When you decide to take on a home improvement project, the first thing you’ll have to do is create an actionable budget. Most contractors will advise homeowners to pad the budget by up to 20% to account for hidden costs. This is because there are things that happen during the renovation that you don’t expect. Additionally, you may not properly estimate some costs. Here are a few hidden expenses that can cause you to overextend your budget.
Hiring Additional Manpower
While your contractor will have their own team of laborers and skilled workers, you will probably need help before and after the job is complete. Depending on the type of renovation you’re having done, you may need movers or day laborers to help you move furniture or eliminate material waste after the project is done. This will cost you several hundred dollars in total. If you’re planning to move furnishings into a storage unit on a temporary basis, be sure to account for the costs of the moving van, fuel, and storage unit in calculating this cost.
Paying For Meals
If you’re renovating your kitchen, you should plan on not being able to cook meals at home until the remodeling project is complete. Even if you’re having another part of your home renovated, you may still be concerned about dust, sawdust, and other foreign particles getting into your food. Unless you have family that’s willing to play host and provide all of your meals, you should plan on ordering out most of the time. Even if your kids can eat breakfast and lunch at school, you should plan on using restaurants for your evening meals.
Arranging Lodging
There are several ways you’ll have to consider lodging during the renovation. First, consider boarding pets that may get spooked by the loud noises that a home renovation produces. You won’t want your pet living in a constant state of anxiety for weeks or months. You may want to leave your younger children with a daycare service during the day for similar reasons. Depending on the extent of the remodeling project, your entire family may need to stay in a hotel. That’s a significant cost, so you should be sure to include that into your remodeling budget.
Even when you take these factors into account, there may still be other hidden expenses associated with your renovation. For that reason, you should still pad the budget by 20% even when you’re sure you have properly accounted for every cost. Preparing to spend more on the renovation will ensure you don’t run out of funds before the job is complete.