Home Renovation Tips and Ideas

A comfortable residence will make you and your family more comfortable at home. To make this happen, you need extra effort to renovate your home. By doing renovations, it will make the appearance of the house better. A good home appearance will make you more comfortable in it. A good home appearance not only makes you comfortable but can increase the investment value of the house and the prestige of the owner.
What is Renovation?

Interior remodeling is one of the efforts of property owners to physically repair damaged houses or rebuild damaged buildings. Expanding a building by constructing a new building on the remaining land is also a form of home renovation. Home renovations can be minor or major renovations. Renovation is said to be minor if the repairs carried out are only repainting 1 part or just repairing a leak. However, renovation can be major if you are rebuilding a damaged building or constructing a new building where none existed before.

Doing a home renovation is not something that can be done “at random”. You have to do careful planning before you decide to do a home renovation. The difficulty in renovating a house depends on the building model, the shape of the building and the area of the building. The more difficult the level of difficulty in the renovation process, the more expensive the budget you have to prepare. For example, the budget for renovating a house with a minimalist design, which is a symmetrical flat model with a small house size, will certainly be different from the budget that must be prepared to renovate a classic luxury house. Talking about the budget, you have to do the RAB before doing the renovation.

What is RAB?

Before doing renovations, you must do RAB. What is RAB? RAB is the Building Budget Plan. The RAB is in the form of a draft which contains the details of the material needed and the quantity of material needed. In the RAB there is a calculation of the total cost of the material needed. The formula to get the total cost of the material needed is the unit price of the material multiplied by the quantity of the material. The result of this multiplication will produce the total budget per material. Make sure you do the multiplication on all the materials needed. The results of multiplying the total budget per material are added up with each other which results in the total material budget as a whole.

Tips for Choosing Contractor Vendors (Builders)

As a layman, of course you can’t do home renovations alone. You need a reliable and experienced contractor vendor in building (renovating) houses. Building a house is not as easy as building bricks like lego toys. Skills in the field of architecture are needed so that the strength of the renovated building is guaranteed.

The contractor can also help you in calculating the required budgeting materials. An expert contractor can estimate the material needed just by hearing your directions (desires). You must be careful in calculating RAB, because even a slight miss will result in unexpected expenses. If you don’t have a reserve fund for these unexpected expenses, it will result in abandoned house construction or renovation.

It is important for you to choose a contractor vendor. Contractors play an important role in the renovation process. It’s a good idea to see some tips from Ray White in choosing a contractor vendor. This is to prevent you from neglecting a renovation project.

Home Renovation Tips and Ideas

A comfortable residence will make you and your family more comfortable at home. To make this happen, you need extra effort to renovate your home. By doing renovations, it will make the appearance of the house better. A good home appearance will make you more comfortable in it. A good home appearance not only makes you comfortable but can increase the investment value of the house and the prestige of the owner.
What is Renovation?

Renovation is one of the efforts of property owners to physically repair damaged houses or rebuild damaged buildings. Expanding a building by constructing a new building on the remaining land is also a form of home renovation. Home renovations can be minor or major renovations. Renovation is said to be minor if the repairs carried out are only repainting 1 part or just repairing a leak. However, renovation can be major if you are rebuilding a damaged building or constructing a new building where none existed before.

Doing a home renovation is not something that can be done “at random”. You have to do careful planning before you decide to do a home renovation. The difficulty in renovating a house depends on the building model, the shape of the building and the area of the building. The more difficult the level of difficulty in the renovation process, the more expensive the budget you have to prepare. For example, the budget for renovating a house with a minimalist design, which is a symmetrical flat model with a small house size, will certainly be different from the budget that must be prepared to renovate a classic luxury house. Talking about the budget, you have to do the RAB before doing the renovation.

What is RAB?

Before doing renovations, you must do RAB. What is RAB? RAB is the Building Budget Plan. The RAB is in the form of a draft which contains the details of the material needed and the quantity of material needed. In the RAB there is a calculation of the total cost of the material needed. The formula to get the total cost of the material needed is the unit price of the material multiplied by the quantity of the material. The result of this multiplication will produce the total budget per material. Make sure you do the multiplication on all the materials needed. The results of multiplying the total budget per material are added up with each other which results in the total material budget as a whole.

