Winter Home Renovations - Best Time for Interior Projects

Winter is a time people (especially northerners) like to hibernate and hole in, as the dark days and unpredictable weather can be daunting. However, winter is also a great time to have inside renovations done to your home, and here’s why...

Depending on your location, contractors tend to be flooded with work in the warm months, as most home improvement projects tend to be scheduled in the spring, summer and fall months. You might have noticed in your past hiring that, when fall comes, prices usually go up, depending on the building market. This includes materials, prices, and labor, as pricing tends to be seasonal in many verticals.

So, winter means more contractors to choose from for your home projects. If you are willing to have contractors in your space during holiday season (or if you are simply not the festive type), sometimes you can get a deal if you schedule your projects during this window.  The post-holiday season (January forward), is also an excellent time for kitchen, bath and basement remodeling, as these don’t normally require open-air construction (they might if you want to incorporate a skylight or some new architectural element into your kitchen design, however).

If you are vacationing over the winter season, this is also sometimes a good time for renovating, especially if you are the kind of person who wants to avoid the noise and disruption. Find an insured pro you trust and negotiate a contract to complete the work before you return.

Time of year is also an important consideration for your exterior projects, mostly due to labor demands, which alternate with the season. There’s usually a higher demand for landscaping jobs in the spring and fall, for example, and exterior painting must be completed in the warmer months. When scheduling your projects, try getting some quotes at least a month in advance of when you want them, and if spring is your targeted project completion goal, get quotes a couple of months in advance because contractors are likely to be booked out into the summer months. Booking early can sometimes mean locking into seasonal rates.

Don’t be afraid to request a little winter incentive when you’re negotiating the pricing. Use common sense. What is the market like in your area? If contractors are in demand, they’ll be less likely to negotiate.

If you can handle the little bit of extra convenience of snow and wet (think floor cloths, which they should supply), winter is a great time to get started with your home interior projects.

To recap, here are the at-a-glance reasons to have renovations done in the winter:

• Slow season means more availability of contractors
• Don’t be afraid to ask for a winter slow-season incentive
• Pricing of materials and labor may be less
• If you’re going on vacation, you might be able to get the work done while you’re gone