Thinking of selling your house?
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  • Writer's pictureWeskus Jou Lekker Ding

Thinking of selling your house?

Updated: Jun 23, 2022

Author, Riaan De Witt, Owner for De Witt Bathrooms.

A woman having a bath in a super stylish freestanding bath.
Come on in, let's talk about your pending Bathroom Renovation

Hi good day, today we are going to talk about the value you add of renovating your bathroom before you think of trying to sell your house / home.

Selling your home into today's volatile property market is a daunting and sometimes a frustrating prospect for any South African Homeowner, simply because there is just so many factors to factor in before a buyer will even consider to buy your home, and then not for the price you have your property listed, but a sure way of levelling the playing fields is to make your home / house so appealing that the buyer simply have to have it.


In comes your bathroom/s into the equation and booom your house is sold. Sounds untrue huh, not really, potential buyers will see a lot of mistakes when viewing your property but nothing will intimidate them more as having to redo / renovate the bathroom/s, because let's face it, renovating a bathroom is far more daunting and involved than painting a room or replacing a door and so forth.


A beuatiful Bathroom Image of a clients bathroom after the Bathroom Renovation project was finalised.
A De Witt Bathrooms renovation project is for life!

One proven way of selling your property the quickest and for the right price is presenting your bathroom/s as upmarket, modern and clean as possible. A beautiful bathroom set's the ambience of any home and let's face it, it is per say the most important part of the day revitalizing ourselves is in the bathroom, whether it be for a quick shower or a long well deserved foamy bath, or just to use the toilet, the bathroom should be our sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle. Our me-time, and by having a beautiful bathroom makes it all more worth the while.


Let's look at the steps of renovating a bathroom and the order of importance of each step:


First, let's look at that most and all important budget! What can I / we afford on spending on a bathroom renovation? From the off-set I wish to make it clear and I stipulate this also in another blog of mine, and talk about it on my website, do not commence with your bathroom renovation project if you know for a fact you do not have enough money to do so!


It is a BIG no-no to half bake this cake, because simply put, a bathroom gets renovated once every 30-40 years, and you have to be 100% sure that you do it right the first time round, and what does that 'doing it right' mean?


A husband showing his wife he is confused as to the next step in their bathroom renovation project and that they need help from a professional bathroom renovation company.
We claerly need Professional help my dear wife! Just phone Riaan at De Witt Bathrooms and the problem is solved!

Deciding on and choosing the cheapest contractor is not per say the best route to follow, for various reasons, and let's look at matters that is critical in the decision making process of appointing the right bathroom renovation contractor, do they demand a 50% deposit paid upfront on the labour portion, and if so, why? But let's get back to this point a little bit later. Now lets' list each aspect of your Bathroom Renovation Project one by one and discuss these pivotal points in depth. Number 1: BUDGET / BUDGET / BUDGET / BUDGET There is no clear cut template as for calculating your bathroom renovation project's budget, but the rule of dumb is always, go maximum what your budget can allow falling short of leaving you destitute and without food on the table. We offer 3 types of products, namely a Small sized Bathroom Renovation which falls in the dimension of 15m2 - 20m2 priced at R34,000 (labour only), a Medium sized Bathroom Renovation which falls in the dimension of 20.01m2 - 26m2 priced at R39,000 (labour only) and a Large sized Bathroom Renovation which falls in the dimension of 26m2 upwards, priced at R44,000 (labour only) Out of years of experience, the biggest portion of any bathroom renovation is the labour component, followed by the products, but the latter is your typical renovation, this ratio is however often quite the opposite and we have had it where a client will state from the off-set "money is not a concern, I / we want the best".


In the latter case, things have just become very simplier and easier to work with, but let's face it, who of us normal folk have that luxury to use that statement, that money is of no concern? Rest assured, I don't! Not many of us do, hence in comes the all important planning / planning / planning phase, we have to PLAN our bathroom renovation properly, down to the very last nut and bolt, and we have to try and leave emotions out of the planning phase, but don't dispair, that is what we at De Witt Bathrooms are here for, to remove the quess work and submit a workable plan / quotation.


