Home Remodeling in Cedar Valley: What You Should Know

The time has come—whether you purchased an older home planning to fix it up or you have lived in and enjoyed your house for many years, you now have a vision for how it could be improved functionally or aesthetically to enhance your quality of life and you're ready to make it happen.

Between knowing you want to renovate your home in Cedar Valley and getting construction underway, however, there is a significant planning and preparation process that will inevitably impact the outcome. If you know what to expect ahead of time, you can take the proper steps to ensure a smooth and effective remodeling project.

Factors to Consider When Remodeling

Whether you’re updating your entire home in Cedar Falls, Iowa, or tackling an individual area, you know you're going to invest a substantial amount of time, money, and mental energy. It’s important to make a detailed plan rather than diving head-first into the project. Here is a look at where to start when renovating your property:

Identify Your Priorities

To start the remodeling process, take time to evaluate and make a list of your priorities. It’s easy once you start looking at Pinterest or Houzz to be swept away by elegant bathrooms and lavish kitchens until, suddenly, the scope of your project has expanded beyond your original intent. What do you need to accomplish? Creating more storage space? Improving traffic flow? Modernizing outdated systems and infrastructure? Transforming a room so it serves a new purpose? Along with these questions, consider who most frequently uses the room and how often. Going into the project with a clear vision and established set of priorities helps prevent scope creep that can significantly increase the cost of your project.

Set an Estimated Budget

Speaking of the cost to remodel your house, establish up front what you intend to spend, or at least a ballpark range. Additionally, you should consider what sort of value the project will add to your home, or the potential return on investment (ROI). This enables you to set realistic expectations and feel confident rejecting certain ideas if they simply don’t fit into your budget. On the flip side, having actual figures to work with also gives you latitude to splurge on select features and materials without going overboard.

Assess Your Whole House

Even if you’re remodeling a single space, such as your kitchen or master suite, you have to consider how the work could affect other parts of your house, especially if you’re expanding the room or moving walls. Make sure you know the condition and placement of your critical systems, like plumbing and electrical, and what you will need to do to ensure your renovation doesn’t negatively affect other areas of the home. The same concept goes for your design style. Don’t just think of each space in a vacuum, but rather, consider how the renovated space will fit into your entire interior design.  

Research Your Neighborhood

Not only should you evaluate your whole home before starting a remodeling project, but you should also assess your neighborhood to help you determine the anticipated ROI for your project and what level of renovation makes sense. Home values are heavily influenced by the surrounding market, which means there is typically a maximum to the potential selling price of homes in a given neighborhood. For example, it doesn’t make sense to invest more than $50,000 worth of upgrades into your $200,000 house if other homes in the neighborhood typically sell for $250,000 or less.

Home Renovation Tips

Along with the big-picture items, such as timeline and cost, there are other smaller steps that can contribute to the efficiency and success of your project. Here are a few tips regarding what to do and what not to do during remodels to save you time and energy:

Consider Multiple Contractors

Before you begin your project, trust in our Design + Build process which allows us to work with reputable businesses in the area to ensure the work is done perfectly. Additionally, you shouldn’t base your decision on money alone. A contractor could offer you an exceptionally low bid, but if they aren’t reputable, you’ll end up paying more in change orders, shoddy workmanship, and other potential problems. 

Plan a Vacation

No matter how excited you are to renovate your home, the process can be a bit long and draining at times. From the construction noise to losing access to parts of your home and the decreased privacy, home improvement projects can take their toll on you. Plan ahead and schedule a getaway at some point during the construction phase to give yourself a much-needed break.

Be Prepared for the Unexpected

Even the best laid plans can go awry. A material may get backordered or you might come across unseen damage when you start removing fixtures. Regardless, you should expect the unexpected and plan a little extra time and money into your renovation to cover unforeseen circumstances.

Selecting a Remodeler in Cedar Valley

There is plenty to look forward to when remodeling your home in the Cedar Falls area. You have potential to increase the lifespan of your home and ensure it remains functional, attractive and comfortable for your family over the next several years. At Home Indeed, we know the time and effort you pour into the planning and preparation phase affects the efficacy of the remodeling process and the outcome. Our design-build approach helps ensure consistency and continuity throughout the renovation, from original conception through completion