When planning an exterior home renovation, you want to save time and money while ensuring you achieve the curb appeal you desire. To help you make the right decisions and improve the value of your home, here we share our home remodeling tips from the pros.
Know How To Budget For Exterior Home Remodeling
We recommend the following budget strategy to help you tackle as many of your exterior projects as possible:
- Assess your finances to determine the highest possible amount you are willing to spend and then add at least 10% to that number as a contingency fund
- List all the projects you wish to tackle in priority order so you know where to focus your investment if you can’t afford to do the entire exterior remodel at once
- Research highly rated exterior contractors in your area and choose three to five to visit your home and provide a quote
- Share an identical list of projects with each contractor to ensure they are all quoting for the same job so you can compare apples to apples
- Avoid choosing the contractor with a noticeably lower price as chances are they are inexperienced and have not quoted accurately
Prioritize Your Projects Using A Needs vs Wants List
It helps to create a needs vs wants list when prioritizing which exterior projects you want to undertake, and when. If your quotes come in over your budget, you can prioritize upgrades from the needs list (the projects that would improve your home’s safety, functionality, and integrity) over the wants list (the projects that would simply be nice to have). Your contractor can advise on which projects are the most important to tackle to help prolong the life of your home and boost your curb appeal.
Create A Vision Board To Reflect Your Desired Home Exterior Style
Researching the looks and materials available for your exterior makeover is the fun part. Here are some tips to put your board of ideas together to have something to share with your contractor:
- Drive around your neighbourhood and take pictures of the homes you love
- Research exterior makeover ideas and create a file of those images
- Keep the architecture of your home in mind so you can choose materials and design features from the same eras and styles
You can then share your ideas with your contractor so they can offer cost-effective solutions to achieve the look you want.
Consider How To Bring Design Elements Together
If you find you’re out of your element trying to design your exterior, you’re not alone! Not everyone is a designer. Here are some designer pro home remodeling tips to help you create a sense of unity for your exterior, keeping in mind that your home exterior contractor can help out tremendously with this step:
- Decide if you prefer a subtle monotone colour palette or want a bit more drama with contrast
- Consider each element of your home’s features including the roof, windows, siding, brickwork, garage doors, entry door, soffits/fascia, and eavestroughs; then decide what elements you’d like to draw attention to and which ones you’d prefer to fade into the background
- Look for opportunities to modernize with colour such as new windows, entry doors, and siding
- Refer to neighbourhood homes you admire to see how they brought their design together
- Choose one style that appeals to you and reflect that style in every choice you make
- Consider adding a detail that creates a sense of unity for your façade, such as installing shingle-style vinyl siding to draw attention to the peaks of your roof line and gables, or installing cultured stone along your foundation and as accents for your windows
- Don’t overlook the small details like matching your exterior lights, mailbox, and street numbers to your new door hardware finish, or choosing the same colour for your soffits, fascia and windows
- Look for opportunities to add more design features such as grilles in your windows, a door lite in your front door, executive window panels at your entry, or coloured vinyl eavestroughs
How To Choose The Best Materials
The best materials are low maintenance, energy efficient, exceptionally durable, and customizable allowing you to prolong the life of your home, achieve the look you desire, and make your life easier. As a result, vinyl and aluminum tend to win out when it comes to just about any of the elements for your exterior, aside from the roof of course.
While aluminum is very durable and low maintenance, most homeowners prefer vinyl when it’s available. However, both materials are attractive and customizable, allowing you to match elements such as your eavestroughs, siding, soffits, and fascia.
Siding
Vinyl or aluminum siding can dramatically improve the appearance of your home with a wide range of classic styles and colours that are durable and low maintenance.
Windows & Doors
Vinyl replacement windows come in a wide variety of colours and designs, and will never rot like wood or require repainting due to pits and flaking like aluminum.
Doors
Customizable steel and fibreglass doors won’t bow and the frame won’t warp, providing years of maintenance-free beauty.
Eavestroughs
Vinyl seamless eavestrough systems have hand-mitered corners to improve durability and water flow. They come in a variety of colours, allowing you to match your exterior colour scheme.
Soffits & Fascia
Aluminum soffits protect wood fascia from rotting. Better yet, choosing aluminum for both soffits and fascia provides a highly durable, low-maintenance material available in 34 colours that can last for decades.
Home Remodeling Tips From The Pros — Choose Energy-Efficient Exterior Upgrades
Choose Energy Star products for your entry doors, sliding glass or garden doors, and windows to help provide proper insulation that optimizes your heating and cooling system’s performance. You’ll reduce your energy bills to enjoy a better ROI when you add these long-term savings into the mix, and enjoy home comfort all year round. You can also install foam-backed vinyl siding to boost energy efficiency and protect against sudden drops in temperature.
When To Undertake Exterior Remodels
The right time of year for your exterior remodel projects depends on the type of replacement you need. Here’s a basic schedule we recommend:
- Windows and doors: The spring and fall are best for windows when bugs aren’t active, and the temperatures won’t make your home uncomfortable while the project is underway.
- Siding: Fall is ideal for siding as it avoids the risk of mould from too much rain, as well as fluctuating temperatures that can cause buckling which damages the siding and your window frames.
- Eavestroughs: Summer is best for eavestrough installation as there’s less precipitation, reducing the risk of water damage while your gutters aren’t functioning during replacement.
- Masonry work: Most masonry work is best in the fall as cold and wet weather can interfere with the integrity of the mortar setting.
Hopefully, these home remodeling tips from the pros have shed some light on the process to help you find budget-friendly solutions that beautify your home.
Before you start your exterior home improvement projects, click here to get a quote from the pros at Weaver Exterior Remodeling.