1. It will cost twice as much as you thought and take 3 times as long....even with the planning and spreadsheets so don’t organise the house warming just yet....
With all the best will in the world you will not be able to account for everything so you may as well tear up your spreadsheets at the beginning of the project and hope for the best. The spreadsheets, folders and mood boards will certainly help you keep on track of things and if you are embarking on a whole house project this will be invaluable in keeping track of what you have ordered and need to order. It will also help you immensely in minimising ordering errors but there will be so many unpredictable expenses that you will not be able to plan for that you need to expect them and have the funds to solve them as you go. When you ask the Builder at the beginning of the project how long it will all take be sure to take this with a pinch of salt because yes he is right the kitchen technically can only take a week to install but it certainly does not take a week to completely finish so don’t kid yourself.
2. Measure twice and cut once....
Making sure that you are ordering the correct products and quantities as this can be a very expensive and time consuming error as a lot of companies will not just take back things you have purchased.
3. Tradesmen will lie to you....
No trade is exempt from this one and it sounds like a harsh reality but it is one that you need to embrace. It is not a personal thing and it is nothing you did wrong but they have a business to run and they will always prioritise their money over finishing your project.
Being left out of pocket and feeling like someone has ripped you off is an awful thing for anyone to go through but it is not a one sided game. For all of the stories that you have heard of cowboy builders ripping off a poor elderly couple of their life savings there are also an equal number of stories about honest tradesmen who did exactly what their customers asked them too and did a great job but due to completely unrealistic demands of the customer they have refused to pay and lost out in a lots of money so it is perfectly normal for a Tradesman to approach a project with caution and request deposits or payment up front especially if they are having to buy any products upfront themselves.
You are essentially their employer for this short period of time so they expect to get paid for any work under taken but here is the warning....avoid paying for their labour up front as any good Tradesman will want to be paid once the job is done and you are satisfied with the quality of their work and if you are pleased with their work do pay up instead of searching for faults in the hope that you can knock some money off retrospectively as that's not fair either.
5. Embrace the microwaveable meal....
Unless you have the luxury of not living in the same property that you are refurbishing then things are going to be a little uncomfortable for a while. Embrace the microwave and camping stove, embrace the dust and definitely embrace the washing up in the bathtub because this is going to be life for a while.
With all of this aside you can be sure of one thing, it will all be worth it in the end because you can’t beat sitting in a finished room knowing that you chose everything in it and it looks great.
