Planning a Stress-Free Home Remodel

Don’t let those glossy home magazine photos fool you, home remodeling can be stressful! But there are ways plan a stress-free home remodel.

Long-term home remodeling projects are life-altering and can lead to an enormous amount of stress. Your home, that wonderful space that’s all your own, is turned upside down. Materials are in the way, the home gets covered in dust regardless of how much plastic you’ve taped up, and simple design choices can lead to heated arguments in the most stable relationships.

The chaos of home remodeling can seem overwhelming and pressure to get it done, and get it done right, can create an enormous amount of stress.

Dealing with My Own Home Remodeling Stress

Home remodeling stress is real and can cause a lot of frustration within the family. I should know, I’m in the throes of it myself!

Remodeling an older manufactured home isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s hard work and expensive, regardless of how much you do yourself.

After buying our single wide I created a 5-year timeline. We would pay the home off first and then start remodeling without incurring any debt. First, we’d work on updating and repairing the flooring, ceilings, and walls. Next, we would build an addition and install new siding. Lastly, the bathroom and kitchen would get completely overhauled.

It seemed like a great plan. I even had a professional plumber/contractor living in the house with me so it was supposed to be easy. My husband has remodeled countless homes, just never our own. It didn’t take long for the reality to set in – remodeling is expensive, time-consuming, and stressful!

It’s been almost 4 years and we haven’t finished (or even started) on a quarter of the projects that we planned. If it’s not one thing, it’s another! Unexpected expenses, time constraints, and a lack of motivation are all creating stress in our home. I still love my home, it’s paid for after all, but I feel as if I could’ve and should’ve done better.

Luckily, you can have a stress-free remodel that actually gets started and finished!

Proper planning and research can help a lot. Knowing what to expect and having realistic expectations helps too!

What Causes Home Remodeling Stress?

An informative article on Porch.com goes into great detail about the top 6 Things That Create Stress During a Remodel (and how to avoid them).

Their list of home remodeling stress creators include:

Not knowing where to begin
Not understanding how much everything will cost
Not knowing how long the project will take to complete
Making too many changes during the project
Not understanding your home “quirks” or inherent issues
Miscommunication

How to Have a Stress-Free Home Remodel

The two biggest factors of home remodeling stress are emotional and financial factors.

Preparing yourself, and your family, for what’s coming and understanding what to expect can help you have a stress-free home remodel.

Research (or how to use Google to your advantage)

The top three causes of stress in the list above can be remedied by research. Knowing how to start, how much everything is going to cost, and how long a project will take can help you reduce stress during a home remodel.

How to find anything you want on Google

In this day and age, you can find anything you want on Google, the largest search engine in the world. The trick is knowing how to search Google and getting the results you want.

Google uses keywords, or queries, to categorize every article it indexes. There are millions of results for each keyword combination so the chances of finding exactly what you want are high.

Here are a few tips to help you search Google to get answers to questions you have about remodeling:

Quotes and Important Words

If you want to see only results with specific words or word combinations use quotes around the words you want.

If you only want to see how to remodel a bathroom simply add quotes around those words and you’ll get only the results that specifically include those exact words in the text or description. All of us bloggers and webmasters have to tweak our articles and images to make them easier to find for readers and by using quotes around “how to remodel a bathroom” you will be getting only results with those exact words.

If you’re not getting what you want you can add to the search by adding or rearranging words. Remodeling a bathroom can become how to remodel a small bathroom or bathroom remodeling ideas.

Ask Google a Question

Entering your search as a question can help you get better information. Say you want to find out how much vinyl siding costs, simply enter “How much is vinyl siding?” into Google’s search and you’ll likely find the answer.

Keep note, usually, the first three results on Google are advertisements that may or may not tell you exactly what you want to know but after the top three, you’ll likely get your answer. Here is Google’s exact response to “how much is vinyl siding”, along with a link to the source of the information (Angie’s List):

Your total cost determination starts with your choice of siding – vinyl, for example, runs between $200 and $300 for one hundred square feet. For a 2,200-square-foot home, you’re looking at a base cost of between$6,000 and $8,500.