Below we have taken the time to break down the typical costs involved in renovating a medium sized Guest Bathroom and crunched some numbers to give you a template of how your budget planning should ideally look like. Let's argue it is a complete bathroom make-over, and work on all the costs involved to facilitate a complete bathroom renovation make-over and design:


Number 2: Let's talk Layout Now this is where real attention must be placed. Let's take some time on this section and discuss the layout do's and don'ts in some depth. 1st and foremost when it comes to the layout, a few questions needs to be asked first, and question one is always somewhat of the most important question, how many people will be making use of the bathroom? In other words, will the intended bathroom be having mild traffic or a lot, for instance a main bathroom in the house where quite a few people will be using it? Mainly in a domestic application, you have mostly almost all of the time a main En-suite bathroom typically adjacent or integrated by means of an open plan layout to the main bedroom. This is usually the parents bedroom / bathroom or the owner of the house. Then we have what we refer to sometimes as the kids bathroom or the main guest bathroom or bathrooms. These are normally high end traffic bathrooms depending on the number of children and or people living in the house, or people frequenting the house as guests. Then we sometimes have a standalone guest toilet. Some houses have a combination of one of each, some only enjoys one a main bathroom, or some have multiple bathrooms and guest toilets. Be that as it may, planning the layout obviously must factor these aforesaid question into the equation and this is more evident in the type of products you will decide upon to renovate the room. Since the products is a point on it's own to discuss, we will make mention here that choosing the products is as important as choosing the right labour contractor to do the work. The bathroom renovation project entails 4 stages, of which stage one is the breaking process. The breaking process is literally what the word says, we literally come in and start to break the entire room, in other words, the plumbing team will come in and disengage all water points. The breaking team will then proceed to by means of hammers and chisels to break the bathroom, removing any and all old products as carefully as possible in case the home owner wishes to re-use the old products. We can never give any guarantees that the old products won't be damaged during this process, but we try, but items such as the toilet and so forth will most probably not go unscaved and will have to be broken during the removal process. The tiles will obviously be rendered unused because in most cases we have to by means of hard labour get these tiles removed. Sometimes this process goes easy depending on a lot of factors, the age of the house, the age of the bathroom and the tiling process that was utilized, the amount of tile cement etc. etc. During the breaking process there might be some other breaking involved, such as removing the entire ceiling to be replaced with new ceiling boards, of which we will cover the types of ceiling boards in our section below under products. Phase 2 of the project involves the plumbing process. This is a critically important part of the project, because let's face it, who wants to wake up to a flooded house? No I did not think so? The plumbing process involves studying the products that needs to be fitted, in other words, the plumbers have to feel, touch and smell the products they are about to fit. Every product comes with what is referred to as the Manufacturers Specifications, and it is very important for the contracting company to at all times adhere to these specifications and a simple example can be used when fitting what is named a Geberit Flush toilet cistern system with it's pan. An application and fitment of a Geberit cistern toilet is quite frankly somewhat advanced plumbing because as a plumber you really have to understand the system and the way it must be installed. Firstly consideration must be given to the height of the cistern being installed, in other words, the pan of the toilet must be a certain exact height, so in other words, a window for instance that is to low, will cause the toilet pan to be unacceptably low to the ground, so the Geberit system cannot always be used in all bathroom applications. Also the wall for a Geberit to be fitted must be a double wall and not single, for the reason that the front row of bricks have to be removed to make place for the cistern to be installed in this cavity. The reason why I elaborate somewhat on the Geberit toilet system is because it goes to show that when choosing the right labour contractor for your project, you must factor in the experience of the contractor to ensure your project is doen not just professionally but PERFECT! The first time around! It is crucial you choose a well seasoned company rather than an individual or combination of individuals, because there is so much that can go wrong on a project such as this, mistakes or poor workmanship can and will cost you a lot of money being wasted not to mention the frustration it brings also. Number 3: Products Number 4: Suppliers Number 5: Timeframe https://www.dewittbathrooms.co.za #Bathroom #Renovations #BathroomRenovations #BathroomRemodelling #Remodelling #RenovatingMyBathroom #BathroomRenovatorsInMyArea #BathroomRenovationsNearMe #BathroomRenovationsCapeTown #BathroomRenovationsPretoria


Suburbs Served Cape Town:


