Let’s face it – when it comes to designing your home, we’re sure that you’ll agree with us when we say that it can be all too easy to see those costs creep up, even if we try to stick to a budget or shop around for the best deals.
Truth is, nobody wants to have to pay more than they intended while renovating or designing a home, and more often than not, most homeowners will find themselves drafting up a strict budget to prevent overspending… and not always being able to stick to it.
This is where we come in to lend you a helping hand. In order to ensure that you are able to design your home without completely breaking the bank, below we are going to be sharing with you some top tips and tricks for keeping your spending under control.
1. Take The Time To Make A Budget Prior To Beginning
First things first, one of the best ways that you can make sure that you are able to save money while designing or renovating your home is by taking the time to draft up a budget prior to beginning.
If you’re going to be working with an architect or designer, make sure that you clearly communicate your budget with them, as this will ensure that they know what they’re working with and will prevent any accidental overspending.
If you’re going to be designing your home alone, having a clear budget in mind will help you to make wiser spending decisions.
If you’re not too sure of how to go about drafting a budget, why don’t you (and whoever else you are going to be living with) take the time to do a few brainstorming sessions so that you can clearly see what type of design and interior you would like your home to have, and then calculating a budget from the provisional design draft?
Alongside making a budget and doing your very best to stick to it, we also recommend that you consider sourcing a variety of different suppliers, as this will help to increase the chances of you getting the best value for your money.
To give you an idea of what we mean by this, if you’re planning to supply and source your own bricks, then we recommend reaching out to several suppliers and negotiating a price, as you will more than likely find that you are able to get yourself a deal below market average.
2. Prioritize Simplicity
We’re sure that you’ll have already heard this one before, but airing towards simple structure designs over more complex ones is a surefire way to keep your costs low, as the more intricate a design is, the more expensive it will be to bring to life.
While this might not be such a bad thing if you are looking to make a real investment in the design of your property, it is important to keep in mind if you are looking to save as much money as you can. Not to mention, the additional costs from the construction team due to the extra time and resources required to create more complicated structure shapes.
3. If You Can, Do It Yourself!
While it might not be possible for you to construct your home yourself or do some of the more difficult tasks, if you are able to do some of the more simple tasks – then we strongly recommend that you consider doing so.
Not only will this save you a lot of money in the long run, but it will also speed up the design process significantly, as any contractors that you have hired to do some of the high-skilled construction jobs won’t be held up by some of the smaller tasks that you will have already completed yourself.
Another way that you might be able to lower the costs at the building site is by taking the time to clean up the site after the end of each day. Not only will this help to keep costs down as you won’t be charged extra, but you will also be helping out the builders.
4. Try And Stick To Your Initial Plan
Before we get into this point, we first want to say that it’s entirely normal to find yourself going over budget by 10-20%, especially as many home renovations and designs can infer additional costs down the road due to unexpected blips.
However, as we have already mentioned in a previous point above, taking the time to create a detailed and precise plan will help to ensure that you are able to keep your costs to a minimum.
We also recommend that you try and refrain from changing your mind halfway through the design process, as asking your designer and construction team to change something while already in the process of the home build will naturally lead to additional costs that you might not have wanted.
5. Consider Reaching Out To A Quantity Surveyor
This one might seem a little unconventional, but hear us out. If you’re going to be designing your home from scratch, then opting to go directly to an architect or home designer might not always be the best route of action, especially if you’re looking to save as much money as you can.
In order to ensure that you know exactly what you’re likely going to need to pay for designing and renovating your home. Reaching out to a quantity surveyor will provide you with the opportunity to gain a better understanding of any hidden costs you can expect to encounter along the way, and that will provide you with the chance to make changes to your design draft prior to beginning to starting out. Even though hiring the help of a quantity surveyor alongside your architect will be more expensive initially, it will likely save you more money in the long run.