Tips for Choosing Contractor Vendors (Builders)

As a layman, of course you can’t do home renovations alone. You need a reliable and experienced contractor vendor in building (renovating) houses. Building a house is not as easy as building bricks like lego toys. Skills in the field of architecture are needed so that the strength of the renovated building is guaranteed.

The contractor can also help you in calculating the required budgeting materials. An expert contractor can estimate the material needed just by hearing your directions (desires). You must be careful in calculating RAB, because even a slight miss will result in unexpected expenses. If you don’t have a reserve fund for these unexpected expenses, it will result in abandoned house construction or renovation.

It is important for you to choose a contractor vendor. Contractors play an important role in the renovation process. It’s a good idea to see some tips from Ray White in choosing a contractor vendor. This is to prevent you from neglecting a renovation project.

 Ask Neighbors or Relatives for Recommendations

If you are in a situation where the renovation project is in new housing or far away from your regular builder, then ask someone who knows the place for a recommendation. Neighbors are one person who can provide recommendations. You can see your neighbor’s house that is being renovated or has recently been renovated. You can see directly the work of the builders.

If you see that the builder’s work is satisfactory, you can further ask the neighbor for the costs of materials and services incurred. This can be a reference for you in preparing the RAB. If possible, ask a few neighbors for lots of recommendations so you can compare the vendors. Make sure you choose a vendor that is proven to be satisfactory at a reasonable price, of course.

 Look for Recommendations Online

You can also look for contractor recommendations online. Lots of home renovation services advertise their services via the internet. This will make it very easy for you to find the suitable contractor. Make sure you choose a contractor who has good reviews.

Contact Vendor Contractors

After you get a contractor recommendation from your neighbor, it would not hurt for you to contact the contractor. You have to re-confirm whether the contractor’s service costs are in accordance with the budget or not. You can provide an overview of the direction of your renovation so that the contractor has an idea. Also ask the portfolio that has been done to find out the contractor’s experience.

 Look for information related to the contractor's track record

You have to be wary of rogue contractors. In some cases, many contractors mark up materials that must be purchased at the RAB. For example, when you are renovating a house, you only need 5 sacks of cement. However, the contractor submitted 10 sacks of cement. The contractor will separate the difference in cement for resale or other project needs. Of course, this mark up act is very detrimental to you. This often happens to clients where the house being renovated is an empty house. That is, the client is not in the renovated house and only occasionally comes to see the progress of the renovation.

Another occurrence that often occurs is the reduction in material quality. The contractor calculates the RAB using quality materials but after the material purchase money is given, the contractor buys poor quality materials to reduce production costs. The difference from the purchase of these materials is pocketed for personal gain. This must be watched out for and anticipated by those of you who will be doing home renovations.

To avoid this potential for fraud, you can first find out the contractor’s track record through online reviews or ask parties who have worked together. This might be a bit inconvenient for you, but it’s better to be careful first than to regret it later. Mistakes in choosing a contractor determine the success of a renovation project. Don’t let your project fall apart due to irresponsible vendors.

 Doing a House Survey To Be Renovated

If you are satisfied with the contractor’s service fees and track record, then you should invite the contractor to conduct a survey of your home. This is so that the calculation of services and materials needed is more accurate. The contractor will calculate in detail the size and area of the building to be renovated. The consultant will also know the field conditions and have an idea of the direction of the renovation that suits your needs. Consult the RAB draft with the contractor, so that the renovation costs can be adjusted to your budget.

 Buying Materials Gradually

To avoid the things described in point 4 (four), it’s a good idea to buy the materials needed yourself. Ask for a list of materials that are needed immediately and a list of materials that are not too urgent. Make sure you buy materials in stages as needed. Buying materials at once at the beginning will result in these materials being lost before being used or “stolen” by unscrupulous contractors. Buying materials in stages will also make it easier for you to carry out audits and evaluate the absorption of material use. Another advantage if you buy materials in stages is to minimize the potential mark-up of materials by the contractor.

 Pay Attention to Renovation Progress

As a property owner, you must ensure that the renovation process goes as expected. Make sure you monitor the progress of the renovation. Things that must be considered are the results of the renovation and the use of materials. Accuracy and speed of time must also be considered so that you are not charged additional fees for contractor services, especially if the service fee calculation method you choose is daily.