When To Remodel Your Home? 5 Questions To Answer

As your family continues to grow, your lifestyle and living arrangements will evolve. Perhaps even today, you feel as though your home can no longer accommodate your family’s needs. While moving could certainly solve the issue, it’s not always the right decision for everyone, especially if your family loves the surrounding neighborhood and community.
 
A home remodel may be the best solution, but before you begin knocking down walls and revamping the floor plan, take some time to thoroughly discuss the decision with your family to ensure each person understands what a home remodel will entail.
 
To help you determine if a home remodel is the next step and decide when is the best time to remodel your home, we’ve compiled a checklist of essential questions to answer before you start the remodel process:

1. What’s the goal of your home remodel? What do you need the remodel to accomplish?

While home remodels can truly transform a home, there’ll be some limitation to what you’re able to achieve within your budget. Ask yourself this: what will our remodel solve?

• Is your house one bedroom short?
  • Whether you’re planning to grow your family or entertain out of town guests more frequently, you may decide it’s time to add one or more additional bedrooms to your home remodel.
• Is the kitchen too small for the entertaining you like to do?
  • If you like to cook for your loved ones than you already know that the kitchen represents the central gathering area for family dinners, entertaining friends, or hosting annual holidays, parties, and other special celebrations. If your kitchen is too small to entertain and prepare meals, it might be time to expand this area for more comfort and flexibility.
• Do you need a designated home office?
  • Having a comfortable, quiet home office is essential to keeping your work routine separate from your family life. Rather than using the dining room table or your bedroom as your office, where paperwork can get misplaced or in the way of your family’s needs, why not design a home office that allows you to spread out, keep your files organized, and create a creative space to perform your best work.

Other important questions to consider:

• Would you like to expand your owners’ suite?
• Would you like to add a sportcourt?
• Do you need to improve the overall flow and function of your home?
• Do you need to finish your lower level to create more space?
• Does your home need major improvements?
• Does your home have serious structural issues?

Reconfiguring the layout and floor plan of your home may help address such issues. But if you need more square footage, your home remodel may require an addition, and local zoning and building requirements may have restrictions on what you can or can’t do. Once you know what your remodel goals are, a simple in-home consultation with our Gonyea team will allow us to assess your home, listen to your plans, and recommend the right approach.

2. How much will my investment be?

Without discussing your plans and goals with Gonyea, it’s difficult to say how much your investment will be as every home remodel is different, and the costs of a remodel vary based on many factors, including:

• Size of project
• Location
• Design preferences
• Amount of demolition
• Adding/updating mechanical systems (e.g. plumbing, electrical, duct work, etc.)

Consider how much investment you and your family can realistically afford for a custom remodel. It may help to discuss your plans with your financial advisor to assess your financial readiness and talk with your banking institution about what financing options are available to you and what the upfront costs may entail (e.g. down payment, taxes and fees, etc.).
 
As you create a budget for your remodel project, be sure to pad your budget with a contingency fund in case unexpected expenses arise. The Spruce recommends getting an accurate remodeling estimate and adding 25% to that figure to compensate for any changes in costs that often occur during large-scale remodels.

3. Do you have the time for a remodel?

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a whole-home remodel; remodeling requires time and patience. If you’re pressed for time, it’s likely not the right time to remodel your home as remodeling projects typically take longer than many realize. Many projects can take several months to complete, depending on the scale of the renovations, and some more-involved remodel projects, like adding a second story or completing a new addition, may require foundation work, installation of mechanical systems, inspections, and permit-processing time. Discuss your unique situation with Gonyea to determine a timeline estimate specific to your project’s scale.

4. Will you get a return on your investment?

While remodeling can boost the potential resale value of your home, a variety of factors influence how much of a return on your initial investment you may see, such as:

• Comparable homes in your neighborhood
• Taste-specific design choices
• Current market conditions
• Type of renovations/upgrades

Arguably, renovations like transforming unfinished spaces into additional living spaces or bedrooms and remodeling kitchens or baths may be areas homeowners see a better cost recovery.

When deciding when to remodel your home, it’s important to consider what upgrades or changes could boost your return on investment; however, your family’s needs are equally important. At Gonyea, we’ll help you find the right balance between suiting your needs and adding to your potential return on investment.

5. Is it better to do a whole-home remodel or renovate gradually?

There’s no right or wrong answer to this question, as the scale of your remodel project(s) depends on the time, energy, and budget you can invest and the goals you want to achieve. Renovating gradually may be the right option for some, and it can help distribute the upfront costs over more time; however, if you’re considering to renovate gradually, you’ll need to thoroughly plan for all the renovations you intend to make, so you don’t waste time and money on a project that’ll need changing when it’s time for the next renovation. Think about the logical order to perform all the remodeling projects you plan to do to avoid mishaps and backtracking down the road.

Ready for a Stress-Free Remodeling Experience?

Is your home no longer functional for you and your family, but you adore your location and neighborhood? If so, remodeling your home may be a viable option for you! At Gonyea Transformations, we understand how exhausting and overwhelming home remodeling projects can be for homeowners, and we’re committed to minimizing the stress such a large undertaking can have on your family, which is why we provide transparent communication and superior customer service with our attention-to-detail, craftsmanship and transformational designs, so you can truly enjoy your home-remodeling experience.

If you’re considering taking on a home remodel, we offer home-remodeling resources to help you best prepare for planning your home remodel. When you’re ready to begin your home renovations, contact the experts at Gonyea Transformations to discuss your family’s needs, goals, and preferences, so we can help you bring your unique vision to life.