Hidden Home Remodeling Costs

Hidden Home Remodeling Costs

Hidden Home Remodeling Costs

You have budgeted out your home remodeling project, gone out and obtained the funding, and have even signed the contracts with your chosen remodeling professional or general contractor. All of this is great, just exactly what you should have done, but if you worry that you may still end up exceeding your original budget or facing unexpected costs you are, unfortunately, not entirely wrong.

A good general contractor or other remodeling professional will always give the best estimate he or she possibly can but sometimes there are surprises along the remodeling way that can cause costs to exceed the original estimate and which simply could have not been foreseen when they gave you said estimate.

For instance, say you have hired a local roofing company to simply replace a few shingles on your roof. The trouble is, once the roofer gets up there and begins to remove the old shingles, they may discover that the wood below is rotten and suddenly the initial simple job becomes a whole different one altogether. In not untypical cases like this the cost to complete the job is obviously going to change, perhaps by a considerable amount.

Alternatively, perhaps your general contractor drills into a wall and finds something completely unexpected like dry rot, wood worm or pest damage. Again, through no real fault of their own, the cost of the work is going to go up.

Another consideration is the cost of building supplies. If your remodeling job is one that will take a quite a long period of time or if you received your estimate several months before the actual work began there's always a chance that the price of supplies used to complete the project as agreed will increase and with it your remodeling bill. If your contractor includes the cost of supplies in his estimate, before you sign the contract ask him or her whether those costs are subject to change and, if so, how that situation will be handled so this can be written into the contract as well.

Homeowners can also be their own worst enemy when it comes to busting their remodeling budget. It is oh so tempting to change your mind and opt for that more expensive tile or fancier bathroom fixture once the project is underway. Most contractors won't mind but do understand that your costs will increase and do not act surprised when that final bill is higher than you expected.

If you are going to make a change, make sure you understand the cost in terms of both materials and labor before you submit a change order to your contractor.

The best way to avoid getting stung by hidden and unexpected remodeling costs is to budget for them in the first place. When you have that final budget add at least 5%, possibly as much as 10%, to it to be safe. Hopefully you won't need it and you can spend the extra on a nice new rug or something similar, but at least you will have that safety net there if you need it.

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