Stretching Your Dollar: Renovating Your Home on the Cheap

<div class="block">Calvin and Chris Lamont, hosts of HGTV&#39;s <i>Build It</i>, joined Cheddar News to share some tips on home renovations at a bargain. They also shared a few key points to be aware of when shopping around for various contractors. </div>

Stretching Your Dollar

You have a portion of your home that you're dying to renovate, but you don't have the money to do it. Well, we've all been there but there might be another way. Calvin and Chris Lamont host the HGTV Show. Buy it or build it. And they're joining me now to teach us how to renovate on a budget guys. Thanks for joining. I think they're remote. Hi. Ok. So, first up, I know you were named instructors for American Standards. Home owning. 01. What does every homeowner need to know? Well, Chris, thank you for having us. I'm Calvin Lamont. We're twins. So I'll say my name first and it was a, it was an honor being, um, one of the, the, um, teachers, I would say instructors on American standards. Home owning 01, this year and every homeowner needs to know how to maintain their home so they can keep their value and not run into real high cost repairs. Ok. That's great advice. Let's, well, I'm just wondering, Chris, I want to bring you into the conversation as well. What are some ways that homeowners can save on renovations? Well, some ways you can save more renovations. Number one is doing some items that yourself, if you're doing, doing the demolition, taking items down, clearing everything out, believe it or not, that can save you thousands of dollars in the beginning of a, of a renovation. Now, when it comes to renovating, are there projects that people can do on their own? Calvin Kristen. Good question. An important question. I say the things that a homeowner can do on their own are things that aren't really too dangerous to the homeowners or the occupants. So, changing hardware um on your cabinets, on your doors, um changing hinges, painting, um things like that are good ways to increase some value, give a fresh look, but also keep everyone safe. Ok. So Chris safety is a factor here as Calvin mentioned, when should professionals actually be hired to do the work? I always say when it's those main four trades, electrical plumbing HV AC and also like roofing. And so those are the three, those are the four things that you really wanna have. The professionals do. Uh roofing because obviously water damage is one of the main reasons why uh people and homeowners have to use their insurance today and also electrical plumbing in the AC ac are very, very important units in your home and you want to make sure the professionals who take thousands of hours of training to do it, let them do that work. Yes, it sounds a little a bit dangerous to be climbing on a roof. Uh Maybe yourself, if you don't have that experience, Calvin, what was the biggest lesson that you learned while renovating? Well, Chris and I have renovated hundreds of homes over the years, built new homes and renovated homes. We learn to slow down his feet up and look at the main heartbeat of the house first. So you don't have to go backwards um and repair things. So if that's um making sure that your air conditioning and H VAC work, you see. No, you know, my brother and I are partnered with the American Standard and making sure that your furnace isn't over 20 years old. Um Things like making sure your electrical panel is up to date because when you're doing renovations, you wanna make sure that you have the, the um you know, you have all the ampage, you needed to be able to run all your electrical refrigerator, your new furnace and everything you're going to put into your house. Um And so, so things like that, um I really believe it's important. Yeah, obviously buying a home is a major investment and one that does need a tender loving care throughout the journey, Chris, what are some ways that people can best care for their investments, best care, the best ways to care for your investments in your new home. As you can see, I just moved to my new home as well. So I'm doing the same thing everyone else is doing, making sure I find, get all my warranties set up and ready to go every single month or quarter if it's your HV AC system, uh, depending on what unit you have. Um, I have an American standard so basically I only have to check every 3 to 6 months my filter but, and I don't have to change mine, but in any other unit, every month, check your filters, change your items. Also, make sure that you're checking for your, your knobs are always on tight. You know, keep the house clean. Those are the ways you'll definitely be able to keep that investment a lot longer. Ok. Good Calvin. We all know housing prices are steep, right? You add on top of that high mortgage rates and it is expensive affordability is a factor for anyone who does want to own a home. What's the best way to go about looking at properties? Do you think a fixer up is the way to go? Um, good Christian Christian right now, when interest, interest rates are higher, home prices are still steep, like you said, um, a fixer upper is a great way to find a home in an area that, that you may want to live in, but it's not at the highest of standard now. So that's where the value and the quality can come in. If you can do a quality remodel, you can really find some value in that home and now you have some equity in your home and you can save some money, um, on the front end. So finding a fixer upper is a good way to have equity in your home after you're done. Um, so I really think that's a good route to go buying a new house, um, is a great way to go with the warranties and not have to, to do other things with it, to fix it up. But most of your equity will be, will be a little smaller in the beginning. Um If you buy a new home rather than I like it. Ok, Chris, you get the last word, any final tips or tricks to share with our viewers when it comes to home owning, uh when it comes to home owning or starting, let's say starting a new renovation, that's what we're talking about right now. Let's make sure that everything that are the major items are done first because you can always say put lipstick on a pig. But if you just finish the new walls and change your uh your cabinets and do items like that without checking your electrical without checking the HV AC or the plumbing areas, then you're, you're bound for a problem later and you gotta do it all over again. So I would say check out those major albums for your home. If everything is ready to go start renovating, do some work yourself, but leave the hard stuff to the professionals. All right guys, great advice for renovating a home at Calvin and Chris Lamont. We appreciate it.