How to Build a Renovation Plan to Match Your Budget

As a client, you may feel like you have little influence over whether your remodeling project stays on budget and hits the finish line on time. But you have more control than you might think. Remember, the scope of your project and the specific materials are up to you. The key to keeping a project on budget and on schedule is nailing down the details before ground breaks. If you’ve never renovated or built a new home, you may not be sure about how the seed of an idea turns into a completed project. Here’s a road map for two early steps: putting together your renovation team and nailing down your project’s cost.

Who Will Help You Build Your Vision? Before you meet with a professional, you should know what you want to accomplish. Is your goal to tear out your entire kitchen and start fresh? Or are you looking for less costly upgrades, perhaps replacing cabinet fronts and a tired backsplash? Or do you want to remodel your whole house? Some homeowners know only that the current home isn’t working for them but aren’t sure how to fix it. If you are in this group, you may decide to work with professionals who can help you develop a plan and advise you on cost. A recent survey showed that 85 percent of people who renovated in 2016 did so with professional help. The survey covered 120,000 people, including 70,000 who renovated.

What Exactly Do Pros Do? The most important documents you will need are; The construction plans, Your building plans must be approved by an agency to make sure the home is safe and meets local codes. So unless you are familiar with building codes and construction methods, you will want to hire a professional to draft these plans. Rules for which pros can draft plans vary by state (and in some states by county or municipality) and with the size and type of project. Look to the local building department or the professionals you contact to explain the rules in your area. Each profession has its special emphasis. Architects create concepts and draw plans. General contractors build the plans. Landscape architects create designs and plans for outdoor spaces. Design-build firms offer both design and building services, some with in-house architects, others by contracting the design work out. Interior Designers add the finishing touches and go over plans, helping with layouts, colors, and furnishings. Giving your newly renovated house, the Home feeling. (What I would be helping with.) Ask About Options Many pros offer a range of services, from initial design to project management, which may be priced as menu options or charged at per-hour rates. For just one example, architects can provide evaluation and planning services, which can involve site analysis and selection, economic feasibility studies and helping you determine what you want, need and are willing to pay for. Architecture firms offer design services, including documents that define the space’s shape, and they may work closely with engineers as needed in relationship to the structural elements. They also may offer construction management services, involving consulting and coordinating with the various agencies overseeing your project, or manage the bidding process when you search for the right contractor. These are just a handful of the services your architect may provide, so it is worth asking about pricing and what is involved as you shop around. Also, there could be some overlap in the menus of services provided by the different pros, so be sure that you are clear on what you need and what services each will perform.

Even if you are not planning to hire a professional to design or manage your renovation, you may want to hire a pro on a per-hour basis to help you refine your ideas. “A small percentage of upfront money with a professional can really help clarify the scope of the project and the budget before you get too involved.

Select Your First Team Member When hiring your first design team member, you can start with a builder, architect, designer, design-build firm or remodeler, depending on your needs and priorities. If you already know a contractor whose work you like, he or she will probably have a list of architects and interior designers to recommend. That is also true if you start with other pros, such as hiring an Interior Designer to help get ideas rolling.

Narrow your list down to your favorites and then interview a few people. See how it might feel to work together — make sure you have a rapport with the professional. You should find out whether they listen and whether they are good communicators. Their design ability is very important, But it’s also a long-term relationship. They’re going to ask pretty personal questions and know a fair amount about you.

You should follow this same basic process with an interior designer, landscape architect, general contractor or design-build firm. Keep in mind that the average kitchen remodel takes about five months once construction starts, but three times that long from initial design phase to completion. So the professionals you hire should be people you like and can communicate with. Even with smaller Remodel Projects, you still want to have a good vibe with any professional you work with.

Be Up Front About Your Number It’s helpful to be honest about your budget with the professionals you contact. Pros typically work with clients whose budgets are within a certain range. If you fall in love with a pro whose projects start at $50,000, but you have $5,000 to spend, you’re probably not a match. Some homeowners pay a high-end designer to create the initial plan, only to realize that the products and materials suggested are out of range.

Homeowners without constrained budgets may be afraid to be too forthcoming for fear that pros will push them to spend more than they would like. That’s where checking references and finding people you can communicate with comes in. In the process of vetting the pros you are considering, you will find reputable people who will not push you but use your target number to help guide your plan. Some Averages to Go On If you have never renovated or built a home, you may have no idea how much it’s going to cost. To give you a sense of average budgets, here are some recent stats: People renovating kitchens had budgets ranging from less than $5,000 to more than $100,000. One-quarter of renovators had budgets of $25,001 to $50,000, while 20 percent had budgets of $15,001 to $25,000. Only 10 percent had budgets of $5,000 or less, and only 6 percent had budgets of more than $100,000. The range of figures here is national; it should be noted that renovation costs vary by region and even city.

"Matching your renovation dreams and dollars can sometimes feel like a challenge. But there’s a lot you can do to get the look you want at the right price. Here we’ll focus on how to work with your professionals to sharpen your renovation vision, understand its realistic cost, and refine the plan to match your budget when necessary. You’d follow the same basic process if you’re acting as your own general contractor."

Create Your Dream Plan Once you’ve chosen the pro (or pros) who’ll be designing and drafting your renovation plan, you’ll move into a deeper conversation about your vision. To prepare, make a list of the things that are driving you crazy about your house. Collect images of homes that inspire you. Your chosen architect, designer or builder will likely ask you a range of questions about how you use the space and how you live day to day. He or she will also want to get a sense of the materials and styles you prefer.

