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You have now got to that stage in your life where you are considering buying your first home. Maybe you have already purchased your first home and can't afford to sell your home and buy a new home. Many homeowners (especially first-timers) do not really have any idea of what a renovation would cost. In this post, I will provide a guide on what to expect:
What are you expecting to pay for a renovation?
One way to give yourself a good starting guide is to check out the packages from Interior Design Companies at the Expo renovation fair. Check the Expo website for details on the next events. Most ID companies provide similar packages so don't be surprised if you get very similar quotes from different companies. For the purpose of this post, I have used an average figure taken from various companies as a guide. Kluje.com has also used these averages for our budgets in the renovation option for Getting Quotes.
Let's gets started with what you can expect a renovation package to cost. Remember that this is an average and not an exact cost, extras have also not been included.
You can use the HDB resale package for Condo and Landed properties. Building an extension is more complicated and you would need to get advice from a builder or architect.
You have to remember that the prices above are just a guide, so don't think that these are the exact prices you will be paying. The renovation you may what to do may be very complicated or very simple, it could be big or small. No renovation is exactly the same. Take into consideration how fancy you want your home to be, you might need to top up the renovation packages by $5,000 – $10,000.
So how do I work out the basic cost for my renovation?
- You have an HDB 4 room resale: $23,000 package
- Additional costs: $5,000 - $10,000 or even more.
HDB 4 room resale package $23,000 + $7,500 average cost (estimated additional works not included). Your renovating cost to your ID is estimated to be $23,000 + $7,500 = $30,500. Remember that this is only an estimate and the total will change according to your needs.
Now that you have the basic cost, you will need to consider the costs of accessories and other expenses and add them to the basic cost:
These costs are mid to lower-end prices. Of course, there is no limit for high-end accessories.
Now if we look at the estimate again, taking into account what we have already worked out and added the accessories. The estimated total cost of the renovation will be $52,000! A lot of new homeowners will forget to add extras when looking at renovation packages.
How do you set a renovation budget?
One of the first things an ID company will ask you is, what is your budget? All ID companies will need to know your budget before they can start working on what they can do for you, within your budget. Rule of thumb for setting a budget is “buy what you can afford”. You do not want to pay through your nose for something that you cannot afford. Most of us don't have unlimited cash and taking out a loan is normally not an option, so work out how must cash you have to spend and then work out what you can do with the cash you have. If you have an idea before working out how much you can spend, you may be building yourself up for disappointment.
Finally, some tips to help work with your budget.
You have worked out your budget to be $50,000, only declare 85% ($42,500) of your budget to the ID company for them to work on. By doing this it will make the ID's try to stretch your budget to the maximum. All ID's will push the contract to 10% – 20% more than your budget so that they have room for negotiation. Declaring less will give you control of your budget. Stretching your money.
- Buy your electronics during IT fairs.
- Go sanitary and lighting shopping. Do your homework.
- Try to use an ID that does not charge a design fee (about $3,000). Ask right at the start.
- Negotiate prices for all your accessories. Use 20% as a guide.
To read more advice on budgets: RENOVATION BUDGET: HOW TO SET THE RIGHT ONE
Now that you know what your budget is and what you want to accomplish with it, you will need to find an Interior Designer to do the work. Kluje can help you with this task, Simply post your renovation job on kluje's platform and we can get you up to 3 quotations for free.
Helpful information on Project estimation: https://www.clicktime.com/blog/guide-to-project-cost-estimation
