Improving your home sits at the top of good reasons to take out a personal loan. When you renovate, you improve the value of your home, as well as your comfort and your well-being. Careful planning before turning your house into your dream home, will go a long way to ensuring that you renovate without regret.
Feeling good at home is a great gift. When you feel safer, more grounded and comfortable, you’re ready to enjoy time with your loved ones, you can rest better and tackle the day with courage. There is a sense of pride and accomplishment in completing renovations. Work well done, whether you do it yourself or hire professionals, will make you feel on top of things.
Applying for a Personal Loan to Finance Home Improvements
As long as you can meet the requirements of the National Credit Act, the personal loan application process is usually straightforward and can be done telephonically or online. Once approved, the money could be available within 48 hour.
Home improvement financing may ensure that you’re able to get your project off the ground, but you do need to manage the costs.
Things to Consider when Tackling Renovations
DIY or professionals?
If you know what to do or can get assistance from someone who does, DIY will be cheaper and double up your sense of accomplishment. However if you don’t have the required skills or need assistance, you may end up damaging your home or waste supplies and will need to get help in the end anyway.
It’s also important to note that any major home alternations such as building a wall around your property, building a swimming pool, room additions, or internal wall changes, may require planning permission, and perhaps permission from the environmental or heritage authorities.
The regulation around every project is different, once you know what alterations you want to make to your property, seek advice from your local municipality. Your local building inspectors will advise you on the regulations, legal building standards and of the building plan approval process. Getting the necessary approval is critical. If you don’t have your building plans approved by local authorities, you may stand a risk in losing money and you may even receive a court order to demolish your renovations if the authorities find out your plans were not approved.
Calculating your budget
Renovations always cost more than we first anticipated… That is until we get smart. Often, we budget based on the big costs – hires and main supplies. But then, we’re missing a tool, run out of supplies, or something gets delayed and we need to pay for an extra day of work, or we forget something and need to pay for more transport. There can be cleaning to do in the end, a present for those who helped.
Here it’s about being realistic – optimism can be counter productive – avoid buying things if you can, for example:
- Borrow tools
- Find left over building supplies from friends
- Reuse materials
- Wait for sales before making large purchases for items such as power tools.
Planning
While you’re renovating, your home may be uncomfortable to live in. This means planning is not just about the work itself but also how you will run your day to day life when the renovations are in progress. For example, if the renovations involved plumbing, you’ll have to consider where to shower, cook and wash the dishes, or just access fresh water. Or, you may need to protect your belongings from dust or theft, or your family from noise.
Good planning helps to prevent home renovation problems that you my not have factored in previously. Also consider that delays are frequent and the discomfort can last a little longer than you hoped.
But it will all be worth it. Good luck!
Need help with financing home renovations? Apply for a loan with DirectAxis today!