Aside from buying your home, renovating it is probably one of the most costly investments you’ll make in your lifetime - so you’ll want to get it right. We often see newbie renovators, super-pumped to get started, rushing into their project all guns blazing. While their enthusiasm is admirable and we hate being the party police, the guy or gal who said “failing to plan is planning to fail” hit the nail on the head!

We’d hate to see anyone fail because they didn’t have their ducks in a row before they leapt feet first into a renovation so, if you’re getting ready to reno, you’ll want to check out these 5 costly mistakes to avoid.

1) STARTING WITHOUT A VISION

Lana likens starting a renovation without a vision to sitting down in a new hairdresser’s chair and saying “go for your life” - who knows what you might end up with? Blue when you wanted blonde, a bob when you wanted a lob... It’s just too risky to start without sharing a clear vision of what you want the outcome of your session to be. Same goes with renovating your home.

The very first thing we do in Reno School, intros and welcome drinks aside, is teach our students how to create a vision board that becomes the bible for their renovation. It summarises the end goal of the reno visually on one page that they can share with their architect, builder and other trades and will make selecting fittings and fixtures a breeze throughout the renovation journey.

Do you have a vision board ready to share with your Dream Team?

2) BLOWING YOUR BUDGET

Hopefully, this one speaks for itself! Getting towards the end of your renovation and realising you’ve totally blown your budget or worse still, not having the funds to finish, can be devastating. Blowing your renovation budget through lack of careful planning and quote management or failing to add a contingency budget for unexpected extras that will inevitably pop up throughout the project can definitely be costly.

3) CHOOSING SHOCKERS, NOT ROCKERS, FOR YOUR TRADIE DREAM TEAM

In the current climate, when good tradies are like hen’s teeth, it’s tempting to jump on the first trades who say “yes” to taking on your job. Perhaps you got lucky and caught them with a break in their schedule (go you!) but pretty please don’t let that stop you doing your due diligence to ensure they’re the rockstars you need on your tradie Dream Team.

Aside from price, there are other considerations you’ll need to take into account when hiring trades - communication (or lack thereof!), the quality of their work (ask to see examples of their previous jobs), credentials (a good trade shouldn’t have any qualms in showing your their license and insurance docs), professionalism (a good test is to ask for a written quote) and their payment schedule (tip: don’t pay the full amount up front!)

4) NOT USING PRO’S FOR THE PROFESSIONAL JOBS

We’re all for DIY to save some cash but there are some jobs that are better left to the licensed professionals. You may think you’re saving money by doing everything yourself but when you consider the time it takes you and the quality of the end result, the benefit of DIY often just doesn’t pay off.

When it comes to more specialised jobs (especially those that involve power and water!) we recommend getting in licensed professionals. In Australia, an electrician will generally need to complete a four-year training/apprenticeship program to qualify. Bathroom waterproofing is so important that is mandated by law in Australia and must comply with Building Code Australia (BCA) and Australian Standard AS3740. In most states, only licensed professionals can undertake this work.

We’re big believers that you should play to your best skill set - for us that’s the planning, design and project management, we leave the tools to the paid professionals. Yes, it costs us more upfront but the completion time is a fraction of what it would take us (and time is money!) and the end result is high quality. If you’re keen to get your hands dirty and have the time and skills to complete the job with a quality result, by all means, go for it!

5) FORGETTING THE LANDSCAPING

A gorgeous garden can be the cherry on the top of your dream home renovation. Done well, landscaping has the ability to transform the street appeal of your house and make it feel like a home you’ll never want to leave. BUT, did you know that the biggest mistake we see when it comes to home renos lies in the garden?

Failing to plan for landscaping in your budget is a cardinal sin in our books - but it's a commonly committed one! (Hey, don’t worry, we’ve done it too!). We recommend approaching your landscaping budget as you would your home reno budget; be detailed and allow for a contingency. Just like your home reno budget, your garden budget requires you to take a top-down approach. Figure out how much you can afford first, and then work bottom-up using at least three comparable and detailed quotes. The nature of landscaping means that it usually comes last in your renovation, so that’s an extra reason to ensure it’s budgeted for at the start, to make sure there’s money left over for it at the end.