Any home renovation budget needs to be kept in line to ensure costs don’t spiral out of control. You don’t want to be struggling to keep up with the invoices that arrive in your inbox.

Budgeting for a home renovation needs careful thought and consideration to make sure nothing is missed. Here are five common home renovation budget items that, if unaccounted for, will impact your wallet. 

Feeding Your Family

If your kitchen is out of use during a renovation, then you might need to spend a few weeks eating out or ordering food to be delivered to your door. The cost for this can soon mount up, especially if the renovation is extensive. Make sure you consider how you will feed your family in the home renovation budget. Try to save money by eating with friends and family. You can offer to share the costs of ingredients and cook in their kitchen. Eating at other houses is an excellent idea if your restaurant options are limited. 

Off-Site Storage

If your house renovation requires you to move furniture or other belongings, then you need to consider where you are putting them. Your living space will already be reduced, so you do not want to further squeeze it with additional furniture. Consider a short term lease on a secure storage facility. Storage will give you peace of mind that your belongings are protected and won’t be damaged during renovation work.

Power

If you are undertaking the majority of the labor on your home, then consider the power they may need to operate tools. If you are operating a lot of machinery throughout the day, then you should expect your utility bills to increase. If most of the family are out of the house during the day, you won’t be spending much on power during that time. However, during renovation work, you will be in and around the home a lot and often needing electrical supply. Try to ensure there is money put aside for this increase in power costs. 

Transportation

If you do not have a van, then you might need to hire one to transport large quantities of materials from the supplier to your home. A van rental will usually come at a daily cost, and you will be expected to refuel the van as needed. Consider arranging pickups of equipment on the same or consecutive days to reduce the cost. Multiple sporadic rentals will become costly. Considering when you need the vehicle in your day to day plans will help keep transportation costs low. 

Contingency

Finally, no matter how well planned your home renovation budget is, there will always be something you have overlooked or costs that unexpectedly increase. Make sure to leave contingency in a budget. If the renovation is small then a five percent contingency should be feasible. However, the bigger the project, the bigger the potential overspend, so adjust your contingency accordingly. If you have accurate costings from suppliers and you have planned the project well, then a ten percent contingency should be manageable.