It's strange how you can be thrifty all your life but, when it comes to home renovation, spending big seems second nature. I put it down, in part, to unfamiliarity with what's involved. I mean who, unless they're in the trade or a Lockhart Road junkie, knows how much a toilet, window or wooden floor is worth?
Seasoned renovators may have a better sense of the fees contractors, architects and designers are likely to charge. And handymen will have a gut feeling about what a basic task should cost. I'm no DIY-er but it wasn't hard to choose when one contractor wanted to charge HK$75,000 for a paint job; another suggested HK$15,000 and the boyfriend said he'd do it for HK$10,000. I took the conflict-free middle path.
In my case penny pinching in certain areas has been rendered inconsequential by profligacy in others. There have also been unforeseen expenses and options I've chosen midway through renovation because:
I was being exposed to lovely kit.
I couldn't bear the thought of having the workers back a year later to upgrade what was already causing me doubts.
I was spending like a Mark Six winner anyway.