How to Budget & Make Things Affordable

The budget: the nitty gritty of a remodel project that no one wants to talk about. While getting down and dirty with the numbers isn’t the most fun for everyone, it’s an important step of a remodel that can’t be overlooked. Establishing your budget and sharing that with your team means that everyone is on the same page and working together to get you to your end goal. This is when you’ll find true design freedom.

At the end of the day, budgets help you…
– Not overspend
– Not waste time
– Avoid sticker shock

Here are some of our top budgeting tools

Consider your motivation
Before you start any renovation project, you have to consider your future plans. Are you remodeling to sell? Do you have plans to move in five years? Is this your forever home? How you answer this question is going to determine a lot about your budget. Think about where you are in life before setting your budget, and you’ll be much better off for it.

Prioritize Your Expenditures
Just like how it’s important to keep in mind your future plans with crafting your budget, sit down and prioritize your wants, needs, and desires. When you first get started gathering inspiration and putting ideas together, it can be super easy to add things to the list of what you want. This can make a project quickly blow out of proportions. Making your list of needs and numbering them based on your priorities is such an important thing to do. To help with this, work through our remodel planner sheets.

Bricks-and-Mortar vs. Pretty Things
When we say bricks-and-mortar, we’re talking about the contractors, plumbers, electricians, drywall, the nuts and bolts, etc. These are the things that you don’t sit down and select, but rather the given part of any project. When budgeting, it’s important to remember that somewhere between 30-50% of your budget may be taken up by these things. While it’s easy to get carried away with all the pretty things, such as beautiful wallpaper and flooring, don’t make the mistake of leaving out the bricks-and-mortar. In relation to this, it’s important to make sure that you’re working with real experts. This will make a huge difference!

If you’d like to start on your own transformation journey, use our plan now tool and visit our virtual showroom. We also have a blog with a step-by-step checklist to help you on your design adventure.

For more information on how to make things affordable, head over to our YouTube channel.