Home Improvement Money Tips

It feels like this is the right time to talk about big budgets and the dollars and cents of it all. We are all still very much home and staring at those walls a lot more than ever. But something you hear when confronted with a renovation is: "we blew the budget on (insert unexpected upgrade here)". Has this happened to you? Or does the fear of going over budget prevent you from taking the plunge to that dream kitchen?

I'm super afraid of going over budget because we run a tight ship in our household, going over budget could mean not enough money for all of our other goals, which is a deal breaker. So how do you tackle something like this and move forward? You over estimate! Always, always, always round UP your expenses, if you get sucked into the idea that you could get a deal, or join some fancy club to get deals, you are going to end up over budget and disappointed.

We once again got some pro tips from KSN Pro Design, Kaeleigh knows her stuff and I like how when she zips up a quote she doesn't underestimate the overall cost and therefore manages your expectations/pocket book appropriately.

Here's what she has to say about keeping your costs in line:

Did you know that the average renovation cost is 6-10% higher than what was budgeted?! 2 things generally cause this increase in cost:

1️⃣ Lack of a solid plan to the end goal, before the hammers started swinging! Decisions made during the project, instead of before, will lead to long & costly timelines. 2️⃣ Unforeseen issues. 😱 Lots of things happen behind walls and under floors that can't be seen. Or, it was seen, but the scale of the issue couldn't be planned for until the project was underway. That's can be a lot of extra 💲to an already tight situation. The simplest fix to these 2 problems is to add a 10% contingency plan to your budget. The bonus?If you don't need to use it on the things you don't see, you can always use it on the things you DO see! Win, Win.👏 https://ksnprodesign.ca/