Keep the costs under control

No detail is too small if you want your dream to be realised on time and on budget

- TRACIE ELLIS

Renovating your home can be both an exciting and daunting process – fulfilling your dream of an improved quality of life, increased resale value or even simply updated aesthetics. The biggest hurdle when embarking on the renovation challenge is controlling the costs.

With so many homeowners renovating, demand for tradies is at an all-time high and their margins are higher than ever before. So how do you know you have made the right decision when quotes can vary considerably?

So many factors contribute to the overall cost of your renovation. Most fall across labour and sourcing of materials. Price ranges can be enormous, and that is simply because no two renovations are the same.

Taking the time to carefully research and plan, and make well-considered choices will ensure no major renovation blowouts occur.

Location

This can determine how cost-effective or expensive your project will be. Hourly rates can vary from state to state, suburb to suburb.

Size

Renovating a one-bedroom apartment obviously will cost considerably less than a four- or five-bedroom house. One consideration that can make a small renovation substantially more expensive is the fact that less product is being purchased, pushing dollar-persquare metre rates sky high – the opposite of economies of scale.

Materials