Home & Garden Maintenance & Repairs

Renovation Check-List

If you are going to be doing some home renovations, you will want to be as organized as possible. You will need to have a detailed checklist to work from. Every project will have a different kind of checklist, but there are some basics that should be included on every home renovation checklist.

#1 Ideas

The first thing on your checklist should be the ideas phase. Gather ideas for kitchen renovations, bathroom renovations, interior decorating, exterior renovations, landscaping, etc. from places like online home renovation & design directories, magazines, home decorating galleries, and even the homes of friends and family. You will need to have some solid ideas in place of what kind of home renovations you want to do before you can move on to the second phase.

#2 Budget

Deciding on your home renovating budget will be dependent on a few things. Are you paying for the entire renovation out of your personal savings, or will you be obtaining financing, or will you be doing a little at a time with each paycheck? Regardless of how you will be paying for your home renovations, you need to know how much you can afford.

Keep in mind that you will need to pay for more than just materials for the renovations. You may want to use contractors to do the work, they need to be paid. You might want to do the work yourself, will you need to buy tools? Don't forget about obtaining permits, licenses, and inspections. These all cost money. You may want to check with your homeowner's insurance to see what, if any, home renovation mishaps will be covered, and look into additional insurance. The point here is, make sure to put everything in your budget that you can think of that will cost money.

#3 Plan

This is the phase in which you will want to develop your timeline for the home renovations and start shopping for contractors. Make sure that your timeline is reasonable and your contractors are affordable, reliable and trustworthy " get references. Once you choose a contractor, make sure that you get the contractors licence number and a copy of their insurance and bonding proof for your files.

#4 Financing

If you haven't already done so, and if you will be financing all or part of your home renovations, now is the time to do it. You may be required to present the paperwork you have obtained from your contractor, as well as his quote for the work to be done. You may also want to have estimates for the materials you will need for any work that you will be doing on your own. Your contractor may require you to prove that you will be able to pay him, or he may require a deposit before beginning the work, and you will want peace of mind that the financing is taken care of before you have a contractor's bill to pay.

#5 Get Started

You are ready to start your home renovations now. If you will be doing the work on your own, now is the time to start. Be sure to have a detailed checklist of the process of the renovations so that you won't forget anything and so that you can see your progress. If you will be using a contractor, make sure to be available to manage his progress every step of the way by using our contractor checklist. Have fun and enjoy your home renovations.

For more Information on this topic visit http://www.buildwish.com a free Online Home & Garden Renovation & Design Directory in 100 Cities in North America. Featuring millions of Real Estate Classifieds, Helpful Articles, Contests, Virtual home tools, Qualified Trades, Forums, a moving center, free quotes for Insurance, Moving, Mortgages, Contractors, Foreclosures and Much More!

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