October 10, 2023
It can be a real pro having so many products available to us in the renovation industry – the con is now you must narrow down which supplier or product you want installed in your home. We are going to outline some areas below that we hope will help you in your selection journey.
These tips sit more on the practical side, what we find with the following three following considerations is that when you apply the advice, it begins to narrow down your selection and therefore makes it a seamless selection process. Each one can take a bit of time, so if you’re looking to select yourself be patient. However, if you’re engaging an interior designer, they will be able to narrow down the suppliers based on a few discussions.
Firstly, you really want to establish an overall budget that you’re comfortable spending on your fixtures and fittings. Once you have set this budget, it’s wise to engage an interior designer for a brief consultation to talk through the style you want to achieve and whether the budget you’ve set aside is realistic. Once a firm budget is made, it’s helpful to itemize your fixtures and fittings into what’s most important to you and what’s not. For example, if you’re taking on a kitchen renovation the stone may be your number one priority, following that it may be cabinetry finish, handles and then storage interiors. By doing this, you’re able to break your budget up into sections which in return then narrows down the pool of choices in each material selection. It also gives your Interior Design an indicator of what’s important to you.
This is important for some areas of your design, but potentially not all. If you’re working on a tight budget, you’ll need to save the budget for your big-ticket items. Let’s use the same example of a kitchen design – it’s going to be really valuable to get a high quality stone and high quality cabinetry. But it may be that you are more economic on your decorative lighting, tapware and handles – these are all items you can change in time and replace with higher quality fixtures in future years. They’re not permanent fittings that impact the durability of your kitchen.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a budget and you want to do it once and install all your dream items, quality is still going to come into play. Research will be your friend here, you’ll want to look into what makes up durable stone, cabinetry and tapware – if your selected suppliers don’t align with what you’ve found, then they can be removed from your selection list. If you’re engaging an Interior Designer, they will know industry standards and quality control for products and can have a pre narrowed pool of materials.
Now, this one tends to be a favourite. Any company willing to give an extended warranty, stands by their product and you can be confident its of high quality. It’s important to know what the industry standard is for tapware warranty, stone, cabinetry etc. You can then compare between products and make sure their warranty aligns. If some suppliers are offering a lower warranty period, maybe they’re an easy flick from your selection list.
If you look at taking on these 3 simple considerations, you will simplify your selection process and create a more enjoyable experience for yourself.
