10 Things to Check Before Renovating Your House

Renovation rewards the boring checks. Walk them before you fall in love with a floor tile.

What to settle first

One: are you living in the house? If yes, the programme is phased and the estimate should say which room you sleep in. Two: is anything structural moving? If a beam, a wall or a floor opening is involved, an engineer leads. Three: where does the water go? Bathrooms and terraces are waterproofed and tested before they are decorated. Four: what is the electrical board actually carrying? Five: which walls are wet, and which are only stained.

Six: can materials arrive? A beautiful wardrobe that cannot turn the stair is a site problem. Seven: what must match the old house, and what may change? Eight: who approves colour on the wall, not on a phone. Nine: what is the allowance for hidden plaster and rotten wood? Ten: what does handover mean — snag list closed, or merely “work stopped”?

Aurora Tech writes these into a renovation estimate. If you want a second opinion on a quotation you already have, bring it to the visit.