7 unexpected renovation costs to budget for
Residential
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Residential
Some electrical projects, like installing a new powerpoint or shifting a few cables, can sound simple. In reality, they can mean significant adjustments to a property’s electrical schematics and can require an equally significant amount of labour and cost.
Installing a new powerpoint or moving an existing one, for example, can involve cutting through existing walls and patching them back up, or even needing to completely shift wiring placements.
You then have to pay for the labour of the electrician as well as the cost of repainting that newly-patched hole in the wall.
This is particularly important for people on a renovation budget that has been quoted suspiciously low. These budgets frequently only include the costs of installing one powerpoint per room, which is often not enough for today’s modern living and high-use areas like living rooms or bedrooms.
If you are making changes to the layout or structure of the home, you may also have to move a switchboard, which presents similar issues. Be sure to consult with an electrician in the planning stages to see what can be done and get a detailed quote —to see if it’s all worth it.
Sometimes, a wall that you want to remove can unexpectedly contain plumbing—this is a problem that demolition experts can’t deal with on their own, so now a plumber has to be hired alongside the engineer.
Another common example is moving the kitchen sink to the other side of the room during a renovation. Redirecting those pipes through floors and walls is time-consuming and expensive.
If your initial quote is thorough, these potential changes should be included, but that isn’t always guaranteed. Costs like these are why so many people include a 10 per cent leeway in their total budget.
Expect the unexpected, and budget for it.
Renovations are made up of two major costs: materials and labour. Materials can be cheap, but decent labour rarely is.
This can make it tempting to try and DIY the work yourself, such as painting. While a quick “lick of paint” is practically an institution in itself in a Kiwi home renovation, the reality is that many people underestimate how long the process can take or how difficult it can be.
An average room, for example, can take over 24 hours to professionally paint, sometimes much longer depending on the amount of surface preparation work required. Now try extrapolating that to an entire house during a full renovation, and increase the timing by about 50 per cent due to the lack of professional skill and other commitments such as work, kids etc. It could take you weeks of straight work to complete!
Often people end up needing to hire a professional because they don’t have the time to do it themselves, or worst of all, they make a mistake and have to call in a professional to fix it.
The lesson here is that if you want quality and a higher price point for your home, it’s often best to rely on professionals, even when you don’t need to by law. Good labour and a quality finish costs, but fixing mistakes can cost more.
Damage to your property during renovations are often covered by the professional insurance carried by workmen—but it would be unwise to rely on it completely.
That’s why many people turn to building insurance or works insurance during a renovation; a package that covers most common (and uncommon) sources of property damage.
It’s an often overlooked and underestimated insurance package, but it can save you from enormous out-of-pocket expense should something particularly disastrous and unexpected happen.
Even after factoring it into your expenses, consider the fact that renovation work can go on for longer than expected. Works insurance only covers you for a set period of time. Be ready to pay out extra, just in case that reno is delayed. Contact your insurance company or local broker to discuss your options before you get stuck in.
Easily the most common source of unexpected cost is the homeowner changing their mind.
Any time a homeowner changes their mind, they are racking up costs in some shape or form; whether that means the pre-fit cabinets now have to be sent back and remade, doubling the cost, or they’re now having to get new design drafts made by a draughtsperson and approved by the council.
Sometimes these alterations aren’t the homeowner’s fault, and a certain material, furnishing or other part of the home plan may simply not be available, or possible to use. But whether it’s due to a change of mind or a change of availability, it’s the homeowner who needs to shell out for the extra cost of an alteration and the labour/time associated with that change.
It’s often necessary to vacate your home during big renovations for safety or efficiency reasons, or at the very least move your belongings and furniture from a room or set of rooms.
If you don’t have alternative accommodation or storage available, then you may have to rent a property or storage unit for the duration of the renovation.
This comes with associated moving and living costs, but smaller changes like needing to buy food or buy more fuel than usual to travel between locations or drop kids to school from a different suburb can also add up and bloat your expenditure over the long term.
The same reasoning goes for pets as well. Rover is often unwelcome when there are sawblades and hammers at work, and he’ll need to be boarded somewhere for a time as finding a rental property that allows pets can also be difficult, meaning unexpected kenneling or doggy daycare charges.
While it’s now illegal to use asbestos as a construction material, it was extremely popular in the 70’s and 80’s, and many older New Zealand homes (ironically the ones that could do with a renovation the most) may contain it either as a lining in the walls, under the lino or in the exterior cladding of the house.
That’s why it pays to have a building inspection before work begins in earnest as it is not safe to remove certain levels of asbestos yourself. Professionals are needed to remove and dispose of the affected materials and have the approved equipment to do so
Check that you’ve factored these possibilities into your overall budget, add a significant buffer and double-check your building contract and quotes to see if everything that you’re expecting is there.
If in doubt, remember this: it’s better to plan hard now than it is to pay hard later.
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