When it comes to renovations, there are a lot of hard decisions to make. If you get them wrong, you could be left looking at the mistake for years, or you may even have to pay out more money to get it put right. That’s why it’s so important to seek professional advice before making any decisions. With this in mind, here are some of the best places to seek advice before making those all-important decisions.
Speak to the retailers
If you’re buying a new device, like a cooker, a new bathroom suite or even something as simple as a new TV, you might think that you’d be able to just walk into a store and pick out the one you like the look of most. The only problem with this is that every house is different. One device that might work perfectly in one room might not work at all in a different one. This is because over the years, the way house builders have designed homes have changed rapidly and very frequently. This means one home could have a completely different system and layout, for example how your water pipes are plumbed, to one that was built just a few years previously.
Instead of just reading the small information printed on the side of each box, it’s also important to speak to the retailer before purchasing any item. As they sell these products every week of the year, it’s highly likely that they’ll have been asked all of the same questions many times before and know how to answer them. Even if you’re buying online, many sites have ways of asking questions through social media, email or even a phone line. Some websites, like the PTAC Inc site, also give handy explanations on how their different heating devices work in different homes. Make sure you read all of these articles thoroughly so you can narrow down the options to only the ones that will work well in your home before starting to shop for your new device.
Get a quote
If you’re looking to change something within your home that will need expert tradespeople to complete, the best way to know exactly what needs to be done is to get those tradespeople in from the very start. For example, if you know you want to convert your loft space into an extra room or somewhere where it’s easier to store your belongings, you might not be sure what the best option is. If you invite a tradesperson around, they can help talk through the options you have and even give you a good idea of how much each one will cost as well as the estimated price. Make sure you have several tradespeople around to give you quotes before signing any contracts, as some tradespeople might charge you a lot more than others for a similar job.
Search on YouTube
If it’s a small job that you think you will be able to complete yourself but you’re just not sure the best way to go about it, try searching for the problem on YouTube. You might think this is just a platform for funny videos clips, but many professional tradespeople with decades of experience also use this site to host many useful how-to guides. These are often a lot clearer to follow than any instruction manual as you can actually see what they’re doing instead of having to visualise the instructions in your head.