This is a hard time for almost every industry in the US and several throughout the world. There is good news for those of you who are financial secure and weathering well throughout this recession. This is the best time for you to remodel.
There are many highly skilled contractors and tradesmen out there with very little work. This gives you two huge advantages: 1) The timeline for beginning and completion of most projects can be moved up. 2) Prices are negotiable with some of the best tradesmen. When work is scarce tradesmen and contractors will often take a smaller profit to stay busy. As soon the industry picks up, price negotiations are at an end for the best. When they’re busy, they will not spend time on a job with only a sliver of profit.
OK, those financial secure few have it made during the recession. What should the rest of us do?
Of course, it depends on the situation. In general there are two options: Cut Back or Postpone
Cut Back
Unless your home is in serious risk of collapsing, cutting back is not something you will be happy with in the long run. Sometimes there are things that need to be right now. But if you’re considering a large kitchen remodel, put it off a couple of years if you can’t afford what you really want right now.
When I ask our past clients, “Is there anything you would’ve done differently”, they usually wish they had spent the little extra to have exactly what they wanted. Sometimes, it’s cabinetry items they cut back on, sometimes appliances, sometimes flooring. They usually say, “We only plan to do this once, we should’ve….”
I’m not suggesting that you spend wildly and not look for areas to make cut backs. But make sure you’re not compromising on the things you want most. You can also spend more time shopping. If you put in the time, you can find deals on great quality products: surplus materials, scratch and dent appliance (often unnoticeable or in an area surround by cabinetry), eBay/internet deals, etc.
If you are cutting back on things that you really want, make sure they are items that will be easy to upgrade in 10ish years. Countertop is a great place to do this. You can put laminate down for the time being and upgrade to granite or quartz down the road.
Postpone
Just because you postpone the project, doesn’t me you need to postpone thinking about it. The longer you plan and the more prepared you are; the less money you’ll spend. For now: Start planning. Start clipping ideas. Start saving.
You can even start shopping. If you know what you want, be on the constant lookout for bargains. If you have the cash on hand and you see a great deal on the flooring of your dreams, get it. Make sure you get more than you think you need though, as you may not be able to find in a few years – when you’re working on the project. Jason and I had our appliances 1 ½ yrs before we started on our kitchen. I knew what features I was looking for, and when we saw a super-terrific deal, we’d buy it.
Once your project is finished, you’ll never be sorry for waiting until you could comfortably afford everything that you’ve wanted.
