Whether the homeowner or tenant does this themselves or we are retained to provide the help, something as simple as a coat of paint can work with even the smallest budgets
We often are led to believe that people cannot do a kitchen or bathroom makeover, or fix the entrance to their home, without a significant financial outlay. True, a $20,000 or more project is going to get a lot of work done, but a $200 or $2,000 expenditure might have noticeable results as well. It’s not necessarily what is spent but what needs to be done and how it can be achieved.
Some of us have aging in place businesses with a model that may be geared toward providing a relatively expensive type of improvements. Others of us are geared more toward providing more modest ones. There’s room for everyone because there are so many diverse needs in the aging in place market – and types of businesses to provide those solutions. After all, everyone is aging in place – some of them just might not realize it yet.
Even if a person invests relatively no money in an improvement but decides to do some clean-up or fix-up work on their own in their home, they are better off for it. True, that might be money we don’t get, but there is still more work for us to do than there are hours to schedule and complete it. As long as people are willing to do something – even the slightest of improvements – to their homes to enhance the safety, comfort, convenience, or accessibility of their homes, we should be happy. Then, we can use our time and resources to help those who can use what we can provide.
It’s great when we can do a complete project to really help modernize an older home or enhance the accessibility in one built with several entrance steps, narrow doorways, and narrow hallways. There are several factors that may limit a scope of that magnitude such as the time it takes to complete while the occupants are living in the home (or asking them to move away for a period of several days), having the clients present with noise and dust, having them live through the disruption in their daily activities, and dealing with having parts of their home off-limits to them for several days. That’s over and above the budget and the time it takes to decide on the improvements with the construction team and pick all of the colors and products to be used in the renovation.
With the number of home improvement shows on cable or the articles, videos, pictures, and descriptions of how to make many home repairs or even create minor solutions to issues in the home that they can find on social media or the internet, some people are able to undertake their own projects. They may be successful, or reasonably so, with the projects they undertake, or they may find that there is more to it than they thought or were prepared to deal with. It’s possible they could break something along the way (a water supply line or drain, for instance) or not be able to put something back the way it was before they began. That’s where we can help them – especially if they turn to us for that assistance.
We know that clients with a reasonable budget or with a realistic expectation of how much it will take to do what is requested or what is needed will allow us to complete projects without skimping on what we can include or prioritizing the job to accommodate a more limited budget. On the other hand, some people literally cannot afford – or think this is the case – to do very much. There are some who cannot finance any repairs or renovations from their own funds. nevertheless, there are many financing sources available, and people may have access to more money or qualify for financing that they were not aware of or hadn’t considered. This is where we can help also as knowledgeable advisers for them.
Whether someone has a very minimal budget or a sizeable one, and whether it is a project that aligns with what we are comfortable undertaking, we have the resources and relationships to make it happen for them – on our own or through people we can bring to their home.
If someone really cannot afford to do much with their home, just doing one or two things can make a big difference and improve the safety and comfort within that home. Consider applying paint to the walls, replacing incandescent or CFL bulbs with LEDs, or changing door knobs to lever handles for starters. That would not require a lot of hours to complete and not that much money in materials. It would, however, greatly improve someone’s home and their overall outlook of living in it.