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ON THE JOB: Home renovations can be disruptive and invasive, but there are ways to relieve the stress. Picture: Karen Sandison

Home renovation has a bad name, not only for the dust and mess, but also as a cause of serious stress. Indeed, additions and alterations have been known to reduce men to tears and women to helpless rage.

But forewarned is forearmed, says Jan Davel, MD of the RealNet estate agency group, and there are ways to reduce the anxiety and make sure your project is a success, whether it’s adding on a new room or revamping your kitchen.

The first thing to deal with, he says, is the fact that no matter how carefully you or your contractor work, any kind of renovation is disruptive and invasive. “Half the battle is being prepared for the fact that your bathroom or kitchen may be out of action for a couple of weeks, for example, and having a contingency plan for this period.

“The other half is reminding yourself that the mess, noise and interruption of your daily routine are really only temporary, and that you will enjoy your home more when it’s over. In this respect, it helps to have planned the project really well in advance, and to be as specific as possible about the details,” says Davel.

Which leads to the second biggest concern homeowners have about renovation – the worry that their contractor will turn out to be incompetent, or worse, a crook.

“One unfortunately hears all too frequently about contractors who did not complete projects on time, to specification or within budget, as well as unscrupulous people who have swindled unsuspecting homeowners out of thousands of rand.

“However, there is a way to address this, which is quite simply to work only with established companies and hire only registered contractors who have been personally recommended, or whose references and previous work you have personally checked. Their charges may well be higher, but they will inevitably cost you less in the long run, because they will try to do the job right from the start – and if they do make mistakes, they won’t try to make you pay for them or simply abandon the project.”

Oddly enough, he says, worries about money are usually last on homeowners’ lists of reasons for putting off renovation projects – and it’s a fact that most people badly underestimate the true cost of such projects.

“Once you start additions and alterations, especially on an older home, the work may well expose outdated electrical wiring, faulty plumbing, damp and even termite damage, and whether planned for or not, these problems will all have to be fixed.

“Consequently, we recommend that homeowners planning a renovation or improvement project should budget for it to cost at least 30 percent more than they originally estimated. Then they should consult an experienced estate agent to make sure this planned expenditure would not result in overcapitalisation – that is, that it would not put their property value over the top in terms of the sale prices being achieved in their local market.

“And finally, if they do decide to go ahead with the project, they should make sure that they have a proper contract which stipulates how much they will pay at each stage of the job. They should also never, ever, be persuaded to part with any of their hard-earned money in advance.”