Renovations post buy

Before or after?

I guarantee that you will want to make some modifications to the house you buy, either immediately or down the line, its a kiwi right of passage. There's two lines of thought:

1. Renovate before you move in.

2. Renovate after you move in.

Renovations before you move in is best in terms of "project management" because you have an empty shell, you can or are staying somewhere else, there's minimal disruption to your life and family, and you've got the full inspiration to do whatever you want on day one.

Renovations after you move in create a lot of disruption, but means you've lived in a space and really understand what will work best in that environment.

For me, I used to be in the before camp, but I've now switched to the after camp. For example, I've always had and loved a good granite kitchen benchtop, and my new property has stainless steel - hated it at first, and wanted it gone before I moved in, but now that I use it, I love how easy to clean it is.

Finances

Renovations can be really cheap, or really expensive. What I do is have a renovation "cheat-sheet" with general estimates of how much different rooms, etc would cost to bring it up to my personal preferences. I just assume I'm going to rip everything out and redo as worst case scenario (which often turns true). I then factor this into the price I'm willing to pay.

Cost of house if "perfect" - Cost of Renovations = Price I offer

You need to figure out your own renovation budget, but for me, this is how I do it:

Room	Cost	Work Spec
Kitchen	30K	Floors, cupboards, sink, induction, range, oven, dishwasher, countertop
Bathroom	30K	Flooring, walk-in shower, bath-tub, toilet, vanity, heated floors
Bedroom	5K	Insulation, wall mounted TV, lighting, home automation
Laundry	2K	Cupboards and benchtop with a cheap sink