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Tips prior to remodeling your home

Remodeling is one of the most annoying and stressing things you can do to your home. But once you have taken on the challenge, it is better to carry it out with planning.

Careful criteria, patience and good spirit. Get to it! Remodeling your home, no matter how minor the goal, carries with it many inconveniences. But if you put these on a scale and weigh them against the improvements and advantages that the remodeling will provide, you will forget about all the hassle. In order for it all to go well you need to plan properly and hire the right professionals. And this does not necessarily mean the most expensive ones.

Planning
Before undertaking remodeling at home it is a good idea to decide when is the right time to do and exactly what you want to achieve. In fact, sometimes one improvement calls for others without too much added trouble. However if the work is under way and other changes are improvised along the way, the final cost can go up. For example, it you need to make grooves in the wall, this is the time to install new electrical outlets where you did not have them before. You could also hide cables that were visible until then. Also, if you are planning on painting, you take the opportunity to examine the condition of the walls and if necessary shore up the walls or partitions.

Have a blueprint of the home is a big help, and not just for the workers, because it lets you visualize the projects and facilitates putting back furniture and other elements of the decoration.
 
Compare estimates
As a general rule, the homeowner interested in having remodeling work done should hire a contractor to do the work and make sure all of it is spelled out in the estimate. From then on this document will be the foundation of the legal security of the contractual arrangement. In any case, make sure the estimate includes specifically all that is gong to be done in the home and, for instance, who is expected to obtain the permit to have the work down and how the job is supposed to take.
To avoid surprises, before anything ask for a preliminary estimate that outlines the cost of labor, materials and value-added tax, among other expenses. It is also a good idea to get several estimates and compare the prices. Finally, be ware of bids that seem too cheap.

What about the neighbors?
Remodeling causes headaches not just for those who do it but also for their neighbors. For this reason, besides requesting all the necessary building permits, it is always a good idea to warn neighbors about the work you are going to do and apologize in advance for the noise, dust and other inevitable problems. Consult with the buildings community panel as to whether it is ok to use the elevator to bring up materials and remove debris, among other things.

Sign a contract for greater security
Among the general conditions of of this kind of work, it is usually spelled out who pays up front for the materials and other items. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the start and finish of the work is agreed upon by the two parties and these dates should be spelled out in a contract. In the same document the contractor should commit to doing the work described in the estimate. The owners commits to paying for the job. The contract can spell out how the job will be paid for (the most common way is 40% when it starts, another 30% when it is half way done and the rest when it is completed). In general, a bid to do a remodeling job is good for six months.