Tips to Ensure a Pain-Free Home Remodel Home Decoration Home Improvement by Tim Smith - August 20, 2014 4 Useful Tips to Ensure a Pain-Free Home Remodel We’ve all heard remodeling horror stories: contractors bailing mid-project, going over budget by thousands of dollars and countless days,a finished project that’s nothing like what was agreed to. If you’re about to remodel part or all of your home, do more than just keep your fingers crossed that all will go smoothly — follow these tips to ensure a pain-free remodel. Set Clear Expectations Long before you begin purchasing materials or interviewing contractors to work with, you should develop a clear idea of the results you want to achieve. If you are like many homeowners, you may have the picture-perfect dream home envisioned in your mind. However, many couples may not share the same vision, or you may have different style ideas in mind for your kitchen cabinets versus your countertops or floors. Therefore, take the additional step of creating a small portfolio of the materials you want to include in your remodel, and clip out images from magazines. Ensure that you have a clear, concise vision before you move on to the next step. Image credit – www.archdaily.com Interview Contractors Carefully Once you know what work you need completed for your remodel, you can begin interviewing contractors for the project or sub-projects. Some contractors have specific skills that may be more beneficial for your project than others. For example, some may offer decorative concrete services, and others may specialize in wood flooring installation. In addition to focusing on their skills, review cost, availability, workmanship and consumer reviews. The efforts of these professionals will yield results you need to live with for years to come, so do not rush through this step. Set a Budget Some homeowners will set a budget before interviewing contractors, and you may indeed have an upper limit for the remodeling project. However, it is often difficult for homeowners to set a firm, realistic budget without knowing the rates of contractors or the cost of materials. Therefore, it is often best to get quotes from contractors before setting a budget. Keep in mind that you can always adjust your materials selection or opt to use different services if your quotes are too high for your budget. Monitor the Progress After you have followed all of these steps, you can then book your contractors to begin work on your home. Some homeowners will step out of the way and will allow contractors to complete the work entirely before inspecting it. However, it is better to monitor the results periodically. This way, you can catch potential issues while the work is in progress. This may ultimately ensure your satisfaction and may eliminate the need to backtrack if you are unhappy with certain aspects of the workmanship. While remodeling a home can be stressful, it can also be thoroughly rewarding. When you follow these tips, you can benefit from a successful project with minimal stress. Tim Smith writes for Modernize.