Your home can feel like a never-ending project. Even when you think all the rooms are complete, you’ll always find something to change!
But as any homeowner knows, home improvements cost money, which means having to make some decisions about what’s possible in your home and when. Some projects may need to be prioritised out of necessity over those that are on your wishlist, which can be difficult when you’re trying to create your dream home!
Take a look at the following tips for how to prioritise your home improvements to help you make the most of your budget and time.
Cost up each project
The best way to start prioritising your home improvements is to make a list of all the work that needs doing and attach a cost to it. This will take a lot of planning and research, but it will give you a clearer idea of what you’re up against. From the materials to the labour involved, you should spend time working out each item, as well as adding some extra for emergencies. You may need to balance the costs against finding the right team for the job to make sure you get the best results for your project.
Work out the ‘musts’ and the ‘nice-to-haves’
Once you have a clearer idea of what each job will cost, you can start working out which ones are the ‘musts’ and which are the ‘nice-to-haves’. You should prioritise structural works and jobs that are needed for safety reasons over the more cosmetic and decorative jobs. While your asbestos removal cost may cost more than painting your guest room, it’s important to get the key jobs done first. There’s also no point in doing the nicer jobs until the messier work is completed, as you’ll likely get dust and dirt everywhere anyway!
Establish what you can DIY
There may be some jobs you can DIY to help you complete your home improvements quicker. You can learn to do work such as plastering, painting and tiling easily to help you cut some of your costs. Choosing to do some elements of your home yourself will mean you can allocate more of your budget to tradespeople who can tackle the more difficult and skilled jobs, including electrical and plumbing work.
Simplify to save time and effort
To save yourself time and effort on maintenance work in the long run, you might also want to think about ways that you can simplify your home and garden space as a DIY exercise. It’s worth putting the additional work in now to save yourself time in the long run, and free up your schedule to focus more on the things that matter. You might decide to automate your home with smart technology, such as lights on timers, sensors, and even smart heating that will turn on and off automatically based on your daily schedule.
If you want to spend less time working in your garden and more time enjoying it, you might also consider switching to an artificial grass lawn instead. This is a trend that has been growing in popularity in the UK over the past couple of years, offering a low-maintenance alternative to traditional grass that won’t require regular watering or cutting.
Look for ways to cut costs to help your budget go further
There are further ways you can save money on your home improvement costs. Shopping around for materials, furniture, etc. can help you increase your savings, so you can spend money elsewhere. It’s worth calling into showrooms to look at old stock that might be being sold off, or asking around for people who have excess that they’d like to get rid of cheaply. You’ll be surprised at the savings you can make to bring your overall costs down.
Carrying out home improvements is exciting, but it can be overwhelming when you’re trying to juggle the costs and the amount of work involved. Take time to plan and cost each bit of work to help you get the best results from your home improvements and build your dream home without going over budget.
I always look for ways to reduce costs where I can!
As always, incredibly sensible content. I am currently in this situation with n older property and losing a bit of sleep about it!
All thanks to YouTube my husband and I have managed to cut cost by learning how to DIY some projects. It means so much more when we complete it successfully and it saves us a lot too
All we want to do this year is paint and carpet three bedrooms but these keep getting further and further down on the priority list. Great tips.