Remodeling Bathrooms

Have you ever heard the phrase, "He bit off more than he can chew"? Well when it comes to remodeling projects, that is really easy for all of us to do. If you have done some home maintenance projects like repainted a room or put up wallpaper, it is really easy to think that you are the DIY home renovation master and then set about to take on a home remodeling project that may be over your head.

This is not an indictment of you specifically but an observation that we all do that. We are an ambitious and confident people but sometimes our confidence can get the best of us. So it might be wise to do a realistic estimate of what your home remodeling skills actually are before you take on a task such as remodeling your bathroom. Before you go into the bathroom to replace the sink, tear up and relay the tile and install a modern new toilet, be sure you know you can actually do that so you are not "making it up as you go along" and then suddenly discover you bit off more than you can chew.

Doing inventories is always a big part of any remodeling project. You do an inventory of what you want to see changed.

You do an inventory of the materials you will need and then a costs inventory of what those materials will cost so you know you can afford the bathroom renovation you have in mind. But there is one more inventory that is just as important as any of those we have mentioned. That is a skills inventory.

Take the checklists and project plans you have already done and go down each segment of the project and identify the specialized knowledge that will have to be on site to get that part of the renovation of your bathroom done right.

To put in a new sink or toilet, some plumbing skills may be needed. Tiling skills to lay a new floor and construction skills if you are going to knock out a wall to make the bathroom bigger.

It is likely you may need electrician skills if you are putting in new lighting to make the room have more light or just to make the bathroom emit that special atmosphere you are looking for.

Now it is time to be brutally honest with yourself and ask yourself, "How many of these skills do I have?" You should hold yourself to the same standard you might for someone applying to the job to do that portion of your bathroom renovation for you. What experience have you had with that skills set? What examples do you have from successful projects in the past can convince you to give yourself the job?

This doesn’t mean you won't pass the interview with flying colors. If by the end of the skills inventory, you find that you are well equipped to do many of the jobs needed to remodel the bathroom, then that is a wonderful thing to recognize because you just saved a ton of money. But if you recognize that some skills you will have to be brought in, you saved a ton of money too from not doing it wrong and having to go back and do it again.

That is just as smart a move as doing it yourself was because in the end, you have that beautiful bathroom without any major disasters to either the timing of the project and the budget. That is something to be proud of.