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The cost for your kitchen remodeling project should be based on the value of your home. Investing too much could lead to a poor return on investment or a home valued outside the local market expectations. 15% of home value is a good rule of thumb for a kitchen remodeling budget. Following 15% of home value, it is not inconceivable to get 80% to 90% or more return on investment.
Usually you can expect a lower return on investment for more major remodeling projects due to the increased cost involved in a major remodeling project. If a kitchen has been neglected or is dilapidated you can expect a lower return on investment because much of the cost is consumed by bringing the kitchen to a livable standard rather than actual improvements.
A 100% return on investment is possible. But rather than working designing towards that figure, consider livability as a major component in your kitchen remodeling project budget. Especially if you plan on living at the home for some time to come. You might even love your new kitchen so much that you forget about any notion of selling and moving out.
New kitchen appliances can often be all that is needed in a kitchen remodel project, and can be relatively inexpensive since there is no labor involved other than delivery and installation. Plus, since new, good quality appliances are pleasing to prospective buyers, they can have a favorable return on investment.
Your homes size and your neighborhood should be considered too. If your improvement or remodeling project are extensive compared to the rest of the neighborhood or size of the home, then a high expectation of return on investment may be unrealistic.
You can also consult a local real estate agent to get a good idea of how extensive of a kitchen remodeling project to fund. A good real estate agent with knowledge of your neighborhood should be able to give a good indication of your remodeling project ideas effect on the value of your home. Even if your remodel project is for your own satisfaction, and you have no intent on selling and moving, a real estate agent will usually have a good idea of how much previous clients spent on their kitchen remodels, and the resulting increase in home value. Consider offering the agent a flat fee for their opinion if you have no intent on selling.
To summarize, a kitchen remodeling project can greatly increase the value of your home, and make it sell faster. Return on investment may, or may not be important to you depending on if the project is for your own satisfaction or for selling the home. But do be carefull that your project does not price your home out of the neighborhood.
According to the NatWest Quarterly Survey of Small Businesses in Britain around 17% of small and medium sized businesses in the UK seek marketing advice every year, however less than half of those businesses consider the marketing advice they received to have been a success. A failed marketing campaign can be a major financial setback for a smaller company, a large financial outlay with little or no return puts a dent in the bottom line and holds back growth for the business or even worse.
So how do you give yourself and your business the best possible chance of getting return on investment from your marketing spend? Well firstly do some research, think very carefully about the customers or clients that you are seeking to attract, this may include geographical location, spending power, sex, age, social class or business type & size. Think how the target market that you have defined may seek the services of a business such as yours. Will it be on the high street, on the internet, in the local papers, magazines or national papers or maybe yours is a business where it is important to contact your potential clients or customers directly by mail or telephone.
Most likely it will be a combination of several of these media options that will provide the optimum answer. One particular tip would be to consider every media option very carefully and never make snap decisions even if presented a very good price to ‘buy now'. Price is obviously a consideration however, it is always good to ‘test the water' with a particular media before committing a large percentage of your marketing budget to it.
The next stage is to think about what makes your business different, what makes it special, why should clients or customers choose to deal with your business rather than any other business providing the same or similar service. The term USP or unique sales point is often used, in truth very few businesses have truly unique sales points but most do have areas of competitive advantages where they have something to offer above and beyond their competitors. Think what your areas of competitive advantage are, they could be price related, quality of service, geographical, image, market specific, choice, etc.
The competitive advantages that you have identified should form the core of the marketing message that you aim to convey to the target market that you defined earlier in the thought process. The message should be conveyed via the media channels that you have identified as both effective and affordable.
The final element in getting return on investment from your marketing is to get the creative execution correct. So many businesses fall at this last hurdle. Having identified their target market, selected the correct media and thought through the marketing message the final execution is then so often poor. Any communication with the target market must be professional, persuasive and convincing. A badly designed or written advertisement, mailer or website can ‘kill off' a campaign that otherwise would have brought return on investment. So whatever you do, do spend the necessary time and money to get this last stage absolutely spot on. You never get a second chance to make a first impression!