How to save money when building or renovating your home

Tips to save money when renovating and building houses

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There are many ways to save money when building or renovating a house. This includes:

• Eliminating waste. Which means:
  • Ordering the correct quantity of building materials.
  • Protecting construction materials from damage. Breakages often occur because of poor installation methods, or while moving the materials on the building site. Always use the correct tools and adhesives to cut and fix the materials in position. Handle breakable materials with care.
  • Order construction materials in the correct lengths and sizes where the off-cuts are minimised, or where the off-cuts can be used elsewhere.
  • Double check measurements. Frequently items are built wrongly or cut the wrong length and have to be replaced.
  • Store items where they won’t be damaged.
  • Only mix the quantity that you can easily use before the product sets hard or goes off.
• Ensure quality is good and elements are installed and built in the correct position. Frequently substandard work has to be demolished, resulting in additional cost to get rid of the rubbish and to rebuild the item.
• Theft is a problem on building sites. Ensure that valuable items are locked in secure stores and that the building is lockable before expensive items are installed.
• Incorporate recycled building materials where possible.
• Make use of standard elements – this applies to windows, doors and cupboard. Purpose built units are more expensive.
• You can consider purchasing end of the range products (products on sale) such as tiles and appliances. With tiles make sure that you have sufficient stock to cover breakages and cutting as well as stock for future repairs because the end of the range usually means that there’s limited stock and you probably won’t find more should you run short of materials before the work is complete. Check that suppliers will stock parts for appliances that are being discontinued.
• Negotiate with suppliers for the best rates. Often suppliers will give discounts for earlier payment or when buying in bulk.
• Don’t employ expensive tradespeople to do manual labourer work.
• Check all accounts before paying them and keep a record of what’s been paid so that bills aren’t paid twice.
• Check all deliveries and report missing or broken items immediately to the supplier.
• When using hired construction equipment put the item off hire as soon as it's not needed. Often hired items lie forgotten on projects long after they aren't required while they rack up hire charges.
• Plan building work so that hired equipment is on the project for the shortest possible time. Hired access scaffolding for instance can be very expensive if it's kept on the building site for a long period. Importantly, also plan work so items don't have to be brought back to the project to finish installations which were forgotten. This is particularly a problem with high installations which require access scaffold or access equipment to reach. Plan the work so all the elevated work can be done together in the shortest time, then carefully inspect the work to ensure there aren't any problems or defects that need fixing before the access equipment is removed.
• Protect finished work and existing installations. Repairing damaged work is expensive.

Don't save money by doing this when building a house

​Unfortunately some will be tempted to save money the wrong way. Never be tempted to:

• Use inferior materials.
• Use building materials of a lesser specification or strength.
• Incorporate damaged building materials.
• Omit items included on the drawing, such as reinforcing steel, waterproofing membranes, brick ties, etc.
• Not compact concrete and soil adequately.
• Perform construction tasks which you aren’t licensed to do.
• Ignore, or cover up, bad quality work.
• Take short cuts which could endanger your life, like working at heights without proper and safe access, using the incorrect tools, or lifting heavy items by hand. No cost saving is worth risking your life for.
• Use construction materials beyond their expiry date.
• Use mismatched materials, like ceramic tiles, roof coverings, doors, etc.
• Deviate from the suppliers installation guidelines.
• Purchase sale items which aren’t suitable for your house.

Don't waste money

It's imperative to carefully control costs. Many home building projects go over budget because of wasted costs and efforts. Importantly though, always ensure that your home build and renovation project results in a quality project which will be safe and endure for many years.

Want to learn more about renovating and building houses?

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I've written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.
The tips and advice in these books will save you money, they will minimise issues building your new home, and they will help you design and build your dream home. For as little as $20 you could save yourself thousands of dollars.
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