When you are remodeling your house, plenty of things can go wrong. You can easily go over your budget, hire a shady home remodel contractor, or even choose the wrong paint color.

You don’t want to make these mistakes, do you? To ensure this doesn’t happen, you should be prepared. Here are 6 things you should do before you embark on your home remodeling journey:

Know what you want

While many homeowners know what they don’t like, most of them don’t know the look they want in their houses. Before you begin your journey, you need to know whether you want cosmetics (this includes new cupboards, appliances, and counters) or structural changes, which include reconfiguring your space or knocking down a wall.

To fully understand what you want, you should spend time going through magazines, watching design shows, browsing Pinterest, and any other platforms that help your creative juices flow.

If you are still confused about the right design to go for, get advice from your contractor. The contractor will show you a variety of pictures, and it’s up to you to choose the ones that you feel will look good in your home.

Understand the potential return on investment

If you are remodeling the house to increase its value, so you can sell it at a higher price, you should know the expected return on investment.

As you are doing the remodeling job, you should know that that low maintenance remodeling projects that are of high quality and aren’t too expensive tend to have the highest ROI.

This means you should avoid making expensive remodeling if you are looking to get the highest return on investment. When you hire a reputable and experienced professional, this won’t be a problem as he will guide you into choosing the right materials and the areas to pay attention to.

Expect the project to last longer than expected.

When you are working with a contractor, the contractor will come with a schedule on how they will undertake the project. You shouldn’t take the schedule as the gospel truth as plenty of things can come about.

You should be patient with the contractors as things don’t always work how you expect them to. For example, you might think that replacing a whirlpool tub will be fast only to find the old fixtures are complex to remove and replace, and they spend hours doing the work.

Expect the unexpected

All homes hold secrets, and it’s hard to tell what might come about in your renovation project. For example, as the contractor is repairing the floor, they might realize the floor is uneven due to a shifted center joist. In such a case, you have first to repair the floor before you lay the new material.

To avoid surprises and the project stalling, it’s recommended you have some extra money on the side.

Interview several contractors

What do most homeowners do? They begin discussing the project with the first contractor they come across. Don’t do this as you often end up paying too much for the project.

Instead, you should interview several contractors and compare their bids. You will also get to hear different ideas that you can include in the project.

Begin with the kitchen

If you are renovating the entire house, home remodeling addition DC experts recommend you begin with the kitchen. According to the National Association of Remodeling, you stand to recover up to 59% of the cost you spend renovating the kitchen.

Kitchen remodeling also tends to produce a lot of dust and debris that you wouldn’t want to land on your new paint or finished jobs.