104 | Mitigating all of the pitfalls Refresh Renovations provides a structured process which includes a lot more time in the planning stages, allowing clients to go into their projects with their eyes wide open. T T Kelly Deeks Refresh Renovations Queenstown/Wanaka BUILDING Specialist home renovation building company Refresh Renovations Queenstown/Wanaka is lending skilled hands and experienced eyes to Central Otago home owners and delivering smooth, enjoyable, and lower-risk renovation projects. Before joining Refresh Renovations as a franchisee in 2021, Kathleen Magon has completed a number of her own renovations over the years and learned first hand how challenging they could be without the proper guidance. “When I was introduced to Refresh Renovations, I immediately saw the value of the proposition for home owners. Refresh Renovations is here to help mitigate all of the pitfalls of renovating, eliminate any costly mistakes, and deliver new spaces that meet both requirements and budgets.” Instead of the novice renovator’s inclination to get stuck straight into the construction phase, Refresh Renovations provides a structured process which includes a lot more time in the planning stages, allowing clients to go into their projects with their eyes wide open. “Our secret is in our planning,” Kathleen says. “By spending more time on planning, we create a foundation for projects to be cost-effective and accurately priced from the start, with each stage of the process managed very carefully.” Starting with a briefing, Kathleen gains a detailed understanding of her clients’ renovation goals, and these go on to drive the rest of the project. A concept design is produced, together with supporting project documents including schedule specifications and most importantly a budget indication, so clients have all the information they need to assess the feasibility of their project, and make an informed decision about whether it’s going to work for their requirements and budgets before heading into the more expensive stages of planning. “Here we may need to work with our client to reduce the scope of their project to bring it within budget. “That may mean revisiting the design stage to find different, quicker, or more cost-effective way to achieve their goals. It’s all about achieving the outcome they want for their home.” Working drawings are developed, submitted to council for building consent if required, and a fixed quote and contract are presented. “We are into transparency and we want to give the home owner as much surety about pricing as we can,” Kathleen says. “Renovation projects are well-known for uncovering unexpected issues, and with our experience we can identify many of the potential problems before they’re uncovered. However there is always an element of the unknown, so we still advise setting aside a contingency budget so that if something unforeseen comes up, our clients are always prepared to deal with it.” Then its finally time for the construction phase by Refresh Renovations’ team of high-quality tradespeople. Kathleen says she feels very fortunate to have built relationships with many experienced, loyal, and trusted local subcontractors who always come when they’re needed and even at short notice to keep each project on track and moving forward. Every aspect of the build is managed by Refresh Renovations, with Kathleen and her team managing the schedule and budget ensuring there are no overruns, and working hard to keep the impact of the work on the household to a minimum. “We like to make sure our clients are very aware of everything that’s going on in their home. If they are living on site, it can be quite stressful seeing everything being ripped out and being able to see the bare bones of their home. “That process always feels like a long time, and it’s not until the last week of the project that everything starts coming together, and the dream home starts to take shape.”
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