Ways to Save during a Renovation

 

 Ways to Save during a Renovation

1. Engage an Interior Designer or Contractor during “off-peak” (low-on-demand) seasons

Demands for Interior Designers or Contractors are usually high beginning of the year and end of the year since these are months which lead to festive seasons like Christmas and New Year. Hence, it’s best to avoid getting quotations and engaging their services during that period.

2. Compare quotations from a few Interior Designers or Contractors

Don’t be lazy and engage the first Interior Designer or Contractor which you have met. Do let them know that you are comparing their prices and will choose one that offers a good price with quality workmanship.

3. Plan ahead and determine which part of the renovation you can DIY

List down all the possible renovation tasks that you can do by yourself. You can also save money from your house renovation by doing such easy tasks like painting. However, be mindful that you should be confident or at least do some research before the DIY. Otherwise you might end up spending money to recover from your mistakes.

4. Purchase your own supplies for the renovation

If possible, buy your own supplies such as lighting bulbs, paint, switch covers and bathroom fixtures. You should be charged only for the labor and nothing more.

5. Consider the long term costs impact of your home renovation.

Think about the effort and money that are needed to upkeep an expensive sofa, or the high electrical bills due to an energy inefficient refrigerator. Be mindful of the maintenance costs and also by using energy saving products now, it will save you a substantial amount of money in the long run.

6. Reuse or purchase second-hand items!

The amount of money saved from reusing your existing TV, computer chairs, dining tables etc is a lot. So, look for your furnishing and electrical needs from garage sale or at places like thrift shops or internet sites.

7. Sell off stuffs which you do not want!

Similarly, get back some cash by selling off old clothes, furniture, electrical goods etc during garage sale, at thrift shops or internet sites.

8. Lastly, setup a gift registry or encourage your house warming guests to give cash (“Ang Paos”) or vouchers as gifts

Most house warming guests will not turn up empty handed. So instead of letting them go through the hassle of getting something which you already have or do not want, inform them in advance that you prefer practical gifts like cash or vouchers.

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Planning Your Finance!

With the launch of the pricest public housing so far, the spotlight has been cast again on DBSS flats. Again, as with any major purchase, you should do your homework throughly prior committing to purchase such a big-ticket item.

HDB has done a very good job in helping 1st timer or even 2nd timer couples work out their finance by providing self assessment tools online.

However, do take note that these tools only provides a guideline.

Taken from HDB site:
To assess your affordability, consider the following:

Available Cash Savings
CPF Monies
Housing Loan (if required)
CPF Housing Grant (if eligible)

To know the costs involved in purchasing a HDB, DBSS or an EC:
Buying a flat from HDB
Buying an EC/DBSS from developer

Online financial tools:
Step by step guide: Financing your flat.
other tools for Loan Eligibility & Monthly Instalment.


Hope you find these tools useful! :)

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What's your budget?

Many people set aside money for renovation. However, most neglect the other critical aspect when doing up their dream home: furnishing and essential household appliances.

To sum up, the big dream home project makes up of the following components:

1. Renovation (which includes painting of walls, adding shifting of lighting points etc)
2. Furnishing (furniture, curtains/blinds etc)

3. Household appliances (washing appliances, TV, fridge etc)

I have seen people dumping as much as S$70k in the renovation and left little for furnishing and thus, the end result is pretty lopsided. Remember, renovation only setup a "base"; only with appropriate furnishing that the character of the place will be brought out.

Last thing to note is that usually people tend to exceed their budget by 20%-30% on average. Thus, keep this in mind. ;)

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