Keep Your Expectations and Limitations in Check

Another way to reduce stress during a home remodel is to understand exactly what the project will entail. Simply put, make sure your expectations for the remodel are realistic.

A complete kitchen or bathroom remodel is going to be more difficult than a flooring install and larger remodels will take longer, and cost more, than smaller projects.

Know How Long the Remodel Will Take

Realtor.com has an informative article titled, How Long Will Home Renovation Take?, that breaks down the average remodeling projects for you. They state that a kitchen remodel will take 3 to 6 months, bathrooms will take 2 to 3 months. You can read more here.

Set a Realistic Budget

Your budget and DIY abilities will drastically affect the results of your remodel. You shouldn’t expect a $5,000 remodel to have the same results as a $50,000 remodel but you can still get amazing results.

Remodeling is like opening a can of soup without a label. You don’t know what you’re going to get until you open it! Ripping out the bathtub and seeing rotted studs and mold is always a possibility even in a newer home.

Setting a realistic budget, with extra padding for those unknown issues that always arise, will help you keep the remodel stress-free.

Porch.com shares 10 steps to set up a kitchen remodeling budget and breaks down an average kitchen remodels. They state, “According to Remodeling Magazine, the national average cost of a mid-range, major kitchen remodel (which includes updating a 200-square-foot kitchen with 30 linear feet of semi-custom cabinets, a 3-by-5-foot island, laminate countertops, double-tub stainless-steel sink with single faucet, energy-efficient appliances, custom lighting, new flooring and fresh paint) costs $54,909 and has an average return on value of 74.2%.”

The cost allocation for an average kitchen remodel:

Appliances: 19% (about 7% of this cost will be for labor)
Cabinetry: 48% (18% for labor)
Countertops: 15% (18% for labor)
Faucets and plumbing: 5% (30% for labor)
Flooring: 5% (40% for labor)
Lighting & Electrical: 5% (30% for labor)
Walls & Trim: 3% (50% for labor)

To get a better understanding of the cost of a remodeling project you can also refer to the 2015 Cost Vs. Value report from Remodeling Magazine. This report will help you understand the correlation between cost and value. The report will break down a local city’s average job costs, resale value, cost recouped, and regional comparisons for typical remodeling projects.

Summary

Once things feel out of control during a home remodel project, or the thrill is gone, stress may be inevitable. Planning your strategy well, understanding how the remodel will affect you and your family, finalizing and staying within budget, and researching well will help you have a smooth, stress-free remodel.

You can do it!

Thanks so much for reading Mobile Home Living!

3 thoughts on “Planning a Stress-Free Home Remodel”

Teddi

February 26, 2016 at 2:09 am

Wish I had found your site a few years ago. It has been helpful. We had to redo our kitchen because of a water leak. My husband and I have done small projects and got lots of info from google. I knew it would take us a long time to do because of my husbands health issues and a ‘pay as you go’ budget. We set up a ‘camp’ kitchen in a bedroom and a makeshift sink in the spare bathroom. We had a 2 burner propane camp stove, a toaster oven, microwave and milk crates for cabinets. The project took over 2 years to complete. It is beautiful, functional and easy to clean.
- Crystal Adkins
  
  February 26, 2016 at 12:38 pm
  
  Hi Teddi! I bet it is gorgeous! I would love to share it sometime. If you’re interested email at crystaladkinswv@gmail.com or crystaladkins@mobilehomeliving.org
  
  Thanks so much!
ardis adrian

August 21, 2015 at 1:47 pm

`Your site is so informative and entertaining. Thanks for your hard work. The no stress remodel of my soon to be retirement home was done by my brothers, nephews and grandnephews while I was off site. All I did was fund it, $17,000, and stay in touch, make suggestions. For that I got a new kitchen with 2nd hand appliances, new bath, new laminate and carpet floor, spray painted ceiling and walls, new ceiling fans, and new shingle roof after a tear off and repair. They only charged me about $3,500 for the work. Thank Goodness for family.