#Athlone #AtlanticBeachGolfEstate #BantryBay #BaronetcyEstate #Belaire #Bellville #Bergsig #Bergvliet #BigBay #BishopsCourt #BlommendalBellville #Blouberg #Bloubergstrand #Boschenmeer #BoschenmeerGolfEstate #BoskloofEcoEstate #Boston #Bothasig #Brackenfell #BridgeWater #Briza #BuhreinEstate #BurgundyEstate #CenturyCity #Chrismar #ClaraAnnaFontein #Claremont #Clifton #Constantia #Contermanskloof #Croydon #CroydonOliveEstate #CroydonVineyardEstate #Dassenberg #DeBron #DeTyger #DeVelde #DeZalze #DeltaCrestCountryEstate #Dennegeur #DevonvaleGolfEstate #DieWingerd #DiepRiver #DolphinBeach #Doordekraal #Durbanville #DurbanvilleGolfEstate #EdenonBay #Edgemead #ErinvaleGolfEstate #FishHoek #Foreshore #Franschhoek #FresnayeGardens #GlenCairn #Glenwood #Goedemoed #GoldenAcre #GoldenHill #Goodwood #Gordonsbaai #GraanendalKanonberg #Helderberg #HelderbergEstate #Helderrand #Heldervue #HelenaHeights #HeritagePark #HighRidingCountryEstate #HoutBay #KaapVredehoek #Kampsbaai #Kanonberg #KelderhofCountryVillage #Kenilworth #Kenridge #Kirstenbosch #KleinbronEstate #KleineZalze #Kommetjie #Kraaifontein #Kuilsrivier #LaConcorde #LaSandra #Lakeside #LandZeezicht #Llandudno #Loevenstein #Maitland #Malmesbury #MarinaDaGama #Meadowridge #Melkbos #Melkbosstrand #Milnerton #MontagueGardens #MonteVista #MountRoyalGolfEstate #Mowbray #Muizenberg #Noordhoek #Nuweland #Observatory #Oranjezicht #Ottery #OudeWesthof #Panorama #Parklands #Parow #PearlValleyGolfEstate #PinehurstEstate #Pinelands #Plattekloof #Plumstead #ProteaHoogte #Retreat #Richwood #RomeGlen #Rondebosch #Rosebank #Rosendal #Roundbay #Rugby #Sanddrift #Scarborough #SchonenbergEstate #Seepunt #Simonsstad #SirLowrysPass #SitariCountryEstate #SomersetLakes #SomersetRidge #SomersetWest #SonstraalHoogte #Soutrivier #SpanishFarm #StJames #SteenbergEstate #Stellenberg #Stellenbosch #Stellenridge #Steynsrust #Stikland #Strand #StuartsHill #Sunningdale #SunsetBeach #TableView #Tamboerskloof #Thorton #Tokai #TreDonneEstate #Tygerdal #Uitzicht #UniversityEstate #ValDeVieWinelandsLifestyleEstate #VanRiebeeckhof #Vasco #Vishoek #Vlamingovlei #Vredehoek #WallaceDene #WalmerEstate #WeddingWillCountryEstate #Welgedacht #WelgedachtEstate #Welgelegen #Welgemoed #WelggevondenEstate #Durbanville #WestBeach #Westlake #Westridge #Wetton #Woodbridge #Woodstock #Wynberg #ZevenwachtKuilsrivier #Zonnebloem


Suburbs Served Pretoria:


#AlphenPark #Amandasig #Annlin #AshleaGardens #BaileysMuckleneuk #BlueValleyGolf #Bronberrick #Brooklyn #Brummeria #Bryntirion #CapitalPark #Centurion #CenturionGolfEstate #Chantelle #ClearwaterEstate #Clubview #Colbyn #ConstantiaPark #CornwallHill #DeBeers #Deernes #DieHoewes #DieWilgers #Doornpoort #Dorandia #Doringkloof #Eastclyffe #Elarduspark #EldoPark #Eldoraigne #Eldorette #Equestria #Erasmuskloof #Erasmusrand #FaerieGlen #Florauna #Garsfontein #Groenkloof #HalfwayHouse #Hartbeespoort #Hatfield #Hazelwood #HennopsparkEstates #HestiaPark #Highveld #Ifafi #Irene #Kilnerpark #Kirkness #Kloofsig #Kosmos #KyalamiEstate #LaMontagne #Lisdogan #Lukasrand #Lydiana #Lynnrodene #Wilgers #Lynnwood #LynnwoodGlen #LynnwoodManor #Lynnwoodridge #Lynnwoodrif #Lyttleton #Magalieskruin #Maroelana #Menlopark #Meyerspark #Midstream #Montana #MontanaPark #MonumentPark #Mooikloof #MoreletaPark #MoreletaPlaza #MoreletaRif #MountainView #Muckleneuk #Murrayfield #Newlands #Ninapark #PecanwoodEstate #Pierneef #PierrevanRyneveld #PretoriaNorth #PretoriusPark #Queenswood #Randjiesfontein #Raslouw #Rietfontein #Rietondale #Rietvleirand #Riviera #Rooihuiskraal #RooihuiskraalNorth #Silverlakes #Silverton #Sinoville #Suiderberg #Tamarapark #TheReeds #TheresaPark #Tiegerpoort #Tileba #Valhalla #VillaRosa #Villieria #Wapadrand #Waterkloof #WaterkloofGlen #WaterkloofHeights #WaterkloofHeights #WaterkloofPark #WaterkloofRif #WaterkloofVillage #Waverley #Wierdapark #WillowAcres #WingatePark #WingatePark #Wonderboom #WonderboomSouth #Woodhill #Woodlands #Xanadu #Zwartkop #Zwartkops


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