10 step renovation
process checklist

6-12 months prior to renovating, make a moodboard with all your various inspirations and refine it until it forms the base of your renovation plans. On average it may take anywhere from a couple of days to several weeks to collate and narrow down your inspiration, depending on the scale of your project.

The planning stage involves finalising your ideas and budgeting accordingly. At this stage, you can start drawing up sketches, look for the perfect kitchen units or call in an interior designer to help. An architect should be used for bigger renovations that involve structural changes that may require a construction loan to fund your project.

1-6 months prior to renovating, depending on the size of your project, you should begin pricing what you will need (while sticking to your budget!). Get quotes from multiple contractors, specialists, and any other tradespeople you require for your project. Finalise your renovation start and finish dates to ensure everyone working on the project commits to the timeline.

Once your funding has been approved, you can begin to order your chosen finishes. Make sure you take into account shipping times and costs if any products you wish to buy are handmade or coming from overseas.

If you’ve got the space to store things away from the renovation zone, you could also plan to purchase any new appliances, fixtures, or décor.

The demolition or removal phase can be quite a quick process, a couple of days for a kitchen or bathroom. An essential first step when excavating is to ‘dial before you dig’, which aims to prevent damage to infrastructure, such as water pipes. Remember to take photos of progress – you can use these to revise blueprint plans of structures, wiring, piping and drainage, and progress shots can be used for documentation as well as for legal and insurance reasons.

Once your demolition of walls or removal of furniture and other items are taken care of, installation of any new appliances or non-supporting walls can commence. A bigger project can often involve multiple tradespeople performing different tasks, so you need to account for this in your budget.

After installations are complete, the final touches can be made. In a kitchen, this may include connecting electrical fixtures, or in a bathroom, this stage may simply involve waiting for waterproofed areas to dry before you start to decorate.

Before you begin decorating and moving your things back in, you’ll need to do a thorough clean of your renovated rooms. Remove all dust, debris and signs of building work, and make sure to air out each room.

Once the main structures of your renovation are complete, you can focus on the smaller details. The final stage of your renovation will usually consist of decorating, and with a lick of paint, new furniture and accessories, you can style your home down to the last cushion!