Renovating a home is a lot cheaper than moving to a new one. You can spend as much or as little as you like to refresh old rooms or even add new ones, but if you don’t have a lot of spare cash, you need to look at strategies to achieve the maximum effect for as little as possible. Luckily there are lots of cool ways to do this.
How much can you afford to spend?
Before you begin, do an honest appraisal of your budget. It is pointless starting a project and then running out of cash halfway through. Work out what you can afford to spend and then do some cost calculations. After all, there is no point looking at expensive materials and furniture if you can’t afford to buy them. That would be torture!
Cheap labour
Labour is often a significant part of any renovation or building project. Say, for example, you’re intending to fit a new kitchen. Kitchen cupboards are not always terribly expensive. Indeed, it’s possible to pick up relatively cheap ones if you have the time and energy to shop around. However, the cost of fitting a kitchen can be very expensive, so there’s plenty of money to be saved by using cheap labour.
Cheap labour isn’t always to be recommended, but if you have friends or family who can do the job and are willing to help you out, enlist their services. Offer to cook them a meal or organise a BBQ to feed everyone at the end of the job. You can hire specialist tools such as Lincoln plasma welders from local hire shops, so no long-term investment in equipment is necessary.
Inexpensive materials
Some materials will need to be bought new: timber, plaster, electrical components, etc. Other items can be picked up cheaply second-hand. Furniture is a good example of this. Why buy new when you can find good quality vintage pieces?
Look online for cheap or free materials for your project. Old pallets are a good source of wood for furniture projects, so ask local businesses if they have any going spare. If you need a bag of plaster or cement, see if a local builder has any half-used bags he no longer needs, or check Gumtree or eBay for unwanted extras left over from other people’s renovation projects. It’s amazing what you can find if you go out of your way to look!
Make do & mend
Don’t buy new when you can give something old a makeover. We are all too quick to throw away items of unwanted furniture in favour of new pieces from high street shops. New is nice, but if you don’t have much money it makes sense to restore an older piece of furniture and give it a shabby chic makeover instead.
Budget renovation projects can be fun, but always adhere to health and safety guidelines. And if you need to hire tools to get your renovation project up and running, check out what’s available at Welding Outfitter.