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House Repairs Planning SuccessI am amazed at how many home owners do not engage in a little House repairs planning when embarking on do it yourself projects. Taking a few minutes to jot down what you want to achieve, what materials you are going to need, estimating the time required to complete the project and what additional resources may be required. Before getting started there are a number of things that need to be given a little thought. • Is the house repair minor or major • Can I tackle it myself or do I need to employ professional help? The detail of your house repairs planning is really determined by following things: • Your experience. • The size of the project. • Work Breakdown Structure • The concept or desired outcome of the project • Larger repairs or renovations will require Considerations for briefing a architect or designer. • Choosing an Architect / Designer - what to consider • Collecting Ideas • Where Will You live while The House Repair or Renovation Is Taking Place? • Financing Your Project And Setting The Budget • What Recourse do I need? • Building Consents You’re Experience: Whether you have many years experience or not house repairs planning is always the first step to a successful result. • For the Novice or Newbie If you are a newbie to house repairs, then house repairs planning is far more important than for someone who is more experienced. Let’s say you are upgrading your kitchen. Then it would stand to reason that you would need to prepare fairly detailed kitchen plans, my advice would be to consult a professional kitchen designer for the inexperienced home owner. • For the Experienced For those who have renovated or upgraded a number of kitchens and know what is required to make a kitchen function well then your planning does not need to be as detailed but good kitchen planning will always produce a first class result. The Size of the Project When it comes to house repairs planning, whether they are do it your self projects, or you are engaging a professional, the size of the project determines the amount of detail required: Small do it yourself projects require less detail than a large projects hence less planning is required. Conversely it stands to reason that a large project which has much more detail requires a lot more planning than a small project. Essentially your house repairs planning can be likened to a road map. Just as a road map keeps your on the right route, your house repairs plan fulfils the same function. Work Breakdown Structure One more thing that we would like to cover before we move onto the planning stage is to understand what a Work Breakdown Structure is. This is sometimes referred to as a WBS. Every project can be broken down into tasks, these tasks grouped together form your Work Breakdown Structure. The tasks should be listed in the order of which they should occur in your project. This then becomes your Project Road Map. So let’s have a look at a few elements of a project plan and how you can use them to greatly improve the success of your project when working through your house repairs planning.Jot down the tasks on a separate schedule, in the order tasks should occur. See example below * Site selection (for new structures). * Design – concept drawings through to finished plans * Budgets * Managing the building process * Interior design and selection of furnishings and appliances * Landscaping What is the Concept or desired outcome of the project? Here’s a checklist when you're getting ready for your home house repairs planning or renovation planning whether it be a bathroom renovation, kitchen renovation or a major extension... The first thing is to visualize what you want the end result for your project to be. Think about what you like aesthetically and also what you and your family need for your home to function effectively. Remember, nobody knows what your family needs better than you. Larger House Repairs or Renovations If your project involves major repairs or renovations you may need to employ professional help. In the case of an extension you will probably need to consult an architect or designer. In this case you should give some thought to the brief of these people. Some of the ideas we have already discussed above will be useful to your architect or designer as this will help them to get a picture of what you want to achieve. Collecting Ideas Collect ideas from this site, cut outs from magazines or supplier brochures. This will help you describe what you like. Visit Suppliers show rooms collect samples, Visit Show homes for ideas go to home improvement shows and exhibitions, these are all sources of inspiration for your project. Walking around your neighbourhood may also give you inspiration seeing what your neighbours have done. Financing Your Project and Setting a budget The Budget One of the most important considerations in house repairs planning is the cost. So setting the budget for your project that achieves the desired outcome is one of the first areas that needs addressing. Ultimately your house repairs or home renovation costs budget will probably be determined by what you can afford. Finance For many of us, the idea of doing up a house to realise its potential, or to suit family needs, has huge appeal. However in your house repairs planning consideration needs to be given as to how are you are going to finance your home renovation costs. Will the project require a loan or can it be financed from your own resources? In some cases if new home owners intend renovating immediately, the home renovation costs can be included in your initial home loan application. Typically however, the initial cost of purchasing your home means that house repairs or home renovations are put on the back burner for a few years. This can be good for two reasons. Firstly, living in a home for some time is always a good idea before you plan substantial alterations. It can take some time and reshuffling of rooms to work