8 Commonly overlooked renovation costs when renovating your home
When undertaking a renovation project, calculating costs is but a natural part of the process. However, many home owners only take into account the pretty obvious things like the cost of labour and materials.
A renovation project, like any construction work, has many other costs attached to it that home owners often overlook. To help you make sure that you have covered everything, here are 8 commonly overlooked renovation costs to add to your checklist.
1. Access to your property
Some home owners fail to consider how accessible their property can be to delivery trucks, machinery or equipment and even the tradespeople themselves. When there is an issue with access, everything can get costlier because more time has to be spent and more trips have to be made just to get to your property. Before renovating your home, make sure that access to your property has been sorted out.
2. Pest control
Your home could sit there for years and never realise you have unwanted guests living behind your walls until you open them up for renovation work. Once you discover that an entire colony of carpenter ants or worse, termites have already invaded your home, you will have to spend for the services of an exterminator to get rid of them and protect your home from future infestations.
3. Asbestos removal
If your home was built in the 1970s, there’s a great chance that your wall materials, flooring or insulation contain asbestos. Disturbing these materials when renovating can release fibers which we already know can cause serious illnesses. That’s why if you have a 70s era or earlier home, you may have to hire a licenced inspector to make sure your home is asbestos-free. If it isn’t, you need to have it removed specialists, and that means more costs.
4. Removal of waste material
Any kind of construction project, renovations included, is bound to produce a lot of rubbish. You have to get them off the site, and that means you will need to hire people or a company that specialises in the removal and disposal of rubbish. You also need to take the size of the renovation job into consideration. The bigger the job, the more rubbish it’s going to produce.
5. Renovation project: Cost of approvals
Small renovations are fine, but renovation work that would change your home’s structure or shape will always require council approval. That is why you have to check with the local council to find out if your renovation project will require their approval and see if it will involve certain associated costs.
6. Insurance
Before getting any renovation project started, double-check with your insurance company if you are adequately covered not only while renovating your home, but also for when it’s done. Typically, existing house and contents insurance do not cover renovations, but if you want to know the extent of your coverage, better talk to your insurance company first.
7. Tax factors
As long as it’s your main residence and you’re doing it for private purposes, there are generally no income tax, capital gains tax or GST implications for renovating your home. However, if you’re renovating your home for profit, there could be. Check with your accountant and make sure that all tax factors are taken into consideration before starting your renovation project.
8. Renovation costs – the cost of your time
This is directed towards home owners who are actually considering working on renovating their homes themselves to save money. While it’s true that a DIY renovation project means they won’t have to pay anyone else for doing the job, always consider the income or even leave credits you’ll be losing if you take time off from your day job to work on your home. More often than not, DIY renovation jobs can cost you more in the end. Engaging the services of professional tradespeople may be better for you in the sense that you can get the job completed to a higher quality level with less time and cost.
We hope the above list of commonly overlooked renovation costs can help you prepare well for your renovation project.
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