Whether you are a single person looking to branch out on your own or are newlyweds looking to start the journey together and bring a family into a world, moving into a new home is one of the most enjoyable events of your life, especially for a first time home buyer. It is a truly indescribable feeling of excitement when you drive to your new home and the realtor hands over the keys on closing day, you walk in for the first time and get to do the full walk-through, then wave to the realtor as you and your moving team – whether you hired a moving company, or it is just you, your spouse, a couple family members or friends, either way the process to moving items begins. Once that is all done and everything is settled in, the fun begins!

First Steps To Take With Curating Your Home’s Design Into A Dream

Many first time home buyers find a house that was a good deal because it needs some work, commonly referred to as a “fixer upper”. These homes can require minor cosmetic restorations such as painting the interior or require gutting the entire inside and re-doing the outside of the house and their prices will reflect that compared to a newly built home. Let’s hypothetically say you have the budget to redo the basics, meaning no additions added onto the house, major structure changes such as redoing the kitchen or having a custom deck built.

The first answer is asking another question – what time of year is it? If your newly acquired home is in a location where the seasons change, the work you will do first can vary, and also your current budget at the moment will come into play.

Scenario 1 – “It is the dead of winter and your budget is on the low side”

This is an ideal time to spend working on the inside of the house, not only because it is way too cold to be outside, but also because most work done to a home cannot logistically be completed. So the perfect project that can have a tremendous impact on how your home will look is interior painting. If you are going to hire a contractor, expect to pay around $75-$150 per man hour which may or may not include material pricing into that.

Scenario 2 – “It is summer time and your budget is ample”

Spring and summer are GREAT times to do work to your yard, the exterior of your house, your driveway, everything. The weather is amazing and for things such as adding a new lawn, renovating and replacing it in spring or early to mid summer – whether it is with seed or sod, you will have ample time to allow it to establish before the cool season or winter arrives. Meaning you will get to enjoy its beauty sooner than later. The going rates for landscaping work can vary between contractors, one company we reached out to Northwood Outdoor Services a top-rated provider of landscaping Rogers, MN stated their average rates on a yard renovation project varies depending on several factors:

• • Job size – small jobs will usually bring a higher price per sq. ft. compared to bigger jobs where the volume of work yields way to a cheaper price per sq. ft. plus contractors usually have minimum prices for projects such as $750 for any lawn renovation if they have to bring in equipment to prepare the new lawn surface
  • Scope of work – how much preparation work is there? Does an existing lawn need to be removed entirely and hauled off site, or does it just require bringing in fresh dirt, grading it and laying down the sod?
  • Materials that will be used – big difference between basic lawn seed being applied on top of the already prepped soil, applying hydro-seed or laying sod
  • Access points for the work area – fences or buildings preventing access for larger, more efficient equipment mean increased prices because manual labor has to be used – takes more time for the company and there is opportunity cost factored in

Their video explains professional landscaping and yard work pricing:

You can learn more about the company here:

Those are a couple scenarios of hundreds of different projects that you can do on your first home. Hopefully this sparks some ideas for what you do once you move to your new place and you put some of these tips to work and begin to enjoy the process. Until next time…