Where to Start and What to Do before Beginning a Renovation

Renovating a home is a dream come true. It’s fantastic to renew a living space, adapting it to your needs, creating a place that best expresses the personality of its inhabitants. Renovating an apartment can also be an excellent investment, especially considering the tax deductions currently available and great promotions like the Zero Interest Financing for Your Renovation offered by us at Domidea. However, the renovation of an apartment must always be a well-considered choice. Undertaking renovation work in an improvised manner could be risky: construction work might drag on, and renovation costs could escalate. Let’s see together how to best organize for a home renovation, where to start, and what to do before the work begins.

Things to Do before Renovating a Home

Before transforming a living space, it is essential to have a clear idea of the objectives of our renovation and what our expectations are . Why are we renovating a house? What do we expect from this change? Why have we decided to invest in this way? Explicitly setting objectives will allow us to have a clear idea of the results. After establishing the general reasons for undertaking a renovation, it will be necessary to:

1) Set a Spending Budget

How much are we willing to spend on a renovation? On which elements do we want to invest more, and on what might we prefer to economize? What tax incentives are available?

2) Request a Free Renovation Estimate from Multiple Companies or Different Freelancers

It is important to have a clear idea of what the construction market offers today by comparing different services and offers.

3) Appoint an Engineer, Architect, or Surveyor as the Designer

It is crucial to choose a reference professional who will closely follow the design and related bureaucratic procedures.

Request Permits

Before proceeding with any building renovation activity, it is necessary to carefully inform oneself about the permits to be requested from the municipal offices where the property is located. Depending on the planned intervention, different permits will be required:

• Ordinary maintenance interventions

Ordinary maintenance interventions do not require special permits. This category includes the repair or replacement of existing finishes, practices such as replacing floors or painting walls.

• Light extraordinary maintenance interventions

Light extraordinary maintenance interventions require the CILA, or the Certified Notice of Commencement of Works. These involve interventions such as moving non-load-bearing walls or splitting real estate units. It is essential that these works do not alter the total volume and intended use of the property.

• Extraordinary maintenance interventions

Extraordinary maintenance interventions require the SCIA, or the Certified Notice of Commencement of Activity. These involve interventions on the building’s load-bearing structure, such as roof reconstruction, demolition of floors, or beams.

Organize the Project Phases and Timelines

An experienced designer will surely suggest the best timelines to follow, in line with your personal needs and the necessary technical processing times. Generally, home renovation work follows this scheme:

1. Demolition and disposal of existing elements
2. Construction of building works, such as wall construction
3. Installation of various domestic systems
4. Completion of building works with finishes and screed construction
5. Finalization of systems
6. Installation of fixtures
7. Finishes

Adhering to the set renovation timelines is crucial when coordinating a construction site. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on a designer who makes a very accurate estimate of the processing times, coordinating all the professionals involved as best as possible, avoiding unnecessary waits and delays, which could be a significant inconvenience for the client.

For this reason, we at Domidea offer you a turnkey renovation service that covers all phases of the project and renovation work. An architect will always be by your side, acting as your direct contact both in the design phase and during the execution of the work. Everything will be carried out strictly according to the agreed timelines and the price established by the estimate. At the end of the work, the house will be immediately ready to be lived in.

Contact us now for a free and no-obligation inspection!