What should I consider before renovating?
Every home has unlocked potential, but how do we assess the potential, or if that potential works for us? Where should we start? What else should be considered
Assessing a Home’s Potential
The design brief should be your first step in any project, it is the most important document of any home renovation, be it your existing home, your next home, or an investment opportunity. If you do not know your final goal, your project will be a series of compromises and you may even have to start over.
False starts can be costly, both financially and in terms of time, particularly if they involve a house move, as many people are with the current stamp duty holiday. Deciding if a home has the potential to achieve your goals involves identifying the defects, potential solutions, and costs against the end value. The end value could be financial if you’ll need to move for work again in 5-years or are looking for an investment property; but, if you’re looking to being in your forever home you may wish to include comfort, maintenance costs, rising fuel prices and interest rates in your calculations.
If you’re undecided about moving why not check out our blog posts “should I go or should I stay” for some tips on questions to explore to help explore the issues. If you’ve already decided on relocation there are some suggestions on finding the plot in our top tip for find a plot blog post. Aimed at plot finding many of the issues addressed can apply equality to renovation projects but some additional points to consider:
- Have neighbouring properties been renovated or, extended? To find out about work that has been approved, and those which have received rejections by the local planning office head to the planning portal.
- Is the plot big enough to meet local planning regulations? Your family may not need space for a dozen gas guzzlers but if you increase the number of bedrooms you must make provision for additional parking spaces. You will usually need to meet these requirements with the extension even if the current home doesn’t have sufficient parking spaces in planning terms.
- Is the building structurally sound? You can learn to spot many structural problems, a musty smell can indicate damp, an old fuse box suggests rewiring is required, cracks around doors and windows can suggest ground heave. If you are looking to progress to a sale you should always commission an experienced chartered building surveyor and or a structural engineer to undertake an inspection. Having a professional on board will ensure that you will not unwittingly be taking on risks.
Know your budget
Work out your budget before you start. Consider how you would manage if there are unforeseen costs, either on the build or in other areas of your life, have a contingency plan. You may not plan to replace your car or take a career break but consider this before you start. Unexpected events are stressful, and a little scenario planning now will help you be able to focus on the new issue rather than its impact on your project.
Get costing advice early on from a professional. Magazines and the web are a great source for general information, but your project is unique. Location and timing will affect cost, as will any site-specific considerations. Check quotes to see if they include fitting and VAT. It’s worth putting all the quotes together on top of your plan, ticking off each element, to ensure that there are not any gaps. You don’t want your beautiful front entrance to be covered in mud as there is no path to the front door, or a disagreement with you carpenter about internal doors that don’t close anymore as the carpets were fitted a week after he left site.
Talk to the team around you and make sure that they know your budget. Most professionals now work on a fixed fee basis so there is no value in keeping the budget from them. If everyone knows the budget, they will be able to support you to direct it most efficiently and maximise the impact of your spend. Discuss your assumptions about costings, professionals will be happy to explain their figures and help you to interrogate quotes you receive and consider options. A £100 window may sound great but with fitting and VAT it is likely to cost £240 and still not have the ‘u’ and ‘g’ values required to achieve high environmental standards.
Remember if the property has been empty for more than two years you will have a VAT reduction.
Accommodation
Where will you be living during the build? If the renovation is an investment property or a second home this may not be an issue. Living on site can save on rental costs, and travel time if your planning to be hands on but can cause delays to the project if contractors need to clean and secure the site every night. There is also the noise, disruption, and dust to contend with. A caravan on site might appear a romantic solution on a sunny August afternoon, but is less desirable on a frosty February morning when the water pipes freeze. If you are going to be living in rental accommodation try to negotiate some flexibility around the departure date. You do not want to be looking for a new rental because the build runs over.
Your builders will need to be accommodated too. You will need to arrange access to rest facilities and toilets. Depending on the nature and duration of the build and whether you are living on site or not this may require temporary facilities being brought to site.
Insurance, contracts and guarantees
If you are undertaking major renovation work, its unlikely that your usual home insurance will provide sufficient cover. Check with your insurer to see if your policy can be amended or if you require specialist renovation insurance. If the property is going to be empty you may find that you will need specialist cover too. Remember to budget for insurance on your rental accommodation or caravan too.
In addition to insuring your site you should check that all the professionals that you work with have appropriate levels of cover. Check and keep copies of the professional indemnity certificates, request copies of new documents when old ones expire. The level of insurance must be more than the cost of putting right any problems that the professionals could cause.
Written contracts setting out both your expectations and the professional your working with will reduce the risk of problems but you’ll also need to make sure that your insurance covers you for legal expenses so that any contractual issues can be resolved if the worst happens.
Where to go for advice?
Talking to professionals early is commonly issued advice. But what do these professionals look like? Should you speak to an Architect, quantity surveyor or contractor first, or someone completely different? Tradeshows are a great place to start but can be busy. If you opt for these try the smaller stalls on the outside first. These are usually staffed by the professionals themselves; the larger central stalls are usually managed by sales professionals, great if you want to grab a freebie but not so useful in your search for answers.
The national self build and renovation centre is a great alternative to trade shows. This is a permanent exhibition space where you can explore stalls and request information from the companies that seem to address your needs. The centre run regular specialist shows where professionals are available both to chat through your project on a one to one basis or for group tours of the site explaining specific elements. Best of all it is free. Check out Alan’s Passivhaus tour here.
If you would like to talk to one of Architects about your renovation get in touch.
