Before, During & After: Things to Expect for Your Home Renovation
Looking to embark on your first-ever home renovation project and not too sure what to expect for your next steps? Not to worry, our helpful team at Redbrick Homes has put together a useful guide to help you navigate the perils and uncertainty of the adulting challenge that is home renovations.
Read on to learn more!
What to Expect: Before Home Renovation
Find a Reliable Interior Designer
The very first step to a successful home renovation is finding the right professionals to help you create your dream home. Especially for first-time homeowners who are clueless about what to look out for when designing a home, having a trustworthy expert is key to avoiding fundamental design mistakes.
Worried about the trend in CASE complaints against renovation companies and wrecking your head wondering how to find a reliable Interior Designer?
- Get referrals from your close family and friends who have had good experiences with their interior designers
- Alternatively, use trusted platforms like Redbrick Homes to search from a pool of pre-curated list of professional interior designer firms in Singapore
Learn to Read a Floor Plan
When it comes to any home renovation projects, floor plans are critical in helping to provide a clear way to visualize how the space will come together.
Even though you’ll be hiring an interior designer, who essentially takes on the job of designing the home on your behalf, knowing how to read the floor plan will help you immensely in communicating any design ideas you may have to your interior designer.
Tip: If you have a design in mind, you would be able to identify any potential limitations (e.g., certain walls are not able to be hacked away) based on your floor plan. You could use this as a starting point to help filter out potential interior designers based on the advice they provide during your meetups.
Apply for Permit
Once you’ve settled on an interior designer, the next step would be to quickly apply for a permit. No renovation work is allowed to start until you have received it – so you can see how important it is!
Average Permit Processing Times:
- HDB – up to 3 weeks (for more extensive works, could be longer)
- Private homes – depends on the nature of renovation required (for more details, check out the BCA site to know the exact types of permit you need)
The good news if you are working with experienced interior designer instead of managing the project on your own? They will know to kickstart the process and perhaps even be able to help expedite it to save you some time!
What to Expect: During Home Renovation
Expect Renovation Delays
If you had any friends or family undergoing home renovations during the pandemic, you will inevitably have heard of their nightmare experiences. The massive labour shortage and global supply chain delays combined, resulted in many projects being delayed and even coming to a stop altogether.
Now with the reopening of borders with Malaysia, things may seem like it is looking up, but before you get unrealistic about timelines, here are some things to consider.
- With so much backlog to be cleared priority will be given to existing projects
- The material supply chain issues are still ongoing so expect some delays if you are sourcing materials from abroad
On the bright side, if you are engaging an experienced interior designer, they may have a better network of subcontractors and material suppliers that they can tap on to help minimize the delay in the schedule.
Be Proactive During Renovation
One of the ways to help move the schedule along is to be proactive in providing timely feedback and responses to your interior designer during the renovation process.
While an interior designer will help to project manage on your behalf, you are ultimately the most important stakeholder of the project and will need to provide necessary signoffs to move on to the next stage.
Tip: It is recommended to visit the site at least once a week or have check-ins with your interior designer to check on the progress and flag any discrepancies or concerns quickly.
What to Expect: After Home Renovation
Correcting Renovation Mistakes
Before you sign off and make your final payment, make sure you go through all the work done and have any potential defects (e.g.. misaligned cabinet doors) or mistakes corrected.
Trust us when we say you don’t want to end up with defects after you have made all your payments.
So how can you make sure you have checked your place thoroughly before signing off? Here are two ways to go about it:
- Don’t mind DIY-ing? Use our comprehensive Redbrick Homes Post-Renovation Checklist to help you look out for common defects
Prefer to engage a professional? Check out our trusted partner Absolute Inspection and redeem up to 30% off!
Furnish Your Home
Now that renovations are complete, it’s time for you to start furnishing the place to make your house a home for a final touch!
Tip: Make sure to time your furniture deliveries post-renovation completion to avoid them getting damaged by debris or dirtied by dust during the renovation process.
Common Renovation Mistakes & Tips to Avoid Them
- Allocating too little budget – Develop your budget bottom-up and allocate some buffer to accommodate changes to the plan down the road.
- Focusing on looks instead of functionality – While certain designs look good, it may not be easy for people of certain lifestyles to maintain. For instance, all-white interiors with children sound like a nightmare.
- Not communicating well with your interior designer – Always be honest and upfront about your feedback, and set expectations early on in the relationship to avoid misunderstandings during the project.
- Leaving your furniture and appliance shopping to the very end – You want to consult with your interior designer at an early stage so that they can work in the relevant dimensions for t
Find Your Trusted Interior Designer to Help You on Your Renovation Journey Today
As you can see, a successful renovation project is no piece of cake. It takes a lot of time and careful planning to ensure that everything falls into place.
Don’t want to bother yourself with the nitty-gritty of planning? Head over to IDMate to get matched with one of many trusted Singapore Interior Designers who’ll guide you along the journey step by step.
