TIPS FOR TAKING THE STRESS OUT OF RENOVATING (PART 2)
Last week we started our blog series to bring you our top tips for taking the stress out of renovating. We spoke about the importance of selecting your team and working on a timeline and schedule to best suit you and your family. This week, we want to delve a little deeper into the importance of feasibility studies and 3D modelling to help reduce your overall costs and assist you in better budgeting.
1. Have PC items selected
PC items are prime cost items, the term given to a fitting or fixture that can’t be finalised or selected prior to contract signing. A super easy tip to reduce the stress in renovating is to control the controllable…select these items at the feasibility stage or prior to contract signing to eliminate variations and price increases. More importantly, selecting all your PC items will allow the best possible design integration outcome, no delays or additional costs to you contract value.
Important: Unprofessional individuals & teams often underestimate PC items to make their bottom dollar line appear lower initially – do your homework to ensure these items are quoted correctly.
2. Price check your plan & project ideas EARLY.
To guarantee you achieve a smooth journey throughout your renovation experience and ensure there are no hidden surprises once your contract is signed, we recommend a thorough process of feasibility studies, 3D modelling & price checking EARLY.
Once you have a concept or design, it is extremely important to invest in a feasibility study. This analysis helps specify an accurate price for your project - feedback from the study allows you to change the design specifications or material selections if you find the cost to be higher than first anticipated. Thus allowing financial certainty that your project can be built to your budget prior to investing more money in proceeding with planning approval stages. This process is becoming more important as financial lending becomes tighter.
Enlisting professionals for advice, reports or drawings at this early stage may also be required to further ensure accurate budgeting. For example, bringing in an interior designer to ensure your design vision can be thoroughly reviewed and priced accordingly.
One of the most important elements that needs to be introduced between concept and feasibility stages is the structural integration. What do I mean? 3D modelling. 3D modelling is important not just to showcase your end result, but also to take into consideration the building elements; the nuts and bolts, the timber and steel not to mention concrete. Doing this will ensure you get the most accurate costing, more importantly it allows us to see any potential design complexities early on, eliminating any delays and enabling correcting prior to commencing on site, saving time and cost blow outs.
By avoiding these essential steps, you may end up with confronting cost variations, delays and unmet expectations. Our team is well equipped to assist you through this process and point you in the right direction of all processes.
3. 5-10% percent on top.
At Mastery, we prioritise completing our client’s jobs on time & on budget. We do often suggest though, that to avoid stress you allow for a 5-10% buffer on your budget for unplanned expenses. While we pride ourselves on staying on budget, it is not uncommon that throughout the process for adverse weather to create delays or clients wanting to change elements of the project, be it trying out a new design trend or spending extra on higher grade products. The only other reason the contract value would rise would be due to unknown excavation material, unexpected or unforeseen matters that are concealed within the framework or building that can’t be exposed until earthworks or demolition stages commence.
This is why it is extremely important to do an accurate feasibility study and select all your fittings and fixtures (PC items – refer to step 4) before signing your contract, this will give you the best chance in eliminating any surprise expenses.
At Mastery, it’s so important to us to help minimise your stress of renovating with our careful planning tools, consultation and budgeting process. Through every step of the planning and building phases, you can get on with your life and leave the hard work to us.
BE SURE TO CHECK BACK NEXT WEEK FOR THE FINAL INSTALLMENT…