As a designer I like when my clients share with me their pie-in-the-sky ideas. They may not always get incorporated , but there might be one nugget of an idea that might inform the whole project.

These initial conversations are invaluable as architects and designers work through the stages of a project, from initial design plans to final drawings and permitted plans. This design-then-revise process is key to creating a plan you love — that also matches your budget. And it’s part of why coming up with a new home or renovation plan takes time.

The next step is getting a measured drawing that shows the home’s existing conditions, or an accurate rendering of the house as it stands before renovation. What the American Institute of Architects refers to as a measured drawing of existing conditions is sometimes called an as-built, so clarify what you mean with the pro you work with. “Once you have an as-built, you’re not throwing away money.… The more information you can put out on a sketch on paper, the less likely you are to make a change in the field or have a surprise.” The drawing becomes a useful tool as the architect creates the renovation plan. These drawings may be done by a design-build firm, general contractor, architect or interior designer. Next Stop: The Budget Check Once the architect or designer has crafted initial drawings with dimensions, it’s time for an initial price comparison from contractors, also called a rough order of magnitude cost comparison. This is when you send initial plans out to contractors for pricing. Keep in mind that these aren’t bids — which in the best (though not all) cases are extremely detailed assessments of what a project will cost to build. Instead, these initial price comparisons are reasonable ballparks for how much a project might cost to build. Keep in mind that the final number will depend on which finishes and materials you, the owner, select.

To come up with the rough order of magnitude cost number, the contractor will likely count up the number of doors and windows, look at electrical and plumbing systems, and build out line-item costs based on average per-square-foot costs for the work proposed. Maybe one contractor says it’s $100,000, another says $150,000, another $200,000. The goal of this initial price comparison is to feel confident enough about the likely cost of your project to move ahead with the architect or designer and pay for additional work to finalize your design plan.

Most of the time, contractors will do the initial price comparison for free, though in parts of the country, an increasing number of firms are beginning to charge.

Get Apples-to-Apples Pricing Even without fully engineered plans, you can create some standardization among your initial price comparisons by providing contractors with allowances — an industry term for specific cost projections — on items that haven’t yet been selected, such as plumbing, fixtures, sinks or lighting. Ask your architect to provide these — perhaps in unit terms, such as $10 a square foot for tile, or in rough group costs, such as $10,000 total for cabinetry. That way, the only variation between the bids you get are the fees the contractor will charge you for labor, project management, overhead and other costs of doing business.

Once the numbers are back, your architect or designer can review the initial price comparisons and make sure that the contractors have included the same features. There is no standard way to write up these price comparisons, so one contractor may include all the millwork in the “cabinetry” line item, and another may forget to include the metal supports needed for a kitchen countertop. Your designer can provide a careful eye on the rough order of magnitude costs that come back from the contractors and make sure what has been priced is apples-to-apples.

Refine Your Vision to Match Your Budget Once you receive the initial cost estimates, reality will hit. If your dream plan pencils out at more than your ideal budget, your architect can use these cost estimates to help you scale back. For example, you may have planned for beautiful custom cabinets that stretch to the top of your 12-foot ceiling. You may not have known that by raising your upper cabinets, you’ve almost quadrupled the cost because your standard cabinet doesn’t go to 12 feet. So you’ll begin to look at alternatives that better match your budget. This process is known as value engineering.

Even owners fortunate enough to have flexible or even unlimited budgets must decide what features are really worth the price. These are very personal decisions, but as a guideline, it can be helpful to ask yourself what matters most to your family. “What are your top five priorities? What do you want to get out of it?” Some clients may know they want a wine cooler. Others may say, “I really want that stove, but I can give up this dishwasher.”

Now is a good time to select your contractor from among those who provided initial price comparisons. Contractors can be a big help in working with you and the architect to suggest lower-cost alternatives as your plans develop, but some will go through a round of competitive pricing only once. Still, many contractors, once hired, will work with you to do subsequent price comparisons as you and your architect or designer continue to hash out the details and value-engineer. Hashing out these details is an iterative process until you reach a fully designed plan with all the products and materials specified and priced. You’ll move from initial concept to fully engineered plans over several iterations. Along the way, you should select all your materials if you can, as this will go far in making sure that you don’t go over budget later.

Having a good design team on board early in the process can help you determine where to compromise as well as guide you in all the decisions you’ll need to make. Get all those people together, The interior designer, they’ve got to collaborate with the architect. Together, your team can come up with the best plan for the money. Getting everyone in the same room to hash out the plan, though in this internet age, people could also hold a meeting by phone or Skype.

Pay for Due Diligence When your design plan is nearly complete, you may want to pay your contractor for a little extra research upfront before you finalize the project scope and budget. If you're going to pull out a wall, you want to know: Is it a structural, load-bearing wall? Are you seeing signs of some rot or some water damage? Unanticipated problems can range from a thousand to tens of thousands of dollars to correct. If you have to pull out and replace rotted wood, maybe that Sub-Zero appliance gets nixed.

Some contractors make pre-construction due diligence a regular part of the process. Even if your contractor doesn’t normally take this step before commencing work, you could ask how much he or she would charge to do so. Contractors have charged as little as $200 for minor research and as much as $12,000 for a full set of architectural plans. It can be a good step to take before you sign off on the final plan with your contractor, as this kind of research could change the scope of work — and the price.

I hope this break down and information has been helpful to you! May your next Renovation Project, Big or Small, be smooth and you create a Beautiful Home you Love! Contact Me if you are wanting to start a project, I would love to meet you!