The decision to remodel your home is always an exciting prospect. However, it’s easy to get carried away with ideas that impact your budget, functionality, and the practicality of your design. To help ensure your remodel stays on track, you need a home remodeling plan and vision. Find out more about how to create your Portland home remodeling plan and vision to set you off on the right foot, keeping in mind that a professional contractor can help guide you through all of the steps below.
Assess Your Needs
Whether the inspiration for your remodel is a result of poor function, a desire to create a more cohesive space, improve flow, implement a much-needed upgrade, or all the above, assessing your needs allows you to set goals and understand your remodeling vision.
Walk through your home, considering not only each room but connecting passages such as halls and stairways. Consider how they function, their appearance, how they suit your lifestyle and where they fall short, then list your observations to create a rough checklist of your needs.
Define Your Goals
Consider your list and what you hope to achieve with your remodel. Some common goals include:
● Updating systems and structures (such as plumbing and electrical)
● Improving functionality to suit your lifestyle
● Updating aesthetics
● Enhancing energy efficiency
● Creating more usable space
Be specific with your list, addressing needs room by room and setting goals that will help you solve those needs. Here is an example of goal setting for a kitchen remodeling plan and vision:
Kitchen
Issues:
● Too cramped
● Disorganized layout that makes food prep and cooking difficult
● Ugly and feels outdated and depressing
● No storage
● Shut off from the rest of the house
Goals:
● Improve the layout and optimize the space
● Create more storage to help keep the kitchen organized
● Open the walls to make the kitchen more social and improve the overall flow through the house
● New design to suit my sense of style
● Make it easier to prepare meals with improved functionality
By defining your goals in detail, you can proceed with creating a home remodeling plan that helps guide your vision and inform your decisions.
Prioritize Your List With Need-To-Haves And Nice-To-Haves
Your goals will include things you really need, as well as things that you would like to have but might not be able to afford. Because everyone is working with a budget, separating the things you must have from the things it would be nice to have creates a plan that aligns with your budget. You also ensure you address the things that will have the most impact on your living space. Be prepared to sacrifice some nice-to-haves to include as many of your must-haves as possible.
When creating your must-have and nice-to-have list, consider your lifestyle. This helps you make choices that enhance your life by making it easier to perform daily tasks. You should also consider how changes will impact your life in the long term so you can make changes that meet your needs today and into the future.
Set A Budget
There is no way around setting a budget when creating a home remodeling vision. Your budget determines what you can and can’t accomplish. However, having said that, many people have no idea where to even start with creating a budget for their home upgrades until they have a better idea of what their dream remodel will cost. A home remodeling contractor will help guide you through this process once they’ve had a chance to assess your home and your remodel goals. They can help you set (and stick to) a budget, making sure to include a contingency fund of at least 7-10% to cover costs of unexpected challenges such as unforeseen structural or system issues not on your must-have list.
Craft Your Vision
This is the fun part of your remodel planning. Researching design ideas sourced online and from magazines provides inspiration for your remodeling vision. Look through online platforms such as Houzz and Pinterest, browse through home design magazines, and visit showrooms to collect as many ideas as you can. This allows you to discover your sense of style and narrow down your options to keep your remodel vision focused and manageable.
You want the designs to resonate with you and create what you envision as a true sense of home. Some tips to help craft your vision include:
● Create digital or physical vision boards for each room using images found in your research that resonate with your personal style
● Be practical with your ideas, considering your current space and how the designs might impact functionality and budget
● Keep your goals in mind to ensure your vision helps you achieve them
Partner With The Right Professionals To Create Your Portland Home Remodeling Plan And Vision
Armed with your goals, budget, and vision boards, it’s time to research Portland, Oregon contractors. Do your due diligence and make a short list of three companies to meet to ensure you find the best fit for you and your remodel. An experienced remodel contractor will:
● Provide a free in-home consultation
● Assess your home
● Consider your checklist and remodel goals
● Point out obvious structural constraints or challenges
● Present a ballpark estimate
They’ll also offer honest advice on how practical your goals are based on the condition of your home and the constraints of your budget.
Define Your Plan
Partnering with the right professional team makes it easy to define your remodeling plan and finalize a design based on your budget. This is where the rubber hits the pavement, and your prioritized list will come into play. This is where lower-priority items may be removed, and your designer presents ideas to conceptualize a plan that reflects your goals and desires.
Detailed Scope Of Work
Once you approve the plan and design, your contractor will lay out a more detailed scope of work based on what they recommend will be needed to complete your remodel. They’ll arrange consultations with the required subcontractors/trades, inspectors, designers, and engineers to finalize the scope of work and address any required changes or amendments revealed during these inspections. Your contractor then presents the final estimate.
Remodel Timeline
You and your contractor will agree on a time frame to complete the project. From there, they create a timeline for critical milestones throughout the project based on small, manageable tasks. The remodel schedule requires careful orchestration to ensure each trade is available at the right time. Other considerations include approvals, material deliveries/availability, and “buffer time” in case of unexpected delays. The timeline ensures effective project management and minimizes stress.
Materials And Finishes
Your vision boards can help narrow down your choices in materials and finishes, but this step in a home remodel can be overwhelming and a professional designer will greatly aid in this process, suggesting and presenting materials that best suit your style and budget. Some questions to ask to help inform your decisions include:
● How much maintenance does the material require?
● How durable is the material?
● Is it pet/kid friendly? (for those with families)
● Are there more affordable choices that won’t sacrifice quality or aesthetics?
● How will the materials impact the resale value of your home?
● How relevant are the materials in relation to the era and style of your home?
It’s best to have your designer present choices for each room together to ensure paint, flooring, fixtures such as lights and faucets, fabrics, tile, handles, window treatments, etc., create a sense of harmony and flow throughout your home. Cohesion is essential to pleasant living spaces.
A remodeling plan and vision set the groundwork for a successful remodel by defining your needs and desires to improve your living space. The right professional partners will put your plan in motion, ensuring your goals are achieved and your remodel is completed on time, on budget, and, most importantly, to your ultimate satisfaction.
When choosing a remodeling contractor with in-house design services in Portland, Oregon, call ReCraft Remodeling today at 503-939-9782 or click here to submit your remodeling project details.