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Introduction Here it is – a quick and easy guide to budgeting, scheduling and dreaming your home renovation into reality. Whether you’re planning a minor refurbishment or a major rebuild, it’s worth taking the time to walk through your home with these planners and tables and attempt to clarify renovation goals. These planners and guides help you create a renovation wishlist which can then evolve into The Mighty Renovation Plan. The Mighty Renovation Plan is the one which will detail costs, time estimates and planning schedules. Good luck! And happy repairing, refurbishing or rebuilding…
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Why do I need the Mighty Renovation Plan? Firstly, it’s as good a place to start as any. It’s no good mortgaging yourself to the hilt, creating mess and mayhem in your home and then shaking your head with renovation regrets. Far better to think the process through in advance than be hit from behind by all the weird and wonderful curveballs owning and renovating a property can throw at you. Secondly, the Mighty Renovation Plan is a great place to start if you want to brief a builder or an architect to oversee the entire process for you. It is a great guide to help you explore your own personal expectations of the renovation and perhaps bring your aspirations in line with your budget. How do I use this E-Book to help me create one? Go through each section step-by-step and fill in the tables. Naturally I suggest reading my book, Planning Your Perfect Renovation, which has richer information and more detailed planning stages. You may need to add or delete certain sections of my suggested planning tables to create your own Mighty Renovation Plan – and that’s fine. Whatever works for you. This is only a guide I have put together from my own experiences, and you can feel free to send me hate mail should you find the whole process a waste of time. At best you will have a well-considered plan of action. At worst you will find out just how much it will actually cost you. Go on. Leap in. It’s not ALL bad …
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SECTION ONE - Starting with the $$$ You know those renovators who talk about how much they love renovating, and how they can’t wait to do it all over again? If you haven’t smacked them in the head, you can deduce one thing – they had a renovation budget that matched their expectations. It’s a fine art, this budgeting thing. Much like trying to buy a holiday, car or stunning evening gown, the desire can be five-star but the budget doesn’t quite match. Most renovations – especially repairs and rebuilding – cost more than a home-owner could recoup if they had to sell the property tomorrow. In other words, overcapitalising happens. This sounds disastrous, but can be worth it in the long term if a property is in a good street or in-demand suburb. Now is the time to put your sensible shoes on, and work out how much it’s worth splurging on your property. There’s loads more detail on this matter in my book, especially the first two chapters. Working through the questions in this table can help guide you on how much it is worth spending on a renovation. But, hey, renovating can be like shopping blindfold – just don’t leave your credit card (or mortgage redraw) out on the counter. The Question Purchase price/current value estimate of property Stamp duty, legals paid on purchase of property Current range of market prices in local area Always compare values in same
The Hard Truth
street if possible
Where does your property sit on the local totem-pole of pricing – lower, mid or upper
Can you change the position on the totem-pole of pricing by improving the property? Consider position, location, potential etc
Proposed renovation cost
Use guesstimates or estimates as available after working through the following pages
Proposed time cost (this is how much of your own time you will need to invest in the renovation – organizing tradespeople, obtaining quotes, shopping around etc)
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Proposed chaos quotient (Can you deal with the chaos a renovation will bring? If you work more than 50 hours a week and have children or sporting commitments to juggle, can your household deal with the upheaval.)
Have you invited local real estate agents to appraise the property and ask which types of renovation would most improve its value? Estimated value of improvements to property What is at risk if you had to sell the property without recouping the renovation cost? Can you estimate a lifestyle value of the renovation? (for example, putting in a pool may cost $40,000 but if you don’t have to spend money flying to Queensland every summer, it may be worth it) Weighing up your financial position, lifestyle and available time: is a renovation worth it to you?
