Homeowners reveal their most terrible renovation mistakes

For sure, you've heard a story or two of a home renovation gone wrong. These mistakes could have been avoided, you might think. However, no matter how much you've planned, there are still things that might not go your way during the process of upgrading your home.

Some Reddit users spill the most terrible renovation mistakes they did. Read on and let these revelations serve as your warning!

1. NO PROPER BUDGET PLAN

"My parents were ready to do a full reno/addition to our house. My dad worked for a lumberyard and was formerly a contractor so he knew plenty of contractors. Hired a guy he knew well, helped design the plans, arranged payment for each leg of the project.

About midway through the project, after putting an entire second floor on the house and before electrical, plumbing, insulation, or sheetrock could be put in, my parents noticed the invoices are way off from where they should be. They get an itemised list of the supplies ordered.

There's a tonne of stuff not needed for the project, and that my dad knew wasn't even remotely being used in our house. He brings this up to the builder, and the guy dismisses him, telling him if his guys ordered it, it must be getting used. My dad argues with him about it, the dude pulls his team off of our project, and my parents ended up having to go to court over it.

It turns out the guy's crew would moonlight independently and would order extra supplies for people's projects that weren't needed, then take them to use in their other work." -Raviepooh via Reddit

2. GIVING ALL THE MONEY UPFRONT

"This story happened to a friend. [They] Got several quotes on putting an addition on the house, went with the lowest, which was thousands cheaper than the others. [A] guy came, excavated for the foundation, and poured them. Never came back. Like, disappeared. They made the mistake of giving the guy ALL the money upfront, and they never saw him again." -joeroloff via Reddit

3. MISAPPROPRIATION OF RENOVATION FUNDS

"Paid a guy nearly $10k for kitchen cabinets. He misappropriated the money. He lied the whole time about ordering them, faking documentation and telling me where they were supposedly being stored. When it came time to install a few months later, he admitted he never ordered them but said he would. Then proceeded to lie for several more weeks.

I called the manufacturer directly and found out he still hadn't paid. After paying the manufacturer directly for some parts and the guy paying for some of the cabinets, I got most things finished." -Demas513 via Reddit

4. HIRING PEOPLE WITHOUT CHECKING THEIR BACKGROUND

"Called in a plumber to work in our bathroom. Came home and there was a huge crack in the middle of the bathroom floor and scratches all over our bathtub. The floor was a mess and it honestly looked like the plumber and the apprentice had been in a fight. Left a handwritten note saying 'could not finish bathroom due to underlying problems'.

It was a small plumbing service and when I tried to call many times no one answered. Tried to get in contact and report the event but after months we gave up because we just always came to dead ends. Luckily our lovely neighbours pitched in and within a year we ended up with a renovated bathroom. Still baffled about what actually happened that day and have never gone out while service people have been in my house since." -owlette23 via Reddit

5. NOT BEING PRESENT DURING RENOVATION WORKS

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"We hired a contractor to do our hardwood floors in a house we were renovating before we moved in. We had ordered tongue and groove castle floorboards in oak which weren't exactly cheap. The craftsman cut the boards up in shorter pieces because this way it was easier to lay them. He also didn't use glue, just stuck them together, so within a few weeks they came apart.

This work was done in the evening, so we weren't there, and when we saw it in the morning, it was too late. Of course, there was a huge row about who would pay for the botched job. Later we learned from one of the foreman's assistants that the chief had no experience in laying hardwood floors." -Mortimer56 via Reddit

6. GETTING RECOMMENDATIONS FROM A FRIEND WITHOUT DOING ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

"Had 3 companies estimates from a small bathroom remodel that I needed to be done in 5 months as my son was to be born and we didn't want the mess to be there before I give birth to our firstborn. He just turned 8 months old when they finished all the work. I still have to go back over it and fix things they did.

Overall the work isn't up to my standards and I could have done all of this for a 1/4 of the money if I had done it myself and it would if been done sooner and looked better. All of this from using a company who's best friends with my friend. Not thrilled. Their patchwork on my outside wall where they replaced a window is terrible and doesn't match anything." -spike_africa via Reddit

This article was first published in Cromly.