After numerous discussions with your partner at night, constantly thinking about it on the commute home from work, being reminded of it whenever you leave to go pick up the mail, the day has finally come: you’ve decided to go with your gut and remodel the exterior of your home. While no remodel is simple, some can get decidedly more complex than others. Perhaps you’re thinking of updating the siding on your home to something less prone to warping or cracking in this Utah weather, or maybe you’re thinking about replacing your rain gutters. Whatever it is you’ve got designs to do, there are a few cardinal rules that should be followed in order to make your home remodel easier on yourself.

THE DOS AND DON’TS OF YOUR EXTERIOR REMODEL

If we liken remodeling your home exterior to undergoing a top-to-bottom makeover, there are some things you would do yourself and other things you would leave to an expert. For instance, you might feel comfortable experimenting with a new application of makeup, but you wouldn’t perform plastic surgery on yourself. No matter how much you’ve read up on what you’d like to do or how much experience you have helping someone else accomplish their goals, there are some things best left to experts. This dovetails into the first point on the list:

  • DO hire some help. It may sound obvious, but you’ll never be more glad that you hired an expert than when you’re observing the beautiful finished product, completed in a fraction of the time. Not only can our professional team at Burbach do the literal heavy lifting of the project, but we have the experience to roll with any complications that might arise.

Now that you’ve made the crucial decision to hire some help, many of the trials of an exterior remodel will be mitigated simply by knowing that the experts have seen it all before. However, now the real challenging decisions lay before you, as you begin to plan just what to do in the remodel. When going over your options, remember:

  • DON’T do anything architecturally inconsistent with the rest of the home. Resuming with our makeover analogy, there’s a deceptively subtle line that one shouldn’t cross before people stop seeing the changes as a natural extension of your beauty. Just as a few simple collagen injections in key areas of your face can make your skin seem full and youthful, everyone can tell when someone has more botox than sense. You don’t have to keep your exterior remodel small or simple, but if it is inconsistent with the look and feel of the rest of your home﹘say, something that juxtaposes a New England Colonial style with a neo-Gothic style﹘then you’ve gone too far.

Once a design plan is in place and you’re confident that what you’re changing doesn’t clash with the house as a whole, there are some practicalities to remember while living with an ongoing remodel. These may seem like a give-in, but so many families fall into these traps that it bears repeating.

  • DO set a budget. Once you’re in the thick of an exterior remodel, homeowners can often catch the “inspiration bug” and begin thinking about all the things they can accomplish while the house is under construction. Maybe spice up the landscape with some new features, or update the paint? The house could use all new doors on the exterior and the garage. And while we’re at it, what if we replaced the roof and added shutters on the windows, and heck, let’s do a new window installation altogether. I’ve also always wanted a porch, and…

The best advice we can give to people embarking on a remodeling project of any size is to be realistic about what you can accomplish, and be decisive in your actions. Once you start to see your home in a new light, you may find yourself itching to change more and more. Every major change should follow the same process that brought you to where you are today. Whether you are in the middle of a current remodel, or you have the itch to do something quickly, we have a final piece of advice for you:

  • DON’T get impatient. Remodels take time, and if there are complications in the build things can take even longer than expected. The best virtue a homeowner can have is unfaltering patience paired with informed decision-making. These traits will help every project get completed﹘or started, as the case may be﹘faster than what could otherwise be counted on.