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SECTION TWO - The Dream What do you want? No, what do you REALLY want? Yes, we all want a nicer place to live, but does that involve rebuilding, refurbishing or some simple repairs? Working through the Renovation Wishlist table, below, helps you sift through your hopes and dreams and match them to your budget and available time. The idea is to walk from room-to-room taking a good hard look at what you’d like to do to improve it. What you do is then assess the priority of each of your wishes and guesstimate a time and cost. Yes, I know it’s hard to work out costs, but www.archicentre.com.au have a wonderful costs guide which anyone can work out. Oh, and please add more rows to the table if you need more space to outline your hopes and dreams. Room
What needs Guesstimated Priority doing Cost
Guesstimated time
Lounge
Painting walls and ceilings
$800
High
Can spend 2 hours organising quotes
Lounge
Polish floors
$500
Medium
Five days to do it ourselves – strip out room, hire sander, apply polish and let dry
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SECTION THREE - Crunching The Guesstimates By this point, many would-be renovators have racked up a wishlist longer than Paris Hilton’s last American Express statement. This is the time to crunch through that Renovation Wishlist and refine and hone what you want. It helps you work out where you can compromise and scrimp so you can splurge on the things you really do want. I call the following tables “mission statements” and they are the easiest way to clarify your renovation goals. OK, so you might want to knock down and rebuild your kitchen but if you only spend 20 minutes a day in it eating toast, is it worth it to you? Please copy and paste the tables and the mission statements if you need more of them. OUR LOUNGE ROOM RENOVATION MISSION STATEMENT Lounge Room What activities are undertaken in this room How many hours a day, on average, is it used Does it have enough natural light Are the doorways in the right place
We like to use the lounge room for __________________________ and it is used for at least _________ hours a week, so the fittings and fixtures need to be basic/mid-level/high quality. The thing we most want the lounge room to be is _________________________ We are prepared to spend _____% of our budget, which is $________ on this room.
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OUR KITCHEN RENOVATION MISSION STATEMENT KITCHEN What activities are undertaken in this room How many hours a day, on average, is it used Does it have enough natural light Are the doorways in the right place
We like to use the kitchen for __________________________ and it is used for at least _________ hours a week, so the fittings and fixtures need to be basic/mid-level/high quality. The thing we most want the lounge room to be is _________________________ We are prepared to spend _____% of our budget, which is $________ on this room. OUR DINING ROOM RENOVATION MISSION STATEMENT DINING ROOM What activities are undertaken in this room How many hours a day, on average, is it used Does it have enough natural light Are the doorways in the right place
We like to use the dining room for __________________________ and it is used for at least _________ hours a week, so the fittings and fixtures need to be basic/mid-level/high quality. The thing we most want the lounge room to be is _________________________ We are prepared to spend _____% of our budget, which is $________ on this room.
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OUR BATHROOM RENOVATION MISSION STATEMENT BATHROOM What activities are undertaken in this room How many hours a day, on average, is it used Does it have enough natural light Are the doorways in the right place
We like to use the bathroom for __________________________ and it is used for at least _________ hours a week, so the fittings and fixtures need to be basic/mid-level/high quality. The thing we most want the bathroom to be is _________________________ We are prepared to spend _____% of our budget, which is $________ on this room.
OUR BEDROOM RENOVATION MISSION STATEMENT BEDROOM 1 What activities are undertaken in this room How many hours a day, on average, is it used Does it have enough natural light Are the doorways in the right place
We like to use bedroom 1 for __________________________ and it is used for at least _________ hours a week, so the fittings and fixtures need to be basic/mid-level/high quality. The thing we most want this bedroom to be is _________________________ We are prepared to spend _____% of our budget, which is $________ on this room.
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OUR BEDROOM RENOVATION MISSION STATEMENT BEDROOM 2 What activities are undertaken in this room How many hours a day, on average, is it used Does it have enough natural light Are the doorways in the right place
We like to use bedroom 2 for __________________________ and it is used for at least _________ hours a week, so the fittings and fixtures need to be basic/mid-level/high quality. The thing we most want this bedroom to be is _________________________ We are prepared to spend _____% of our budget, which is $________ on this room.
OUR BEDROOM RENOVATION MISSION STATEMENT BEDROOM 3 What activities are undertaken in this room How many hours a day, on average, is it used Does it have enough natural light Are the doorways in the right place
We like to use bedroom 3 for __________________________ and it is used for at least _________ hours a week, so the fittings and fixtures need to be basic/mid-level/high quality. The thing we most want this bedroom to be is _________________________ We are prepared to spend _____% of our budget, which is $________ on this room.
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OUR OUTDOOR AREA RENOVATION MISSION STATEMENT OUTDOOR AREA What activities are undertaken in this space How many hours a day, on average, is it used Does it have enough natural light Are the doorways in the right place
We like to use the outdoor area for _________________________ and it is used for at least _________ hours a week, so the fittings and fixtures need to be basic/mid-level/high quality. The thing we most want the outdoor area to be is _________________________ We are prepared to spend _____% of our budget, which is $________ on this space. OUR XXXXXX RENOVATION MISSION STATEMENT XXXXXXX What activities are undertaken in this room How many hours a day, on average, is it used Does it have enough natural light Are the doorways in the right place
We like to use the XXXXX for _________________________ and it is used for at least _________ hours a week, so the fittings and fixtures need to be basic/mid-level/high quality. The thing we most want the XXXXX to be is _________________________ We are prepared to spend _____% of our budget, which is $________ on this space.
