Five Rules for Bathroom Renovation
By Greg Vanden Berge


1. Check your contractors State license and find out if the construction company has any references. Most contractors have references and they are more than willing to give you them. The biggest problem with references from contractors, is that they are only going to give you the good ones. You're probably not going to see any of the jobs on the reference list that didn't work out very good. Call or visit a couple of these past clients to gain some insight on your contractors.

2. Try to get the bathroom renovation done at one time. If your plan is to replace the bathtub and and then save up some money to replace the bath tub surround, why not wait until you have the money to complete the whole project. I've seen it too many times, where a homeowner will replace a couple of items like the toilet and the sink cabinet and then two years later renovate the bathroom. The only problem with this, is they want me to reuse the toilet and the sink and sometimes these are damaged or worn. It doesn't work with the new bathroom.

3. Create a realistic construction schedule. Don't plan on a complete bathroom remodel to be completed in two days. I'm not saying it isn't possible, because I used to do complete bathroom remodels in three days. Get a realistic construction schedule from your contractor and if you're doing a project yourself, try to stick to your own schedule to keep the job rolling along in a timely manner. I've seen bathroom remodels start and never get finished.

4. The budget, try to stick to your bathroom budget and not go overboard. Your bathroom could end up costing you a small fortune, if you don't watch the money carefully. Create a budget that you can live with and stick to it. I'm not saying, that you can't buy a medicine cabinet or upgrade bathroom fixtures, but try to be as reasonable as possible with your purchases. If you choose to upgrade the toilet, maybe you can cut back in other areas of the bathroom remodel.

5. Spend the time researching through magazines, books, the internet and you can even visit model homes for great ideas. The more time you spend gathering information about your bathroom renovation, the less problems you'll have while you are remodeling your home. Create a plan that you like and if you're not sure, don't start the project. Make sure that the plan you have is going to make you happy for years to come.