Overcoming The #1 Reason Home Renovation Projects Fail
As a fan of DIY and home renovations, it is almost certain that you will have experienced the odd failure along the way. In many ways, there is no particular harm to this: after all, you’re not a professional, so the chances of getting everything right, every single time, are incredibly slim.
However, while understandable, it is incredibly frustrating when a home renovation project doesn’t work out the way it should. You will experience a series of losses: the time lost to a project that didn’t deliver the expected result, financial losses, and – in the worst cases – a loss of functionality for an area of your home.
So, while it’s understandable that the occasional home renovation project didn’t go as you intended, that doesn’t mean that you have to just chalk it up to experience and expect the same in future. It’s well worth investigating what went wrong so you can avoid it in future – and in many cases, what went wrong can be summed up in a single phrase: a lack of vision.
What is ‘vision’ in regards to home renovations?
Vision comprises of a number of different areas:
You need a strong vision of the intended outcome of your project; you need a firm idea of what a room is going to look like, how it’s going to be used, and what exactly you are going to achieve with the renovation. This may involve very niche research such as how to create an Art Deco styled bathroom, or broader strokes like learning how to hang kitchen cupboards; essentially, all the elements you need to effectively plan the entire process.
You also need a strong vision for what it takes to actually achieve that finished result; for example, you need to be able to plan your budget and ensure you have the right materials on hand.
In almost every instant, it is a lack of vision that causes a home renovation failure. Perhaps you didn’t quite research your chosen style correctly, and now the room isn’t cohesive, or seems to be trying too hard to blend a rush of styles that don’t complement one another. Or perhaps a lack of vision caused you to overlook a vital component that you needed to complete the work, leading to on-the-day workarounds and the occasional bodge job.
What causes a lack of vision?
Mostly, a lack of another vital component of home renovations: time.
When contemplating a house or room renovation, time is never on your side. You want the work to be completed, but you also have to juggle your other responsibilities in life along with the project. This is one of the downsides of DIY; where professionals can focus their energy entirely on the task, you have to manage parenting, your job, and running your home along with the renovation project.
Inevitably, the lack of time leads to a lack of vision – and you may be particularly vulnerable to this if you are an experienced DIYer. It’s easy to assess a renovation project and, full of confidence from previous triumphs, assume that you know exactly what is required to complete the work. You look at a bathroom and think: “new sink, new toilet, new floor, lick of paint – job done”. While this may be factually correct, it’s not particularly useful when it comes to establishing the correct vision for a project.
After all, just one component of the above sequence – “a lick of paint” – requires a huge amount of thought and planning. For example; you’ll need to research the right colour to use in the bathroom; source swatches; buy supplies such as masking tape, rollers, and paint brushes; you’ll actually have to set the time aside to complete the work; and you need to ensure that all of these elements blend with the style you have chosen for the overall room. By planning the renovation with just the most basic terms, you overlook essential elements that are necessary for the successful completion of a project.
Experience can lead to you overlooking the step-by-step process you actually need in order to complete the work as quickly as possible.
So how do you achieve vision in your renovation projects?
Simple: find the time. It is far, far preferable to take the time to research a project properly prior to commencing than rather than rushing and experience a fail. You need to have a very strong, clear idea of exactly what you intend to achieve with the work you are undertaking – and exactly what you need to get to a finished result that you’re happy with. Good luck!