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SECTION FOUR – Playing With Plans Drawing up scale plans of the rooms you want to renovate and then cutting out little bits of paper to indicate furniture, fireplaces, bathroom or kitchen cabinets and so forth is fun! Way better than full-scale renovating which usually means sleeping in a dusty bed with paint streaked through your hair. Be creative with the rooms in your house – really work
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SECTION SIX – The Mighty Renovation Wishlist This is the summary you can turn to when you feel yourself changing your mind, feeling horrified at going over budget or simply lying frustrated in a dusty bed with gaping holes in the walls. It’s your bible. You need to create your own Mighty Renovation Wishlist to suit your particular goals, hopes and dreams. This table lets you break down all of the small tiny jobs that make up your entire renovation, including the cost and time estimates involved. This list can be as extensive or short as your renovation demands. An example of a kitchen refurbishment renovation wishlist Which Room? Kitchen cabinets
Renovation goal Repaint timber doors on cabinets
Estimated cost $220 for paint and undercoat
DIY or Doit-for-me? DIY
My own time Three weekends
Floor people are organized to come in next Wednesday
1 hour for moving fridge etc out the night before. 1 hour of organizing quotes
$60 for stripper
Floor
Needs new lino
TOTAL COST TOTAL TIME
$50 for paint brushes $800
$1030 61/2 days
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Kitchen (or other room)
Refurbish or not
Material cost
Labour guesstimate
TOTAL COST TOTAL TIME
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Time guesstimate
SECTION SEVEN - Scheduling and shopping lists It always takes more time, money and effort than you imagine to renovate. But using these simple planners takes some of that angst away. Now that you have your Mighty Renovation Wishlist, though, you have already done half the work breaking down your renovation tasks. Now it’s about scheduling and shopping for them. Scheduling is a masterful art. This is where the professionals beat the average DIYer, hands down. Pros like architects, project managers and builders know how far in advance to order bulky items, they know which jobs are better to do first and they know how to juggle the rainy days and the no-shows and the fix-this-forthe-third-time hiccups that are part and parcel of a complex renovation job. In other words, they know the right sequence and can therefore schedule the jobs easily. For example, it’s no good polishing timber floorboards before the ceilings have been painted. And you don’t install kitchen cabinets until the plumber and electrician have roughed in the cables and pipes. Most of this is common sense. There’s plenty of detail on the fine art of scheduling kitchens and bathrooms in my book in Chapters 5, 9, and 10. Taking your Mighty Renovation Wishlist, try to schedule each task in a logical order of sequence. Which job needs to be done first? What materials need to be ordered in advance? You can then plot out your schedule, so that it looks something like the example below. This is an example for a small bathroom renovation which combines some do-it-yourself work and professional trades. Every schedule will look different – the real key is for the schedule to help you work out the most sensible sequence for the work. Sarah and Tim’s Weekend Renovation Schedule: an example Task BATHROOM New lights in bathroom over vanity Paint bathroom Repair water damaged wall
W/end W/end W/end W/end W/end W/end 1 2 3 4 5 6 ** ** **
* X
X
*
* – Professional trade organised X – Sarah and Tim DIY ** - Shopping and organisational work happening
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X
The schedule Using your Mighty Renovation Wishlist, break down the sequence of jobs into a logical order – and plan when you will get them done! Task
Week 1
W/end Week W/end 1 2 2
Clear rubbish The Shopping List What materials, furniture, hardware supplies and tools do you need to make this renovation a reality? Think through each task. Which materials will you need to organise and which ones will the professionals look out for? Might any of the materials require extensive order times before delivery? A Sample Shopping List for Sarah and Tim’s Bathroom Renovation 2 scrapers $50 2 breathing masks and safety glasses $60 New light fittings $300 Rubbish removal (tipping fees) $35 Paint – 3 coats for 40 sq m of walls = 3 litres of interior acrylic $79 Tiler will supply waterproofing material to fix wall, Tiler to supply grouting and tile-fixing, we need to supply 30 sq m of new tiles with a budget of $100 a sq m - $3000 TOTAL $3,524 CONCLUSION Phew! After all that work, you should have a shopping list, a schedule and a Mighty Renovation Wishlist to guide you through your renovation. None of these need to be set in stone, but the more time you put into the planning, the easier and smoother the outcomes. Good luck! May you renovate without too much hoopla or hassle.
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