Melanson Homes & Renovations
Home renovation projects can quickly become overwhelming, stressful and expensive. Whether it’s a bathroom, basement, kitchen renovation or a complete home remodel, hidden renovation costs can add up. As custom homebuilders, we often see homeowners troubled with picking materials, hiring professionals from different trades and finalizing design plans.
With a project as significant and treasured as your family home, it’s important to stay organized and plan the process to avoid unnecessary costs and issues. Here are some of our tips on things to remember and consider when renovating the different rooms in your home to avoid making costly mistakes and to stay on budget.
Kitchen Renovation Hidden Costs
Varied Installation Costs
When purchasing new appliances for your kitchen renovation, be sure to look into installation costs – not just the cost of the appliance. The installation costs for appliances like hood fans, fridges, stoves, etc. can range depending on what you select. For new home builds or large appliance purchases from a home improvement or furniture store, installation may be included in the price of the appliance. However, for custom appliances or retailers that don’t include delivery, you may need to hire a professional for an additional fee.
Identify Load-Bearing Walls
It’s no secret that open-concept kitchens have been the go-to layout for a while now. However, before you tear down a wall to create that open-concept floorplan, make sure to identify load-bearing walls. Look in your attic or basement to see where the pipes or ducts are running into the wall and look for registers and radiators. This will help you avoid ruining existing electrical wiring or plumbing when removing a wall.
Switching Between Gas & Electric
If your kitchen renovation project includes buying a new stove or oven, make sure you understand the additional cost of switching from gas to electrical and vice versa. A gas line upgrade or running a new circuit to a switchboard can quickly add costs to your project!
Bathroom Renovation Hidden Costs
Electrical Wiring
Before changing the layout of your bathroom make sure to consider how it could affect where you need lights, outlets and light switches. To stay on budget, remember to factor in the cost of hiring an electrician to upgrade the wiring before you move things around.
Waterproof to Prevent Future Costs
The bathroom is the wettest place in the home – if you have kids you especially know this to be true! Being diligent with waterproofing when doing a bathroom renovation might add a little extra cost at the renovation stage but will definitely save you money on maintenance in the future.
Think About Drainage When Installing a New Tub or Toilet
A vintage clawfoot bathtub in the master ensuite? Yes please! As luxurious as a new bathtub, shower or toilet can be, make sure you think about drainage before changing things up. To save on additional costs, try to use the same drainage point so you don’t have the additional expense of adding a new drainage line.
Basement Renovation Hidden Costs
More Rooms Mean More Materials
Open spaces are a lot less expensive to renovate. The more rooms you separate your basement into – the more materials, wiring and plumbing you’re going to need. Before you start your basement renovation, we recommend identifying the least amount of rooms you need to make the renovation cost effective and going from there.
Consider Using Carpet
For a basement renovation, carpet is your best bet for flooring material in terms of long term cost savings. Basements a prone to water damage and carpets can be replaced multiple times at significantly lower costs than any other flooring alternative.
Prevent Water Damage
Similar to taking the extra time and money to waterproof your bathroom during a renovation, look for moisture problems in your basement and resolve them during the renovation. Addressing these issues while you renovate might incur more initial costs but will definitely help you save on future damage repair costs.
Relaxing with your family in your newly remodelled dream home is the best feeling in the world. The only thing that can take away from that feeling is a price tag that went way over your initial budget. If you stay organized and consider the potential hidden costs of each room, you should be able to save on unforeseen expenses and stay on budget on your next home renovation project.
Check out some of our past home improvement projects in our project collection.