Take the Home Remodeling Questionnaire

Whether you plan to talk directly to a contractor or to begin by hiring a designer, you will save both of you time and trouble if you have already considered some of the questions he or she will ask you. We’ll help you identify what you want, plus get you to consider some key issues you may not have thought about before.

This isn’t a test. There are no right or wrong answers. So don’t be in too much of a hurry as you think about these questions. Get other members of your family involved in this brainstorming, too. If you all have to live there, get everybody to contribute.

1) Location: Will your renovated house out-price the neighborhood?

Considerations: Is your house already the most expensive in your neighborhood by far? If so, you are unlikely to recoup the cost of any remodeling work. Proceed, if you wish, but do it because you are satisfying a need of yours and not because you’re expecting the project will enhance the value of your house. If instead, your house is worth less than those around it, good renovation work should make it more valuable.

Consider whether your design ideas conflict with the prevailing tastes of your neighborhood or region. You can do what you want, regardless of what your neighbors think, but you risk paying for the work a second time when you try to sell the house and potential buyers don’t like what you’ve done.

2) Site: Are there features of your property that you want to use or need to work around in planning your renovation?

Considerations: Perhaps extensive landscaping will be necessary, or you’ll be moving an existing driveway or adding a new walkway. Elements in the hardscape, plantscape, or overall landscape may need to be changed to accommodate the renovated house.

Unless your job involves only the remodeling of interior spaces, you will probably have to file a site plan with the building department. A survey may have been done at the time you bought the property, but if no survey exists, you may need to arrange for a surveyor to conduct one or pay your designer an additional fee to do his own site inspection. Ideally, you should also have a topographical map of the property as you think about the landscape and try to communicate your vision to others.