When you decide to renovate your home, you will generally sit down and create a plan. In this plan you will have what you want to renovate, whether it is the kitchen countertop, adding a bathroom or adding a whole room altogether.
No matter what the renovation is, there is always one similarity, which is creating a budget.
Your budget will be how you structure your entire renovating project. By this I mean, you will be picking material, tools, etc through the budget you have determined, if you find yourself reaching the breaking point, then you will reconsider.
That would be the ideal situation, however what tends to happen is that people will budget themselves for the renovation, however they do not keep a proper record of their spending until the project is near completion, making it too late.
When you create a budget, it can only serve its purpose if you are able to follow through with it.
If your budget is set at $5,000 for the entire kitchen renovation you have in mind, it is not feasible to spend $4,000 on a new granite countertop, when you still have to buy kitchen cabinets, not to mention the labour costs if you are not doing the work yourself.
You might be thinking that unexpected costs occur, and it cannot be helped if you go over budget. Now look at it from this perspective, why bother spending the time and energy creating a budget if you will not put it into effect.
A budget is designed so that you can ultimately save on how much you are spending; therefore it is common to add in “unexpected” costs into it at the beginning.
There really is no excuse for going over your budget, unless you decide to change the renovation altogether. In that case you should be revising the budget altogether.
When you set a budget, and want to stick with it, you simply need to record every purchase. At the end of each day, take the bills you have for anything related to the renovation and tally it. Place the bills in a folder along with your total amount spent and you can determine on a daily basis how much of your budget you have left.
You should be placing allocations for what to buy in your budget. By this I mean, have how much you will be spending on materials listed, and what you need for labours costs outlined. This way you should have thought of everything you will need for the renovation and will be able to stick to the budget.
Sue Toyne is a Sales Representative with Royal LePage/Johnston & Daniel Division. Sue’s website is located at www.susantoyne.com. Sue is regular contributor to the Muddy York Real Estate Blog.
