The True Costs of Common Household Renovations
Homeownership equates to home improvement, seasoned owners know to budget for the inevitable repairs that will always come up. In addition to those pesky repairs that pop up at inopportune times, they are is the list of renovations that HGTV promises will solve all of your problems and of course there is the preventative maintenance work that has to be kept in mind.
While it can be overwhelming to keep track of what repairs should be done now and what can be done at a later date, the biggest challenge undoubtedly is costs and contractors.
You get three different contractors to bid on changing your counter tops with the same quartz countertop and you will get three different prices. How are you to know which is right.
Well, Homeadvisor, a less friendly contractor version of Yelp, does take some of the guesswork out of it with their True Cost guide.
It details the high, low and average costs of many home improvement repairs. Use it as a ballpark gauge and not a hard and fast calculator to get a sense. You can even customize it by your specific city.
Hiring contractors isn’t easy. Start with a list of referrals from other homeowners and on line reviews. Narrow the list via requested quotes and always, always always, ask for references from other homeowners they have done work for in the last year that you can call and chat with.
Note: in my personal experience with using HomeAdvisor to request contractor bids, it has been less than stellar. For future projects I would use their service but only as a way to supplement my list of potential contractors for a project.
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Michael Robleto
REALTOR®-Compass Real Estate
213-595-4720
Michael Robleto is a Los Angeles based REALTOR® that specializes in Historic Pre-War residential properties and those with architectural merit. Home buying and home selling is extremely challenging in Southern California. Michael uses his vast knowledge of historic homes, residential construction and modern day marketing and digital technology to predict and solve the many problems that arise in real estate transactions. His client accolades of insight, integrity and hard work support the fact that he is not your average agent.
Michael leverages his personal passion for historic architecture to provide his clients the unknown insight on the pros and cons of older homes. Michael, the son of a contractor, a California native, grew up in an older Bungalow home and has spent 23 years in Southern California admiring the unique architecture of the region. He often writes on homeownership strategy, historic residential architecture and related topics which can be found on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram under the common profile name of his blog; BungalowAgent or at www.BunaglowAgent.com/blog.
Michael is a committee member and frequent volunteer for the preservation efforts of Pasadena Heritage, the La Conservancy as well as a supporter of the Five Acres center for children.