When you’re about to begin a renovation of the property you live in, you may be wondering whether staying at the property is the best option, or if you’re better off staying offsite for your own peace of mind. If your renovation is minor and you plan to do room by room, staying at your property will not be a bad option considering the money saved. Whilst you do save money by staying at your own property during the renovation, extensive and extended renovations can become very inconvenient, long-winded, and stressful experiences that end up costing quite a bit in time and money due to slowing the process down. This article explains some of the things to consider when deciding on whether to live on the renovation site or to organise alternate accommodation.
Things to consider when living on a renovation site
The pros of living on a renovation site are pretty obvious: you save money on accommodation costs, you can keep an eye on things closely, and you can even try your hand at some DIY tasks around the clock. If your renovation is short, not very extensive and you have the ability to be very adaptable and flexible in your day-to-day life, then staying in a renovation site might not be a bad option.
However, we cannot deny that a lot of renovations, especially the ones that involve structural changes, will inevitably affect all facets of life. Sleep, work (if you work from home especially), studies, laundry, showering, and cooking all these parts of your life will be temporarily affected, and managing your expectations on this is vital. For example, if you are renovating your bathroom and shower, you will need to find alternate showering facilities during the time frame your bathroom is out of use, or perhaps if you or your partner work from home, you may have to find office space elsewhere for the time being because of the noise interference and the constant stream of renovation tradies moving around the house on top of things like power cuts. If someone in the home works night shifts, you will really want to consider alternative accommodation because the noise and schedule that tradies work on will disturb your sleep, so best to avoid this conundrum altogether. Another factor to consider is health concerns, for example, if you have asthma, the dust released during a renovation could negatively impact your health whether it’s asthma, or allergies for yourself and also pets.
Whilst you do save money living at home during the time frame, your renovation may take a lot longer than anticipated if you are trying to accommodate and live around the renovation. There might also be instances when the contractors have to redo the job. To illustrate this, if you plan to do the renovation room by room and move between rooms, you may end up having to call trades back multiple times as opposed to doing all the work at once. Whilst you save money on accommodation, you may not save money on labour costs due to several call-out fees.
Cost of temporary housing
If your home is undergoing renovation, you may want to consider renting a nearby temporary home while it is being worked on. Temporary accommodation may involve staying at a friend’s home, renting an Airbnb locally, or renting a unit for a few months, the best option will vary depending on the length of which you need to organise accommodation and how often you will need to be involved onsite.
Temporary living expenses can add up over time, and you may be forced to eat out more often due to the logistics of not having your own kitchen. On top of alternate accommodation, you also need to continue to pay for your mortgage and homeowners insurance, these holding costs are significant and need to be carefully weighed up.
Finding a short-term lease
Major home renovations often leave a home unlivable for several months. If you are displaced during this time, you may need to find a short-term lease for a different property. If you can’t make arrangements about staying in with other relatives, consider looking on local community Facebook groups, for room rentals, or consider even staying at the local caravan park to get your needs met on a budget.
Conclusion
A lot of the hype around home renovations centres around the added value that your investment will bring, but homeowners often overlook the reality of living in a renovation site and the experience that this will have on everyone involved. While renovations are effective in increasing the market value just the same, they do require time to be completed. Depending on your priorities, choosing to live in the renovation site will save you money in one way but will bring with it a multitude of discomfort and even slow the process down, therefore you may want to consider organising alternate accommodation for the duration of your renovation, or at least for the messy, loud part!
Paul offers renovation plastering services across Sydney. Have a look at our gallery to see previous work and reach out for a free quote to get started on your reno.
