Home Improvement Tips

Home improvements continue to be one of the most stressful and costly, yet rewarding projects for many members in 2020. With a wide array of routes to traverse when undergoing home improvements, it can often be difficult to decide what it best for you – and your budget.

The benefits of home improvements include making your home more comfortable for you/your family, but also adding value to your home and saving costs on things like bills, etc. down the line.

Please see edition 2 of HSSCU’s home improvement tips below. Should you like to read edition 1, you can do so by clicking here.

5 Home Improvement Tips To Make Your Life Easier – Edition 2

1) Think of The Next Season

When doing home improvements, we often think of right now or don’t think of the time of year at all. If you have a list of home improvements to be done, try to think of the next season. Going into summer? Then maybe you should focus on some of your outdoor works now or on doing up your kitchen to be that bright space you’ve always wanted it to be? You can then focus on your improvements for winter during autumn, etc.

Taking this approach means you feel the benefits of your hard work as quickly as possible.

2) Study-Up for DIY

DIY is a fantastic cost saver for home improvements. When you feel that you have the capabilities of doing something yourself and saving that bit of money, make sure to do some studying first, however. Even if you know what you’re doing, looking up tutorials and tips/tricks is always a great idea – we guarantee you you’ll find some nugget of gold you never heard of that will make your life easier. Equally, you might approach your DIY in the same way, but find a way to make the reupholstering of that chair that little bit more special/impressive.

3) Get The Right Tools

Linked with above, if you are going to implement DIY tactics then please do yourself a favour and invest in good equipment. DIY is great for labour cost saving, but you don’t want to scrimp on the tools and materials you use. Going for the cheaper option here could lead to a lesser result, more difficult work or, worst of all, a finished product that breaks or is not fit for purpose.

4) Vet Your Handyman/Contractor

We have all heard too many stories of dodgy handymen to be able to sleep well at night. When you’re hiring someone to work on your home, you need to make sure they are vetted correctly. Start by looking for them in the right places. Where are good places to look for contractors? Here are just a few examples below:

• Review websites
• Word of mouth
• Community message boards
• Community social media groups
• Your local hardware store

After you pick a few contractors to speak to, make sure you interview them, get plans and quotes, etc. Then decide who you want to choose from there. Should there be interest, we can do a tips article on this aspect alone. If you would like us to do so let us know on our social media or by emailing marketing@hsscu.ie

5) Pay Extra for Energy Saving Features

These features might cost a bit more, but they have a number of benefits, including: saving on future expenses/bills, being more energy efficient and super importantly, taking care of our environment. As we know, with increasing climate change, the more of us who save energy the better, particularly for our future generations.

Should you be interested in any home improvements that make your home more green, you can apply for a discounted loan rate with HSSCU’s green loan. Or, should you be doing larger home improvements, you can get an even further discounted rate with our large home improvement loan.

Just so you know – You can apply for any HSSCU loan straight away once you have a minimum of €6.35 in your account. Also, your loan is solely based on your ability to repay, not what is in your savings.

Should you want to apply, feel free to do so on our website or by calling us on 01 677 8648 / 1890 677 864

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Team HSSCU