The Most Expensive Renovation Mistakes Happen Before Construction Starts

It’s all too easy to jump into a home renovation without much thought or planning. After all, updating your home is exciting and you may be eager to get started as soon as possible.Doing so, however, can cost you a lot of money, time, and headaches down the road."Changing your mind is actually great, as long as you do it while the ink is still wet. It's much simpler to erase part of a drawing than to move a wall already filled with framing, wiring, and plumbing. Once construction starts, a change will be much more costly," explains Dylan Gould, AIA director of design at Cargo Workshop in New York City. With a bit of planning and a clear understanding of your budget, goals, and priorities, you’re more likely to prevent construction mistakes and keep your project on track.The cost of changing your mind midway through a projectIf you change your mind after construction is underway, expect a change order.“A change order is issued as an amendment to the agreed-upon estimate anytime there is a change to the original scope of work,” says Kiril Ratia, general contractor and founder of Ratia Construction in Chicago.Change orders are notably different from an initial project estimate. In the...