House renovations ....where do I even start?

DH wants to expand the house since we've now freed up our last payments for daycare.

He hated my idea of banking the money & getting it done piecemeal.

Do you start with contractor's estimations or a home equity loan?

I know I'm going to be dreading the house renovations so I'm sure I'll be a regular on this board.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

Re: House renovations ....where do I even start?

Sounds like you want to expand like we did.

I would say our first step was seeking out an architect, and have the plans drawn up.

That is really the best way for the contractors to give you estimates on what it is going to cost.

I am not sure about home equity loans or 2nd mortgages because we paid for our renovations up front.

Re: House renovations ....where do I even start?

I funded my extension using 0% credit cards.

Why pay interest on a HELOC when I can get the bank to fund my home improvements for free.

Almost have the extension paid off too. About 75% of the way there now.

Re: House renovations ....where do I even start?

Posted by ave1024

I funded my extension using 0% credit cards.

Why pay interest on a HELOC when I can get the bank to fund my home improvements for free.

Almost have the extension paid off too. About 75% of the way there now.

Re: House renovations ....where do I even start?

we did it piece-meal. I didn't want teh big loan and we saved alot ofmoney doing most of the work ourselves.

Re: House renovations ....where do I even start?

Re: House renovations ....where do I even start?

You should decide first what it is you want to add/expand (larger kitchen? more bedrooms? more baths? another floor? more garage space? etc) and then have an architect draw up the plans for what you want. Once you are happy with the plans, then get prices from contractors. Depending what you're doing, you may be able to do it piecemeal (you can expand the kitchen at one time, then add more garage space later) or you may have to do it all at once (if you add another floor with bedrooms and bath(s) then you'd most likely do it all at once). Most importantly, you have to consider what your budget is - not just for the work, but for the increase in taxes also. We were able to submit a form to our town to get an approximation of how much our taxes would go up.

Before you sign with anyone, figure out how you will pay and take care of that. We refinanced and pulled equity out of the house, so we still only have one mortgage and no HELOCs or other loans. We try to pay one extra payment every year so that we can pay it off early. You have to determine what's best for you in that area. Personally, I wouldn't sign with someone until the financing is in order so you know what you're working with.

Good luck - and try to have fun because it is really interesting to watch the progress and exciting to see how beautiful it is once it's done.

Re: House renovations ....where do I even start?

I would recommend getting some plans drawn up, then you can go to a contractor and they can give you an estimate that makes sense.

My DH is a contractor and he's mentioned a few times that it's so difficult to really give accurate estimates w/o plans b/c you really don't know what the homeowner wants.

Re: House renovations ....where do I even start?

We did the process similar to what has been suggested. Had an architect draw up the plans, then once we had the plans 90% or more completed, I started getting estimates. Once I knew the rough cost, we took out the loan. The permits took us a year and 5 days, but that's because we had two different variance hearings involved.