Last April I started working on one of the most challenging projects of my career to date: the renovation and extension of my own home. Placing myself in my clients’ shoes was an eye-opening experience. Although I’ve been designing homes for over 15 years, acting as the ‘client’ gave me an entirely new perspective. I learnt some really precious insights that have changed what I tell anyone looking for expert architectural advice
Get|Make Sure You Get} Impartial Advice
The whole project started with me wanting to extend my tiny utility room so that I could fit in a bigger fridge. My kids were eating me out of home and house, and it was impossible to fit everything inside our mixed fridge-freezer.
After a brief look through the space, the shook his head and said: ‘why don’t you extend the house?’ He was right. We'd reached a stage where we could really do with more space and a more spacious fridge wasn’t going to improve things in the long term.
Small projects are alright but not if they're only a stop-gap solution. I often meet people who wish to add a additional room or convert part of their home, however the underlying issue with the house is a lot more significant.
Investing in an attic conversion when the layout of the rest of the house is not working is not the best way to spend your budget. We’ll all favour going for the quick win over so getting some impartial advice is vital to ensure you make the right decision. I’m the one dishing out the advice usually, however when it I had to make the right decision about to my own home, I needed another opinion.
Wait|Hold it} Until You Have the all the Money to Do ALL YOU Want.|Hold it Until You Have Enough Money to Do Want.}
When we first bought our house we could have done work straight away,but our circumstances were very different (a three-year-old son and another on the way and our budget was far too small to achieve everything that we had in mind do, so we waited. It was the best decision we could have made.
In the past, I have tried to help clients phase the work so their budget can be spread out but now, where possible, I recommend my clients to wait. This can indicate I talk myself out of a job but if they can move in and make the house liveable until they have enough money to do everything at once, then this is with no doubt the best decision. Not only will architects dublin they get greater value for money and only build process once but they will also have the added advantage of time, which might mean that their programs change resulting in a better job in the future.
Build Up Contingency Into Your Timescale
Build some breathing space into your timescale. The build process can be an unpredictable one and even the most organised among us will come up against issues that push deadline out.
Our build process took 7.5 months, which is quite good. We'd hoped to done in 7, however, some of the changes took a bit longer than planned and so we pushed our move date out to accommodate this.
Waiting the extra couple of weeks while for the builder to be finished entirely was so important. Had we moved in two weeks earlier, everyone would have been trying to finish around us and what required two weeks could have dragged out to four, or six weeks even.
It’s never a good idea to move in before the work is all done. Giving the builder a deadline to work to is vital but make sure it is reasonable and, if things cause the project to overrun you should make allowances and adapt your plans accordingly.
Really do your homework
The build can be an unstoppable process and the feeling that once you start there is no turning back can be quite unsettling. So I recommend you be as organised as you can, while the contractor will need to have a program which can guide you when critical decisions need to be made.
My advice, however, is to have all your decisions made before the work is to have all your decisions made before the work begins on site. This is something I always recommend to my clients. However, my experience of going through the whole thing myself has confirmed it’s most likely the best single piece of advice I possibly could give anyone who is planning a home improvement project.
Once the build starts you’ll feel under pressure, there will be distractions and emotions to deal with, so you won’t be at your best when it comes to making decisions. Having the decisions made before anyone asked you to make them will significantly lessen the stress and make the process much more bearable. You may love it even.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
A home redesign is quite a complex process. There are so many moving parts and persons involved that there are destined to be hiccups during the whole project. Try to predict where issues might come up and be flexible. Things can surely go wrong, but try to keep an open mind and concentrate on the solution. Be as organised as possible and respect your decisions.
Home renovations and extensions are exhausting emotionally, so my last little bit of advice is to remain focused on the outcome because I could promise you it will be worth it.