Reno Lessons Learnt
When overhauling your home, it pays to tap into the wisdom of those who’ve gone before. Seasoned renovator reveals the nuts and Belinda Graham bolts of the building process.
Hard-won wisdom from a veteran renovator.
My husband Steve and I have a simple formula for our home purchases: worst house, best street. Initially, we dabbled in cosmetic renovations and minor transformations that required no council involvement. But as our renovation ambitions – and family – grew, we took up the challenge of a major extension and renovation that involved the whole spectrum of the building-world rainbow: draftsperson, full development application, flood restrictions, engineers, certifiers, seemingly every tradesperson in the industry, a whole lot of money and all sorts of household disruption. In short, it was huge. Here are some things we discovered along the way.