A successful house renovation project needs a plan to ensure all tasks are completed and done in the correct order. The details of the plan will depend on the size of your renovation and your building experience (for example do you include a task for finish room or do you list out the each task of wiring, plastering etc.).
Now that we’ve made decisions about our house (we chose a kitchen-dining room instead of a lounge-dining room) and have architect and structural plans we can start planning the tasks and identifying which we’ll do ourselves which we will get a builder in for (such as steel beams and removing the lift). I’ve produced a plan in OpenProj based on my logic and not any actual DIY or building experience so it is certainly a first draft.
Our house renovation has been captured on 10 pages of A3 paper and stuck to the hallway wall. This plan covers the whole house because every room will have at least one wall changed; okay not the downstairs WC but we will need to remove the lift machinery and the bund it sits in. We are now in the review phase as we draw and write notes on the draft and I’ll use them to develop a second more realistic version.
How have you planned a house renovation? Did you discover any tasks that had to be done in a specific order that you didn’t expect? Do you have any tips for us before we start on this large task?
Never done renovations that extensive, but I do agree we have always planned step by step.
It is the most extensive we’ve done as well. In our last house we converted a kitchen and lounge dining room into a lounge and kitchen dining room and my plan fitted on one sheet of A3. It’s going to be fun 🙂
I have never do an major house renovation, but I can see why planning is essential, good luck with yours.
The planning is my main input to the whole project so I think it is essential so I can feel involved 😀
Move out and let the builders attack it in any which way to get it finished quickly. 🙂
If only. My husband is planning to do as much of the work as possible so it is likely to take a few years. We will do it room by room so we always have some clean(ish) rooms.
No tips I’m afraid as I’ve never done anything like that but we are about to start our house this year so i’ll hopefully be able to pick up some tips from you later in the year 😉 Good luck xx
It is exciting isn’t it? I love thinking about the end results. What are you planning to do?
I have one tip.
Do not expect all things to go according to plan… they never, ever do.
So just be ready for things to go sideways from time to time… and good luck!
Thank you for the tip. I’ve created the task order plan, but I’m not going anywhere need a Gantt chart because we don’t need the pressure of working to specific timings. I’m sure the reality will be different to the plan, but I’m not involved in the doing so that will be up to my husband to resolve 🙂
Good luck, hope it is all goes to plan !
Thank you
That’s some challenge you’ve taken on! Looks like you know what you’re in for. I guess it’s just about remembering family time in addition to everything else. Good luck!
Yes it is a big project. We will be doing it slowly, probably over several years so there will lots of family time, and knowing our kids they will probably want to be part of the work anyway.
Thanks for the link to OpenProj. I have been looking for something for our (relatively) minor decorating/DIY plans. How have you found it?
No tips to offer because I don’t have much experience but I am really looking forward to seeing how things pan out.
OpenProj is a free software similar to MSProject which I’m slightly more familiar with. I admit I prefer the Microsoft version but for free I’m happy to use OpenProj. It is powerful software and does a lot so it can be daunting at first so there is a learning curve involved. I’m thinking of writing a post explaining how I’ve used OpenProj, so I remember for next time I use it.