If moving is life’s number one stressor, renovating after a move runs a close second. So many moving parts and so many decisions, all of which seem to involve cost. Did you know the average total renovation cost for a 3-bed house can run between £43,500 and over £110,000?

Anything you can do to ease the pressure will help. Long term storage in Watford is one of those things. Here’s a closer look at some other pointers:

Make a Good, Flexible Plan

Think about everything that needs doing, the order it needs doing in and what the timeline or deadline might be. Make lists.

If you’re hiring professional contractors, take their advice on their availability and how long the job will take as well as the cost estimate. They can also advise on what jobs need doing first. As an extreme example, you wouldn’t get the decorators in before you replace the windows.

While you’re making your plan, include a few ‘plan Bs’ so you have some flexibility. Contractors might get held up, finances may go a little awry or necessary building supplies are unavailable when you need them.

Around 35% of homeowners regret not doing enough planning. You can’t guarantee everything will go right, but you can plot a route round or through obstacles that try and get in your way.

Create a Solid Budget

Cost out as much as you possibly can before you start anything. Speak to your contractors, including everyone from the builders to the architects, for guidance on how to save money or cut costs.

It’s not about penny pinching, it’s about sensible financial management. If you save a few hundred on one job, that’s a little extra you can splash on something else. While it would be nice to have everything, most of us recognise the need for some compromise, and that’s a lot better than going into extra debt.

Manage Your Expectations

While you can do wonders to transform a property, it may not be possible to achieve everything you’d like in an ideal world. Professional contractors have a wealth of experience you can tap into regarding timelines, possibilities, and potential risks, so don’t be afraid to ask.

If you can, try and hold back up to 20% of your budget so you can cover whatever goes awry, from delays in completion to unplanned expenses. Sometimes the simplest jobs on paper can get more complicated when they’re actually carried out. Even price rises, when there’s a time gap between choosing and purchasing materials, can catch you out and dent your budget.

You’ll appreciate the peace of mind you get from knowing you’ve got your own back covered.

You Need a Bolt Hole

Some people advise against trying to live in a property whilst you’re doing a total renovation. It’s very difficult to live in a building site for months at a time, and can even slow down progress if you have to constantly juggle belongings in order to get things done. You could consider self storage for precious items, but more on that later.

If possible, consider moving out for the duration. Maybe you could move into a temporary rental property, or save money by moving in with friends or family. This is an especially important consideration if you’re having major structural renovations done.

If moving out is impossible, at least have one area of the house that’s away from the main building work. Somewhere you can close the door, protect from dust and noise, and retreat to so you have at least one comfortable space to relax in.

Support Each Other

When major renovations are happening, it affects everyone in the household including children and even pets.

As well as keeping communications open between yourself and contractors, it’s important that everyone affected knows what’s happening, when and why and, if possible, how long it will take. Who’s affected might extend to neighbours if you’re having building work done. Let them know what’s happening and when, to give them advance warning and avoid unnecessary friction.

When things get a bit hectic, good communication helps keep everyone on side and ‘in it together’.

Take regular breaks. Both from any work you’re undertaking yourself, but also from the noise and frenzy when builders are in full drill mode. Have lunch out, go shopping, visit a gallery, take a long weekend away, do anything and everything to keep life as normal as possible.

Total Renovation and Long Term Storage in Watford

A total house renovation will normally take at least a year and sometimes longer. Long term storage is classed as any time period longer than three months, so the two tie together nicely.

You’ll inevitably be doing a lot of furniture moving and shuffling of belongings to make space for the necessary work, so having somewhere remote for safe storage is a definite advantage. It’s a lot less exhausting to just move stuff once, rather than having to do it on repeat.

This applies whether you’re staying put during the work, or moving out. If you’re moving out you have somewhere secure to place all your household effects, and if you’re staying at home you can clear room by room as you need to.

Local Watford self storage is convenient and inexpensive, with helpful staff and transparent terms. If you need advice, have questions or would simply like to know more about our long term Watford self storage, you can give us a call on 01923 981239.