out how a home works (or doesn't work) for your family – and exactly what the alteration needs to provide. Secondly, after living in your home for a few years, you may well have increased the equity in your home due to mortgage repayments or rising property values. That certainly makes it easier for your financial institution or bank to say yes to your funding requirements, but remember that just because you have equity in your home it doesn't necessarily mean that you can afford increased monthly repayments of an additional loan.Therefore if the project requires borrowed funds then talking to your bank or financial institution would be the first place to start when looking raise capital for your home renovation costs funding. How much will finance providers or banks lend? ‘This depends.' As with lending to buy or build, the amount that any bank or financial institution is prepared to lend for renovations will depend on two factors: your ability to service the Loan and the value of the house. If you have been making regular mortgage repayments, your bank or finance provider will carefully examine your ability to service the increased lending costs. However, if your home loan is a ‘revolving credit' type loan, you may not even need to reapply to your bank or finance provider. Instead you simply draw down the money as you need it – up to your available credit limit. For example, if you were originally approved for a $400,000 loan, and you have paid $100,000 of that off over five years, you can, at any time, draw that $100,000 down again to use for whatever you wish. However, if your equity or approved lending limit is less than the cost of the renovations, your bank or finance provider will definitely want to reassess what value the renovation or repairs will add to the house and will lend accordingly. What is involved? Typically, the first step is to sit down with one of your bank's or finance institution’s lending advisors, to discuss your plans and mortgage requirements. Essentially, they will want to ensure that the renovation or repairs are going to add enough value to your home so that in the event of you defaulting on your mortgage, their money can be recouped. Some lenders require that plans are permitted and fully costed – preferably on a fixed-price contract. Then a registered valuation is carried out on the house as it is, and as it will be when the new work is completed. When a loan is approved, it is then drawn down progressively as the work is completed and subsequent valuations are often carried out. The draw-downs are made on an interest-only basis until the work is fully completed, then the client and one of the lenders advisors will sit down and work out the best loan repayment plan. Things to avoid in your house repairs planning. • Overcapitalisation. This is one of the factors that the lenders will look very closely at. This occurs when a renovation increases the value of a home beyond the price range for the area. This is less of a problem when the renovation is carried out on a home that you intend living in for some time in an area of rising property values. But it can become a big problem if you do need to sell unexpectedly and find that buyers in the area cannot meet your expectations. • Runaway costs. Our Do It Yourself culture means that people often try to save money by buying their own building materials and paying builders and contractors on a labour-only basis. This can lead to big home renovation costs overruns if materials rise in price, or jobs take longer than estimated, or if the job is not well managed. Lending institutions will generally be much happier lending on jobs that are undertaken on a fixed-price contract. • Overstretching. Bear in mind that if the point of undertaking a renovation is to improve your lifestyle there is little to be gained from increasing your stress levels due to being financially overcommitted. Better to do things slowly and as finances allow. And the most important thing to remember when you're renovating is ‘You have to live through it!' If you don't think you're going to cope with the dust and disruption, you'd better budget for a motel or other Accommodation! Where Will You live while The House Repair or Renovation Is Taking Place? Consideration to your living arrangements during the construction phase needs to be included in your house repairs planning when major house repairs or renovations are taking place as this often makes the house unliveable or at the least living in it very inconvenient, so some thought should be given to temporary accommodation or alternative living arrangements. This obviously needs to included in your budget while the alteration is taking place. One Idea that some folk use is to take a holiday if this is affordable and can be arranged at the same time as the project is taking place. Another idea is to stay with friends or relatives if the budget is tight Building Consents and Permits Your project will need to comply with the regulatory requirements when contemplating a major renovation to your property, such as the necessary consents and or building permits. As part of hour house repairs planning it is wise to consult your local authority or council building department as to what their requirements are for your area. If engaging an architect or designer is allowed for in your house repairs planning, they would probably handle this for you but be sure that it is included in their brief. What resources do I require? Materials and Tools The next step in your house repairs planning is to estimate what materials and tools you require to complete the project. If you have a construction or assembly plan then you could use them to calculate the materials required and work out if you need to purchase any additional tools or hire any other resource such as: • Professional Services • Extra labour. • Excavator. • Scaffolding. • Ladders • Painting Drop Sheets etc • Other specialist Equipment.
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