast
Cons of Asphalt Driveway
  • Easy to damage and cracks appear in few years
  • Almost everyone else has same surface
  • Oily surface and chemicals used in mix
Prepared for asphalt driveway will cost you around $5 per square foot to finish. The contractors that take care of entire process from taking out old driveway surface, install subsurface and compact the ground with new asphalt on top, will charge on average $5500 per regular size driveway at single home property.

2. Concrete

What we call concrete is a mixture of Portland cement, aggregate as well as sand with gravel. Suggested thickness of concrete for driveway is 6 inches. The mixture needs to cure without being touched or driven on top for several days. Pros of Concrete Driveway
  • Durable material for large weights
  • Long lifespan if installed properly
  • Winter and summer friendly
Cons of Concrete Driveway
  • Has marks and stains over time
  • Hard to repair without replacement
  • Super hard to DIY
To hire contractors for concrete driveway it will cost around $7-$9 per square foot. This will include site preparation with gravel spread and new concrete installation. They will order full truck of concrete (or several for larger driveways) to pour inside forming. Smoothening and curing is required after installation.

3. Paver Stone

The most luxurious material that you can use to create driveway path with is paver stone. It is made out of natural stone with uneven rough shapes that have different line patterns. Paver stones are very heavy and are perfect for weights on top of them. Almost every city in Europe has roads and walks made out of stone that were installed centuries ago. Pros of Paver Stone Driveway
  • Creative designs can be done
  • Personal looks, can match the house
  • Can replace single stone in minutes
Cons of Paver Stone Driveway
  • Weeds growing through
  • Stone can move over time
  • Most expensive material
There is wide selection of stone that can be purchased for your driveway. On average we recommend settling with $17-$20 per square foot for stone with installation included. Working with this material is very intense labor and we recommend hiring professionals that do this type of work every day.

4. Crushed Stone

Our readers sometimes mistake crushed stone with gravel, but this is not the same material. Crushed stone material is achieved when machine is mechanically crushing larger pieces of unused stone for this specific purpose. It is larger than gravel and can have smooth finish. Crushed stone can also have a mix of colors, which is much pleasant to eyes than gravel. Pros of Crushed Stone Driveway
  • Low maintenance required
  • Fits rural area style
  • Can be reused for other purposes
Cons of Crushed Stone Driveway
  • Gets very hot during summer
  • Can be messy after many drives
  • Hard to remove snow and ice
Buying crushed stone and installing it on your driveway is as easy as it gets. Similar to other rough materials discussed in this post, only small tools like shovels, dolly and buckets are required to spread it on the road. The cost of crushed stone driveway is between $4 and $6 per square foot from professional local contractors that can finish the job in several days.

5. Brick

The same brick we see being used in wall construction can be installed as top driveway surface. Brick is manufactured by compressing clay with plastic mass. It is heated to extreme temperature and dried up to become as solid as you know it. Pros of Brick Driveway
  • Variety of selections in shapes and shades
  • Bricks are recyclable
  • Slip resistant with rough top part
Cons of Brick Driveway
  • Needs regular maintenance
  • Change color over time
  • Old fashion looking
Installing brick on driveway costs $10 per square foot, which is not too far from masonry brick laying as part of the wall. To save money you can use or purchase old brick, that was part of a wall before. Do not mix these two jobs and contact landscaping professionals instead of masonry contractors that work with bricks.

6. Seashell

This material is popular on the coast line where shells can be found near the water. Construction companies use seashells to add in other materials as well as spread them on driveway in rough condition, without adding anything else. It usually comes in white or pearl color and darkens within year because of mixing with sand and dirt. Pros of Seashell Driveway
  • Environmentally friendly
  • Has natural drainage
  • Creates worm vibe of beach house
Cons of Seashell Driveway
  • Break and crack under light weight
  • Sharp and very hard to walk on
  • Gets stuck in shoes and tires
To deliver and spread seashells on driveways costs below $4, which is only slightly more expensive than rough gravel. As you go further from coast line, cost of material increases due to delivery. This material is elegant and very soft. We recommend adding edge lines with darker color landscape material to create visual path.

7. Gravel

This material is used in other construction mixes and underlayment systems. It’s literally fragments and small crushed stones that are put on top of soil. It is easily spread out by hands and anyone can do it. Pros of Gravel Driveway
  • Cheapest of them all
  • Easy DIY Job
  • Can install another material on top
Cons of Gravel Driveway
  • Needs to be graded very often
  • Will mix with dirt and leaves
  • Washes up with heavy rains
It is rough material and can be purchased in bulk (by metric tons or cubic meters). The cost of driveway with gravel should not exceed $3 per square foot, but you can save tons of money by purchasing materials and doings installation by yourself. You do not require specific tools or heavy equipment for the job and delivery of gravel can be arranged directly to your project.

Conclusion

To properly finish any and all of these driveways requires skills and experience. There is no way you can complete any of these projects without heavy equipment and tools that regular home owner’s just store in their garages. Most of those who will read this post will prefer to install asphalt driveway, because of its popularity and low costs. We want to encourage home owners to go for personal preference and what matches your house, rather than getting the most affordable and popular items. Driveway jobs have to be completed fast; otherwise you will need to park elsewhere while the project is running. To not overpay, ask us for quotation sample on material you prefer in specific region where the work need to be done and our team can provide some numbers.

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