Get your renovation budget right

Easy as pie

A simple pie chart can really help you visually understand your renovation budget allocation, as well as the items you’ll be decidedly splurging or saving on during your renovation.

At a glance you can easily see where most of your spending is intended, and this can be really useful in preventing those impulse buys when the renovation is on track. It can also be useful in helping you prioritise and negotiate the necessity of renovation work.

For example, you might wish to renovate a bathroom on a limited budget. But if you’re thinking about rearranging a few of the essential plumbing services, a pie chart might help you weigh up the necessity of those costs against your desire to have quality fittings and finishes.

Get written cost estimates

Verbal estimates can easily blow out of proportion, mainly because of ambiguity. How many times have you heard someone say: “I thought that was part of the cost”?

When you’re doing your homework, consider getting detailed written cost estimates for any work to be done. A tradie who wants your business will take the time to prepare this for you. And that way, you’ll have some clarity as to what is covered in the price. This will prevent any nasty hidden surprises down the track.

Look out for hidden costs

If you’re a renovator novice, it might be worth speaking to a friend or relative with some DIY, building or engineering experience to get an initial indication of any costs you may not have considered. There might even be a cheaper way to achieve the result you’re going for.

For example, an extra living room might seem like a simple add-on, but the cost of extending the roofline, obtaining council approvals and so on might actually make it cheaper to build upwards rather than out.

Using a project manager may seem like a good idea, but for small projects the premium added by the project manager may be lost money if you consider the effort in organising them yourself.

When renovating, budget blowouts are often inevitable because you can’t factor in every circumstance. So be sure to factor in a buffer amount – that is, at least a third of your renovation budget to cover incidentals.

Before you start renovating, take the time to draw up a realistic budget and stick to it. By factoring in an amount to cover any budget blowout, and with a sensible budget allocation from the outset, your renovation will go all the more smoothly.