Budgets: Its what it all comes down too.

OK, let's be honest with ourselves. When going out and buying a home, or building a home or remodeling a home, or.....did I cover my bases, OK lets continue, all that matters in the end is the price. We can get all excited about what features the home has or will have but in the end we look at the savings account, or our lender and ask, "Can we afford this?" To which the answer is more then likely "NO!"

Come on, how many times have you gone out there and even on small purchases, if you had to be honest with yourself, when you get that item with all the extras and you look at the price tag, you have that pit in your stomach because your emotional side is saying, "YeS, yEs" while your logical more practical side is saying with an accountant like voice,"Nope, you can't afford this."

Now hopefully you have experienced both sides of the purchasing experience. The times when you have made the purchase emotionally, and you feel awesome until you get the credit card statement and ask yourself how you are going to pay for it, or the times when you were disciplined, smart, logical and turned down the urge to purchase. If you have experience both of these, then you are ready to build, buy or remodel your home. If not, then go out, experience it, and lets talk later. There needs to be an even balance of emotional excitement and logical reasoning to end up with the right project, done the right way, with the right price.

Here are some things that will help you as you are trying to set budgets for your next project.

1. Understand the Budget Process: Know what you comes next. There is no sense in trying to set a budget before you know how much the work will actually cost you. And there is no sense in asking a contractor for a bid if there is no plan, or complete understanding of the scope of work. Make sure you follow a logical path to find out what your budget should be.
2. Understand how to correctly analyse your budget. Make sure you have dotted your i's and crossed your t's. To correctly analyse your budget you need to know how to read the contractors bids. Did they forget something. You better hope not, if they did, your budget has just been compromised.
3. Find the right budget forms to use so it helps you throughout the entire building process. The right forms will help you at every stage of the project.

In the end, it comes down to really understanding what baggage that price tag comes with. It can be overwhelming but if you take it step by step, you should be OK......Good Luck.