Palace of Westminster renovations scheduled for August

Any kind of renovation costs can quickly spiral out of control unless you follow some guidelines.

07:48 06 July 2013

Updates to some of the lavatories in the Palace of Westminster are scheduled for the late Summer and will include updates that provide a disabled accessible facility. Since the updates must meet the requirements for a Heritage property, the renovations will cost approximately £100,000. If you have ever started renovations on your own home, you know how easily the costs can spiral out of control.

Here are a few ways you can keep your money in your savings account instead of pouring too much into your home.

• Structured plan—first devise a structured plan that is as detailed as possible about the renovations you want to do, the materials you want to use, and what rooms you are including in the renovations. This part will be helpful when you get a quote so you have a better idea of how much you will need from your savings account, or how much you might need to borrow.

 

• Multiple quotes—you may have a contractor that you really want to use but do yourself a favour and get multiple quotes from a variety of contractors. View samples of their work, and talk to anyone you know who has done renovations on their own home. Get information for the person or company if they were happy with the results. You may also be able to use multiple quotes as a bargaining tool to keep more funds in your savings account.

 

• No deviations—when it comes to your structured plan, don’t deviate unless you’re going to choose something less expensive, or unless an upgrade will pay for itself eventually either in durability or by increasing your home’s resale value. If you just have to have an upgrade without value, keep money in your savings account by finding something else on your renovation list that you can cut out or do more cheaply.