3 Tips on Staying on Budget While Renovating a Home

1. Know your finish - example: take your time meditating on your light fixtures, where will they hang, what will they illuminate. This means you need to know where your art will hang and what furniture will be placed where, BEFORE you can start ANY rough work. Most People can't handle that so they start and hope for the best. Big mistake. Have fun with it. Buy all the design magazines and put together the dream home. Warning: your budget will double (it will anyway but at least you'll be facing the truth at the outset).
2. Stop chomping at the bit - don't start until you have multiple firm bids for each trade. If you're hiring a GC, get 3 bids and go visit sites of previous owners and interview the owners. This might take a full day but the wrong GC can easily cost you $100,000.
3. Hassle your architect - If you have an architect, make sure you get a plumbing, lighting and A/C plans. They're not their favorites but they're a must for you.