Ansco Lofts Binghamton's List of First-Time Home Improvement Blunders Even New Yorkers Make

Home renovation - let alone renovating in New York City - is not easy, even for professionals with a lot of renovation experience under their belt. There are a lot of mysteries as well as challenges that you will encounter when you are doing a home renovation.

From the hidden costs of New York City to complete the task list to pick the best materials for a kitchen countertop, and the most challenging problem you will face, finding the right home renovation contractors. If you want to get the best result and stand a chance of completing your project without overshooting your budget, you need to avoid these rookie mistakes:

To know about different types of home improvements, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_improvement.

First mistake: Rushing the planning phase

You need to make sure that your plans, construction specifications, and all the details are worked out accurately. Ambiguity and wiggle room are the enemies of budget and time. Not only that, you need to do a walk-through with different contractors like plumbers, electricians, the main contractor, as well as the engineer and the architect that you will hire, before starting your project.

Discuss your wish list and the total scope of your project so all the contractors and everyone involved in the project can see different issues with the plan and the building itself before it's too late. Among the most common problems that can be avoided because you've done your walk-through with the contractors:

Discovering that you don't have enough power for recessed lighting, your appliance, A/V equipment, or A/C units that you are planning to bring to your newly renovated home.

Second Mistake: Hiring the cheapest bidder and not considering other contractors

Do not hire the first bidder that contacted you. You need to compare different prices from different contractors. Always remember that if it is cheaper than the average asking price, it is too good to be true. There's a big chance that those are shady contractors.

For example, the bids that you receive from different contractors inBinghamton can differ depending on the trivial details of the projects. Get at least three or four estimates to make sure that contractors are not overpricing you or getting too little from the money you are paying. Sometimes, the best thing to do when choosing from different contractors is to pick in the middle, not too cheap and not too expensive.

Third mistake: Hiring the wrong contractor to make your home improvement project

There is home renovating contractor that will ask half the payment and will leave you with a half-finished house. That is why, the best thing you need to do is ask your friends, family, neighbors, or co-workers for any recommendation. You also need to check for any references and get every detail in writing.

While there is a small chance that large home improvement contractors will skip town after getting your deposit, they can be more expensive compared to the average contracting companies. These big companies are known to sub-contract the jobs and charge the clients expensively.

Fourth mistake: Being overconfident

You need to understand that anything can happen beyond the contractor and the architect's control sooner or later. There are a lot of things that can happen that will interrupt your home improvement's progress. You need to be prepared for an extra cost and extra time. Here are some real-life and unexpected delays (and sometimes costly) that you might encounter when you are doing a home improvement project:

The Department of Buildings can audit the project at any time, and it will stop the construction temporarily. For a list of DOB’s violations, you can visit this site.

When contractors discover the presence of asbestos in your home, the contractor can find asbestos during an initial inspection, but there are times that they find areas that have asbestos only during the demolition. The law requires them to dispose of it according to the regulation.

Delays in the delivery of the orders that are out of your contractor's hand.

Coordinated electrical or water shutdowns.

Construction or design changes that come into light only after the construction has begun.

Fifth mistake: Clients that tell the contractors what they should do

With the popularity of different home improvement television shows, clients sometimes think that they know more about home improvement than the contractors themselves. Trust me, home improvement contractors know what they are doing and have seen it all, you need to trust their abilities, and besides, you paid them to do what they are good at, let them do it without your interruptions. Click here for a list of different home improvement shows to get some ideas for your home

You can give ideas here and there, contractors are obliged to consider them, but do not think that you have more knowledge in home improvement, than them just because you spend a lot of time watching a television show.