After estimating your Okotoks kitchen renovation cost, the next hurdle is to set a budget and then keep your kitchen renovation under budget. Going over budget is the leading irritant for 51% of renovating Canadian homeowners, so we want to help you avoid it.
4 Tips to Help You Determine a Realistic Renovation Budget
Underestimating costs is the most common mistake homeowners make when planning a renovation. But you won’t keep your kitchen renovation under budget if your budget is unrealistic. So the most important step in keeping your budget is to determine a realistic budget. Here’s how.
1. Research Actual Costs
Take the time to research the actual costs of materials and labour. Don’t be satisfied with ballpark estimates. Get detailed breakdowns with actual prices for each item and service. (More on this below.)
2. Divide Costs by Task
To get a clearer picture of your costs, and to help you manage, tweak, and improve your budget as needed, categorize your costs by task. For example, determine the total cost of tiling the floor by itemizing the cost of materials and labour for that specific task. Do this with lighting, cabinetry, and other components of your renovation.
3. Leave Room for the Unexpected
Every kitchen renovation encounters unexpected expenses. For example, the flooring you want is backordered, so you must choose a higher-priced option. The nature of the unexpected is that it’s unknown, so how can you prepare or plan for something you don’t know about? The answer is to leave wiggle room in your budget for those unknown costs.
4. Get Estimates from Professionals
Always get written estimates from professionals. This helps you stay within budget and protects you from financial curveballs that quickly bump your costs up.
Okotoks Kitchen Renovation Cost Breakdown
A detailed cost breakdown helps keep your kitchen renovation under budget by showing you where you’re spending your money. If you need to cut costs somewhere, you can easily see the areas where you could make a few changes to reduce expenses.
The total cost of a typical kitchen renovation in Okotoks can be broken down like this:
- 29%—Cabinetry
- 17%—Labour and installation
- 14%—Appliances
- 10%—Mechanical components, such as plumbing, electrical, etc.
- 10%—Countertops
- 7%—Miscellaneous costs
- 5%—Flooring
- 5%—Painting
- 5%—Lighting & electrical work
- 4%—Plumbing
- 4%—Design
Note this amounts to 110%. That’s because these are average amounts, so some of these percentages could be less, depending on the design, materials, scope, and other factors involved in your kitchen renovation.
Materials are the easiest place to reduce your budget. You can always find a more affordable light fixture or choose a different brand of paint, but you have less control over labour costs.
Labour costs depend on several factors, including the size of your kitchen and the amount of work involved in the renovation. If you require contractors to move a wall, for example, you’ll pay higher labour costs than if you keep the existing floor plan. The same is true for changing the layout of the kitchen. If contractors must move plumbing or electrical lines, there will be higher costs.
3 Solutions for Overspending on Renovations
No matter how diligently you research and prepare, the unpredictable is still a reality of kitchen renovations. What happens when a costly problem arises and threatens to crush your budget? You have several options when it seems you’re forced to spend more than you intended.
1. Raise the budget
The simplest solution is to increase the amount of money you’re willing to spend on the project. If you have the means to do this, it might make sense to raise your budget. But don’t be too quick to jump on this. Consider your other options first.
2. Select different materials
Could you choose different materials to cut some costs? Reevaluate your selections in every area and determine if you’d be happy with more affordable options. Consider flooring, light fixtures, hardware, cabinetry, and countertops.
3. Evaluate your priorities
If you’re determined to stick to your budget, and you feel you can’t change your selections, it’s time to evaluate your priorities. What aspects of your kitchen renovation are most important? What are the goals?
You need to cut costs somewhere, so decide where you’re willing to make changes to your original plan. Changes could be as simple as choosing different paint, or as drastic as redesigning the layout to avoid plumbing changes.
Remember that not all renovations have to happen all at once. Could you renovate parts of your kitchen now and do the rest later?
We Can Help You Keep Your Okotoks Kitchen Renovation Under Budget
A project manager can relieve a big part of the stress of a kitchen renovation. They can help with unanticipated issues during the renovation process and help to keep the project under budget.
The experts at Riverstone Kitchens & Renovations can help you plan your kitchen renovation budget, design and build a beautiful new kitchen, and manage your entire renovation project. Contact us today for a free consultation.
