In the home Renovation process we have found that these steps can typically cause waste excess and confusion. If these steps are done well it can save you thousands.
Our comprehensive audit requires you to collect the following
information to have on hand:
We will need an 1 hour of your time on site
Gather your thoughts of what you are trying to achieve
We will need permission to access council building records and any council restrictions. Some councils have small costs to access some information, that will be at your cost.
All our reports come with detailed photos describing any potential issues.
There are common ways that our customers start the home Renovation process and it is worth thinking about the limitations of each of these.
We start by asking our network for advice and a phone number for some local builder/ tradesman to help out.
First of all, can you even get their attention to make an appointment?
Then are you able to clearly describe what you are hoping to achieve? Is this written down with some plans? If not chances are you will have various conversations, ultimately a bit frustrating because each trade has their own experience and opinion on what will address your requirements.
This is not to say that there is any ill intent however professionals can only advise based on the information at hand which can be fairly vague to start with. Typically builders and trades are not being paid for their time to have these discussions and there are likely to be competitors also offering their solutions, so naturally they should be cautious with specific information or ideas that address your concern
The hardware industry has certainly changed in recent years. It was not long ago that convincing the other half to come shopping for hardware just could not even be imagined. Now it is very common to see couples browsing the isles (fur baby in the trolley) while imagining how their home could look. No problem at all with this in principle however the hardware business is about selling …. Hardware! Not really so much about does this work for your:-
Please don’t stop this research phase and browsing the internet or the physical store (what is that even called…) is part of the problem solving solution however it does need to have a common sense check to see if it fits your overall home renovation process.
The design path is often our go to for significant renovation works. However either the Architect or building designer will have some limitation that you should be aware of.
This profession is enormously skilled and key to delivering holistic design input and I have friends and professional contacts that I would not hesitate to recommend. The most typical method of pricing architectural work is to charge a percentage of the build cost. This directly relates to the higher the build cost for the same percentage the higher the Architectural fees. They do tend to have a very comprehensive view of the project however it also has led to plenty of Renovations being documented with beautiful drawings to never get built. It has not been uncommon that clients have come to us with a beautiful set of comprehensive drawings for a project and complained that these are wonderful but about 4 times our budget to build!
Often building designers will draw what you instruct them to. While this seems to be the correct response it may produce much better results if they are allowed to create and produce a design solution rather than just taking your direction. There is a key difference between these 2 options and a restricted outcome is often the answer. Partially this is due to the constant price pressure that building designers find themselves under. When we ask business in a competition to quote for a job they typically look for methods that they can reduce their cost to deliver that job. They may know that it will take 30 hours to do a best practice outcome but try to win the work based on a quote for 20 hours. Failing all else these Designers are often asked for a price for comparison so they are ultimately pressured to reduce their time to deliver a result and here we are with the cheapest business cost to deliver a design result from your winning contractor.
Allowing some time to digest and develop a great plan is worth its weight in gold.
Of course that uncle at the weekend BBQ means well but really uncle Bruce a belt with braces is that even a thing?
Family and friends in a social setting sure mean well but they often only have heard the headlines about ……… that think and really does their experience in railways actually apply for your home renovation?
There are friends and family, we all have them! Often their “well meaning” advice is just another amateur opinion with some family baggage attached. If you want professional outcomes and great housing sure run uncle Bruce’s ideas past the professionals but it may not be quite the solid advice it first appears.
Start here for your renovation project.
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