PLANNING A HOME RENOVATION? HERE’S WHERE TO START
You’ve decided you want to renovate, but you’re not sure where to start with planning your home renovation.
It can be tempting to jump straight into looking at kitchens, saving tiles, choosing tapware or working out exactly what you want everything to look like. But before you get too far into the details, there are a few bigger things worth getting clear on first.
You need to understand what you’re renovating, what isn’t working now, what you want to achieve and what you’re prepared to spend.
Getting clear on those things gives you a much better foundation for the decisions that come next.
1. START WITH WHAT ISN’T WORKING
Before thinking about what you want your renovated home to look like, think about how you’re currently using it.
Walk through the spaces you want to renovate and ask yourself:
- What do I hate about using this space?
- What makes everyday life harder than it needs to be?
- What actually works well already?
- Is the problem practical, aesthetic or both?
- What’s the main reason I want to renovate?
Maybe your kitchen doesn’t have enough usable bench space. Your bathroom might technically function, but the layout feels awkward. Or perhaps everything works reasonably well and you mainly want to refresh outdated finishes.
Those are very different starting points.
Understanding why you’re renovating helps you work out where your money and attention actually need to go.
2. WHERE TO START WITH PLANNING YOUR HOME RENOVATION
Next, define the scope of your project.
Are you renovating one bathroom? The kitchen and bathrooms? Most of the house?
If several spaces need work, you also don’t necessarily have to renovate everything at once.
Ask yourself whether you’d rather spread your available budget across the whole renovation now, or put more into one or two priority spaces and save again before tackling the rest.
There isn’t one right answer. It’s about deciding what’s most important for your home, your budget and how you want to approach the project.
3. WORK OUT YOUR PRIORITIES
Once you know why you’re renovating, start separating the things the renovation needs to solve from the things you’d simply love to have.
Your priorities don’t have to be specific products or finishes.
They might be:
- more functional kitchen storage
- better bench space
- improving the flow between rooms
- making a bathroom easier for your family to use
- keeping something you already love
- creating better lighting
- updating finishes without completely changing the layout
Then you can start separating your genuine must-haves from the things that would be nice if your budget allows.
This is also where having a clear project brief can become really useful. It gives you something concrete to refer back to when you’re comparing options or wondering whether something is actually worth spending money on. If you’re not sure how to put one together, my Project Brief Writing Guide + Template walks you through it step by step.
4. SET A REALISTIC RENOVATION BUDGET
You don’t need to know exactly what every part of your renovation will cost at this stage, but you do need to know what you’re realistically prepared and able to spend.
Then you need to find out whether that budget matches what you’re hoping to achieve.
I’d suggest speaking with two or three builders who work on projects similar to yours. Talk them through what you’re hoping to renovate, the changes you’re considering and your approximate budget.
Different builders have different processes, structures and ways of working, so use those early conversations to learn as much as you can.
What can realistically be achieved? What’s likely to be included? How does their process work? Are there parts of your wishlist that could have a significant impact on the budget?
You’re starting to put some practical boundaries around the project before investing too much time or money in the details.
5. WHEN SHOULD YOU SPEAK TO A BUILDER ABOUT YOUR RENOVATION?
You don’t need to have every tile, tap and fitting selected before you speak to a builder.
In fact, I wouldn’t recommend going through an entire design process, finalising layouts and specifying everything without first having some understanding of what your budget can realistically achieve.
You do, however, need enough direction for the conversation to be useful.
If natural marble is a must-have, for example, that’s relevant even if you haven’t chosen the exact stone yet. It’s going to have a different impact on your budget than some alternative materials.
The goal at this stage is enough information to have a useful conversation, not every decision made.
Once you have a better understanding of what’s realistically achievable, you can move further into the design process with much clearer parameters.
6. DON’T CHANGE THE LAYOUT JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE RENOVATING
Changing a layout can absolutely be worthwhile, but it shouldn’t be an automatic part of renovating.
Start by asking:
What’s actually not working about the layout I have now?
What makes the space difficult to use? What would make it easier or better for the way you live?
If solving those problems requires moving things around, then there may be a good reason to investigate changing the layout.
But if the existing layout already works well, keeping plumbing, electrical and other elements in their existing locations can leave more of your budget available for other priorities.
Rather than asking “Can we move this?” ask: “What problem are we solving by moving it?”
7. WHO DO YOU NEED FOR A HOME RENOVATION?
Not every renovation needs the same team.
I might be a little biased, but I do think many renovations benefit from professional design input, even something as seemingly straightforward as a bathroom.
And I’m not just talking about making the space look good.
There are a lot of practical decisions that need to work together. You don’t want to go shopping, buy a bunch of things you love and discover during construction that your tap doesn’t work with your vanity or that your finishes don’t work together.
I’d also recommend speaking to a builder early for the practical construction side of the project and to understand what your particular renovation requires.
Depending on the scope and whether you’re making structural changes, you may also need input from a building designer, architect or other consultants.
If you’re not confident about the design direction, layout or selections, getting an interior designer involved early makes sense.
Ideally, I like the designer and builder to be able to communicate as the project develops rather than treating design and construction as two separate stages. It can help identify practical questions earlier instead of finalising the design and then discovering that some aspects need to be reconsidered once it reaches the builder.
8. PREPARE BEFORE YOUR FIRST BUILDER MEETINGS
You don’t need a fully designed renovation to start talking to builders, but it’s not great to come to a meeting with only “we want to renovate” either.
Before those conversations, try to have a reasonable understanding of:
- which spaces you want to renovate
- what isn’t working and what you want to change
- your priorities and major must-haves
- your approximate available budget
- the general level of finishes you’re considering
Then use the meeting to understand the builder and how they work.
Ask about their experience with similar projects, what’s included and excluded, realistic timeframes, how communication works and when they’ll need decisions and selections from you.
NOT SURE WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD BE ASKING?
I’ve put together a free Renovator’s Builder Checklist with questions to ask before you build or renovate.
It covers the builder, their quote, the build process, your selections and some of the things worth clarifying before you sign a contract.
Get the free Renovator’s Builder Checklist
9. THEN START GETTING INTO THE DETAILS
Once you’ve worked through these early decisions, you’ll have something much more useful than a bunch of inspo pics.
You’ll understand what you’re renovating, why you’re doing it, what matters most, what you can spend and what’s realistically achievable.
That’s when you can start making more detailed decisions about layouts, finishes, fittings, fixtures and everything else that brings your project together.
And importantly, you’ll be making those decisions within the context of the actual project rather than choosing things in isolation.
WANT SOME STRUCTURE AROUND THE PLANNING STAGE?
If you’re planning your own renovation and you’re not sure how to organise everything, my Renovation Planning Bundle brings together three practical resources to help you work through your renovation planning, budget and priorities and turn your thinking into a useful project brief.