Project Planning 2022
Hello everyone! Welcome back after what I hope was a terrific holiday season for you all! In this blog, I will talk a little bit about planning out your house projects for the new year. I know that most of us set goals at the beginning of the new year and if you have some items on your to-do list for your house this year, good planning can help make things much easier and help ensure that you are actually able to accomplish what you set out to do. Let’s go down a check-list that can help that happen:
1. Make a Project List: This first step is pretty obvious. In order to do your projects, you need to first decide what those projects are. This first list is really just to put out there what things you need/want to do in 2022. This is also the time to decide if you will be hiring someone to complete part or all of a specific project. Be sure you are honest with yourself as you complete this part of the list. Know your limitations and hire someone with experience if it’s something you really don’t have knowledge or experience with. In the end, it can cost you a lot more time and money if you try to do something yourself and then realize that you should have hired someone else to do it.
2. Decide the Amount of Funds: This step is the most crucial of all the steps because without an honest budget, you can’t really decide what projects you can and can’t do this year. Some items on here may be guesstimates so be conservative. If, for example, you know you’ll have a tax windfall or a work bonus, but you aren’t completely sure of the amounts, keep the amounts on the low-end. It’s much easier to get to add a project you can do if the amounts are higher than what you expected than to have to take away projects because the money isn’t there.
3. Make a Project Budget: Once you know what you want to accomplish and how much budget you will have available, now it’s time to look at the individual items and estimate what each of those might cost to complete. In this step, you may need to do some research to figure out what those projects may cost you. Now is also the time to figure which things you may be doing yourself versus hiring someone to do them. If you’re hiring, call and make appointments to get estimates. I recommend three for each project you are hiring someone for. More than that can get confusing to keep track of. If your projects are fairly involved, make sure that you always add a buffer of cost to each project for things that can come up that may not be expected.
4. Make a Project Timeline: Now that you have your master list with everything budgeted out, it’s time to figure out when you will do the projects. Make sure as you’re completing your timeline that you are conservative with how long a project might take to complete. Again, things can end up taking a lot longer than you imagined they would. Think through if you are having guests at certain times during the year and avoid anything big and messy around those times. Nobody wants a houseful of people when you have your kitchen or bath torn up!
5. Make Project Boards for Individual Projects: These are incredibly handy to have and a great way to make design and decorating decisions for your individual projects. You can do them either online, or by hand. They are simply a place where you display and keep paint samples, cabinet finishes, countertop samples, magazine pics and other items that pertain to your project. They can really help with the decision-making process as well as keeping you motivated to get to the end result!
I hope this list helps you get your house to-do list for 2022 in order! Following these steps can help keep you on-track, with both budget and timing, as well as helping you to keep your sanity! It will also make your house projects more fun and a little less stressful!
Now, what will you do next to love where you live?
Please feel free to reach out to us at The Redesign Habit and ask questions or simply share a project that you are working on or have completed.
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