The reality of renovating is often more complex than many realise. That’s understandable: for most homeowners, a major renovation happens once in their lifetime, so they have little experience to go on outside of some rather unrealistic ‘reality’ TV shows!
Whether you’re adding an extension, going ‘up’ with a new second storey, or completing a full-home makeover, renovations can be exciting, stressful, rewarding, confusing and expensive… all at the same time.
Before Addbuild starts a new project, we talk with the homeowners to emphasise and explain some of the issues they are likely to encounter along the journey.
Forewarned is forearmed, as they say, and setting realistic expectations prevents a feeling of disappointment if things don’t go exactly as people thought they would. This is common-sense advice we think all building companies should be honest about at the outset.
We also talk to homeowners after the project is completed to assess whether their expectations had been met and whether we could do better, or, in some cases, communicate those common issues better or with more clarity.
Here’s the main points that homeowners mention in those reviews:
1. “We Wished We’d Spent More Time Planning”
Decisions made early save money later. One of the biggest drivers of renovation cost overruns is changing your mind midway through the project.
Moving an internal wall, relocating the plumbing, changing your lighting positions and more besides can all be good ideas that you think can only be made once you “see how the project is going”, but these will add to the overall costs and can cause delays.
Sometimes “variations”, as they are known, are unavoidable, but don’t let a lack of planning be their cause.
And should you really need to make a change, make sure that the builder gives you a costing for the variation in writing, and that your contract stipulates that each variation has to be approved in writing before any new work begins.
Detailed decisions upfront are worth the extra effort, because they create a smoother building process and reduce expensive surprises.
2. “Dust Gets Everywhere And Rain Doesn’t Always Stay Outside”
We encourage, and try to help, homeowners stay in their homes during the construction phase of a renovation. If you don’t have family or friends to stay with, avoiding the cost of temporary accommodation can save you a significant amount of money.
However, living through a renovation isn’t always as tidy or predictable as you’d hope.
Even with the best methods of sealing off the construction area, dust has a way of finding its way into the parts of the home you’re still living in. Most people expect the noise, the temporary kitchen or bathroom setup, and the friendly face of a tradie around every corner. The dust, despite our warnings, is often the thing that catches people by surprise.
Another surprise can come if the weather turns. Especially during second-storey additions, all or part of the roof will be removed before the new structure is completed. We take every precaution by installing purpose-made tarps and temporary weather protection, and we use multiple layers of protection to minimise the risk of water getting inside.
Even so, if heavy rain is accompanied by strong winds, there is always the possibility that some water may find its way in. Temporary coverings aren’t designed to perform like a permanent roof, and even tiny holes or movement in a tarp can allow moisture through.
The good news is that we’re builders. If water ingress causes any damage during construction, we’ll repair it as part of the project. It’s simply one of those realities of major renovations that isn’t talked about often enough before work begins.
Like the dust, it’s not usually a major problem, but knowing it can happen beforehand makes it far less stressful if Mother Nature decides not to cooperate.
3. “We Could Have Been Clearer About the …”
At Addbuild, we pride ourselves on being good communicators, and our building supervisors have become experts at understanding “homeowner-speak”.
That’s not a put down. As we said above, our clients aren’t necessarily experienced in renovations, and they might not know the correct terminology to describe all the different aspects of a job, a room, or parts of their home. We know that someone is likely referring to skirting when they say architrave and point at the bottom of a wall!
However, there are definitely times when the homeowner has to take on responsibility to ensure that what’s being asked for is clear to both sides.
The internet is your friend in making sure the terminology you are using is not misleading, and there is no such thing as a stupid question.
We prefer you ask to make sure that everything is crystal clear, rather than saving face pretending you know something that you really aren’t that confident about.
4. “We Needed A Contingency Budget”
Even with the best planning, changes may happen that can’t be avoided. Some of these are in your control, and some aren’t.
Once construction starts, builders may find issues that couldn’t be anticipated and were only revealed when walls or floors have been removed. And, as explained above, there might be changes that you choose to make that cannot be avoided.
Either way, having a contingency budget is the smart approach that enables you to respond to any expected issues. It should be around 20% of your budget. Hopefully it never gets used.
5. “It Took A Bit Longer Than Expected”
Builders – especially ones like Addbuild who offer a fixed-price contract – don’t want to prolong the construction phase any longer than absolutely necessary.
However, unexpected structural issues, material shortages, weather delays, approvals and tradie scheduling conflicts can all combine to push a project beyond its original completion date.
If you schedule an immovable event for just after the expected end of the project – be that hosting guests in your new spare bedrooms, taking a holiday, or celebrating a big family birthday in your newly expanded entertaining space – sod’s law suggests things won’t turn out as planned.
Add a buffer, and be prepared to revise that end-date when catching up with your building supervisor.
Some projects go exactly as planned, but you don’t want to double your disappointment if they don’t, and it ruins your big plans.
Looking to Expand Your Home? We’d Love To Hear From You
Addbuild has been guiding homeowners about all aspects of renovation for well over ten years and we hope the above advice demonstrates the value of approach. Our first blog article dates back to 2014, and our advice is drawn from more than 45 years of experience renovating Sydney homes.
If you are considering expanding your home, we’d love to hear from you. As a ‘concept-to-completion‘ builder we can design you plans and handle the development application process on your behalf, as well as construct your project.
Call our office on (02) 8765 1555 or send us a message using our contact form if outside of office hours.
If you are still researching, as well as our blog, have a look at our consumer guide to home improvement and masterclass to get further ideas about every aspect of renovating your home. Or see our featured projects and ‘before and after’ photos.