There are several reasons why DIY is the way forward when it comes to reconstructing your home. As well as being cheaper when done properly, there is also the satisfaction of living in what your hands built. There are few things more satisfying then beholding the fruits of your labour and such satisfaction is doubled when these fruits are a part of your home. Furthermore, you only have to put on a few episodes of Watchdog to know that there are plenty of untrustworthy builders out there, making DIY reconstruction a better option for more and more Brits these days. Of course, it takes much skill and knowledge to sufficiently reconstruct any part of your home and so here are a few tips to help you on your way.

Whether you’re planning on reconstructing your bathroom, kitchen, attic or basement, you must start with a plan. This plan should be detailed enough to know the theme and scale of the change you plan on bringing to your home, how much this should cost, any potential hazards that might come about throughout reconstruction and things such as pipe joints and fuel lines which will be dangerous or impossible to shift.  A blueprint will of course be what you base your whole project around.

As great as it is to do things DIY it may be counter-productive or even dangerous to aim to do absolutely everything by yourself. You should seek help in any circumstance it is needed. Professional advice should also be sought where you suspect a health hazard.

Remember that there are tons of websites, blogs and articles online such as this to help you reconstruct and so don’t be afraid to Google anything you don’t know!

Furthermore, once you have finished your reconstruction work, it might be of benefit to seek out a reliable expert to make sure that everything is in order and as it should be. The last thing you want is for your hard work to be undone in a few months due to it not having been done properly.

Any form of construction is obviously very much potentially dangerous, and so health and safety should be adhered to the very finest details. You should do extensive research over health and safety rules pertaining to the particular task you’ll need to do.

There are several construction health and safety blogs and websites online such as hse.gov.uk, amongst others.

It is absolutely essential that you over-budget when budgeting for the reconstruction of your home. Kitchen remodeling on a budget is completely possible, however you must be prepared for unexpected costs that may raise the overall cost to a greater level than you initially thought possible.

For this reason you should always expect the worst when it comes to budgeting and even keep some spare money aside if you can.

Many people often underestimate how much hard work is required to reconstruct one’s home. Not only will it leave you physically strained but also mentally as you’ll need a strong level of intelligence and concentration.

It’s standard courtesy to let your neighbor know if you’re doing any building work if the noise will likely disturb them.

You should also be careful not to work too late into the night in order to avoid disturbing neighbors. After all, nobody likes to be disturbed at night through the loudness of construction work and so it’s only courtesy to only do it during the day.

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… written by Matthew Peppes - a British real-estate advisor and freelance writer from London.