The work never stops when you own a home! From the planned projects to the accidents, there’s always something (or multiple things) to do!
In a perfect world, you’d get all your projects done right away. But budgets, time, and life are unavoidable obstacles that get in the way for most of us. You’ll never get to everything all at once so the question becomes, how do you prioritize?
Keep reading to figure out how to prioritize your home improvement projects so you can create a plan and stay organized.
List Your Projects
The first step towards prioritizing your projects is to make a list of all your dream home improvement projects.
Get any decision-makers in your household together and go room-to-room, identifying all the work you’d like to have done. The best way to do this is to start on the outside of your home and work your way in.
Pro Tip: Don’t forget rooms like the basement, the garage, and outdoors!
You can add everything from time sensitive projects, like a leak in the roof, to dream projects, like a new walk-in closet. In the next step, you’ll prioritize your list.
You can make your list in a number of ways, ranging from a written list on a notepad to a detailed list in Excel or Sheets. We think it’s easier to use Sheets and use color coding to easily distinguish low priority projects from high priority projects, but you pick the medium that works best for you!
Start With Safety
Once you have your list together, it’s time to prioritize! But what is most important?
Pro Tip: The highest priority home improvement projects are always the ones that directly impact your home’s safety.
New paint or floor tile can wait if your pool gate is broken or your ceiling is leaking. As boring as it might seem, safety should always be your number one priority. These projects typically aren’t the most fun or stylish, but they have to live at the top of your home improvement priority list.
Consider Your Budget
After safety, the next thing you must consider is your budget. Some home improvement projects are simply going to cost less than others. For example, hiring painters to repaint your bathroom is going to cost far less than a mason for your cracked front steps.
The best way to find out costs is price out each project.
Pro-Tip: Price out each project to prioritize.
A good way to fit in multiple projects in a year is to do some of the work yourself. You can save hundreds of dollars by painting your own rooms rather than hiring someone to do it. Just be careful what you DIY! Depending on your skillset and the complexity of the project, you might be better off hiring someone.
Let’s go back to those front steps from before. If you don’t have any prior masonry experience, that might be a project better left to the professionals! Here is a quick table on what you might be able to tackle yourself compared to what you should hire a professional for (depending on your skills and experience, of course)!
Try It Yourself vs Call The Pros
| TIY (Try – It Yourself) | Call The Professionals! |
| Painting your kitchen cabinets | Installing new cabinets |
| Planting new plants in an existing flower bed | Leveling your yard and adding a retaining wall |
| Nailing on some new boards to your old fence | Installing a new fence around your property |
Remember: These examples might be a little different depending on your skills and experience!
With this home improvement project priority approach, you can move some of the projects you can handle yourself to high priority since you’ll only need to find time instead of thousands of dollars. Then you can look at your budget and realistically decide the order your more expensive projects need to be completed.
Check The Time of Year
Another great tip when it comes to prioritizing your home improvement projects is to check the time of year. Don’t just skip over this section thought – It might not be what you think.
If you think we mean to install a pool during the summer or install a heated driveway in the winter, you are sorely mistaken! It’s always best to prioritize your projects with the time of year they are less in demand. For example, the fall and winter are the best times of year to install a fence rather than the very busy spring and summer.
Pro Tip: Try tackling seasonal home improvement projects a season ahead, if possible. For example, schedule a fence estimate in the fall or winter to beat the spring rush!
Obviously, there are some cases where this approach doesn’t work. For example, you can’t wait until December to close your pool! This tip requires a little bit of thinking and planning ahead, but it can save you time, money, and help you prioritize your home improvement projects!
Get A Free Fence Estimate
Reading this post in the fall or winter? If a new fence or a fence repair is high on your priority list, now is the time to get moving on it! Make sure to get an estimate from a licensed and insured fence installer who has years of experience and excellent reviews.
If you’re in the northern NJ area, Artistic Fence is a great match! Fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch to set up a free fence estimate.
Are Fencing Projects Always High Priority?
We”re fence installers, so you’d expect us to say “yes” here, right?
The truth is, fencing projects aren’t always high priority – it really depends on the situation.
For example, pool fence projects are always high priority home improvement projects because they are integral to the safety of your home.
Pool fences keep children, adults, and pets out of pool areas. Their self-closing, self-latching gates ensure that everyone is as safe as possible and drastically decrease the amounts of accidental drownings. Whether it’s an entirely new fence or just a gate repair, pool fence projects are always a high priority when it comes to home improvement.
On the other hand, a broken fence panel might be on the lower end of your priority list. You can always set up a free estimate, but if you don’t have the budget to replace a broken panel you can always try to fix it yourself. Not sure where to start? You can always email us a picture of your damage to get advice from our team.