Home Remodel Estimator - Itemized costing guide for your home remodeling needs

Before you laugh, consider that the bathroom is the sole room in your house that you SHOULD be spending at least an hour a day to do your business.  A lot of the entire day depends on how that hour was used… cherished.  You can say that a home is not a home without “the throne room”.

If you are building your home from ground up, wow, you’re a lucky lucky person.  You can design your bathroom the way you want it to be.  If you’re renting or just purchased a house, you’ve got the task of remodeling it to suit your taste and needs.

However you look at it, it’s still exciting isn’t it?

Let me give you a few “tips” for now to excite you further:

1. Make a budget plan - according to experts the average bathroom remodeling project costs $15,800.  I know it’s an investment, but did you know that a well designed bathroom increases the home value by $12,400.  Source: November 2007, Remodeling Magazine, Cost versus Value Report.
2. Know the frequent users - well, it is YOU and your family…. so you’ve got to do some research about YOU.  Now that’s not to hard eh?
3. Talk to professionals - really!  Don’t be like “the boyfriend who just won’t ask for road directions”.  A bathroom is a permanent room in the house.  And because it’s practically used everyday, some pros dedicate an entire life to perfectly install yours.

I remember the time when I first braved to fix the faucet.  Scary… well, at least for me.  Imagine a bathroom project, I’d be knocking my knees together in horror.  Fortunately, in this day and age, information and professionals are readily available.  So relax, save up and enjoy your bathroom project.

Finished with the rough-in stage?  Have you gotten all the wires measured and stapled in?  Ready for the plyboards to cover it up, a fresh coat of paint afterwards perhaps?   Ah, then you are in the “trim-out” stage. This can be the longest time into your remodeling season as you are now looking and figuring out how things will make their visual appeal.

You’ve got the function team done with making your home work for you, now you need to retain a few while bringing in a fresh team to look at design.  I wouldn’t scrimp on getting the best people that your money can afford.  Remember you will dwell in that house everyday so you NEEEEED to hire a professional to take care of important stuff like color harmony, placements/boundaries, a feng sui expert perhaps?  Whatever works for you.

I’ve seen too many home remodeling projects take the longest time here.  Some families get caught moving in too soon because of trim-out issues.  It both has its pros and cons, but I think once you move in it leaves little chance to focus.  Because by that time you’re already running the house with what you’ve got.

If you can wait before moving in, that would work best.  This is an important stage, so hold-off until you can.

The rough-in stage refers to that time in your home-remodeling season where most are either “bare-out” or as the name implies “rough”.  This is the stage where you’d see more of the function rather than the form.  The picture above shows a laundry room rough in.  Not so pretty, isn’t it?  But you could generally get the sense where the washer and dryer are planned/placed, where the sink would be, where the electrical outlets will be, the switches… and some other “stuff”.

The rough-in stage is very important to monitor.  As a homeowner you have should play an active role in where the switches should be.  You need to tell your contractor your family’s requirements.  These will all play a major role in placements of furniture, appliances, hallway width, the height of the ceiling… practically every function you envision your house to provide.

Can you honestly say you can’t do a single carpentry/plumbing/painting project at home?  Ah I’ve heard too many excuses in the past, and quite frankly, when push comes to shove we all WILL EASILY grab a hammer to nail that loose ply board down.  Now that’s an easy project to start with, right?  See any small “doable” projects that your house is screaming at you to take care of… brave it… and as Jordan and Nike says… “Just do it!”.

Unfortunately, not all home projects are easy projects.  There are times we’d need help from professionals. You need a professional contractor and if you can afford to hire one, I’d say, start from referrals.  Tap your friends, your friend’s friends, the neighbors and lastly the classified ads.  In this day and age, you can search for one by using CraigsList. Just make sure you check out his portfolio and actually call past clients.

But say you can’t afford a professional contractor, will that leave you with a leaky roof all through the rainy season?  Not at all.  You can be your own contractor… but be very very careful at everything.  Contractors are a rare breed, Renovations101.com says that if you’d start to be your own contractor:

It helps to be control-oriented, be self-motivated, be able to give plenty of attention to detail, have plenty of time available, not get stressed out too easily, be organized, be able to see the big picture, be good at scheduling, have low expectations of other contractors, and be a good negotiator.

Well, we’ll discuss more about this topic in the coming posts… I’m just warming up!