I’ve ended up with a home design I don’t love, and I don’t know what to do next! Help!?!

Many homeowners end up with a home design they don’t love, and struggle to know what steps to take next.

Or they get stuck in another part of their project – with their selections, their builder, or something else.

Here’s how to get unstuck, and take action instead.

All this season, I’m sharing a fantastic resource I’ve created to help you, and you can access it now for free. 

If you’re struggling with understanding the overall steps for your project, what you should be focussing on and when, or how to best invest your efforts, energy and money to get a great outcome in your future home, this will be super helpful.

It’s my online workshop called “Your Project Plan”. 

Head to https://undercoverarchitect.com/projectplan to access and watch it online now. I’ve also added some great bonus resources I’ve made available for you, including the transcripts of all the podcasts in this season packaged up in a fantastic E-Guide. 

This episode is about being stuck. And I’m going to be talking largely about being a specific kind of being stuck, because it’s the most common one I get messages about. 

This is where you have a design you don’t love, and you’re not sure what to do next.

You’ve invested money, perhaps in professional fees and even approval fees, but whether your situation has changed, or you’ve learned new information, or you simply find you get a gut feel about it, you can’t move forward on your project.

So you have this design you’ve paid for, and feel you’ve already moved a way down your project journey, that starting over seems frustrating. And moving forward doesn’t seem that attractive either.

This episode will also help with any other kind of stuckness you’re experiencing in your project. Basically that inability to make the necessary decision to move to the next stage of your project, and continue moving on your project plan.

Being stuck is not great. There can be big reasons like signing off your design, choosing a team member or submitting to council, right through to small reasons, like the inability to decide on a tap or shower head. And everything in between.

That general feeling of stuckness which can come at all steps of the process, and either be something about your own situation, or it can be forced upon you by a poorly performing professional or builder. 

And being stuck is unfortunately super common. 

People can get stuck for years sometimes. I receive many emails from homeowners who are stuck, wanting help – hence why this episode is being created! Because I’ve seen this is actually a stage in many homeowners’ project journeys, so it warrants its own episode, and the opportunity for me to give my suggestions here. 

And in fact, knowing what happens when you get stuck, how to get out of it, and what it looks like, can often help you avoid getting stuck in the first place.

When it comes to budget and being stuck, there’s a terminology I want you to become familiar with, and it’s “SUNK COSTS”.

Sunk Costs is an economic term, but it definitely applies here.Sunk costs are costs that have already been incurred, or money that has already been spent, and it can’t be recovered. You can’t get a refund. 

Sunk costs are involved in economic assessment and business decision-making, as a factor that gets taken into account in terms of making choices. 

What’s really interesting, is that in economics, the idea of sunk cost is often contrasted with ‘PROSPECTIVE COST’, which is defined as future costs which can be avoided if action is taken.

So, how does this relate to designing, building and renovating?

Say, you’re stuck with a design you don’t love, but you have no idea what to do next. Sunk costs will be the amount of money you’ve spent getting the design to that point: be it in professional fees, approval costs, any other investments you’ve made. 

If you start again, or rework the design, you’re saying goodbye to the money you spent up to that point.

Often the lack of ability a homeowner has to move out of being stuck is directly proportional the amount of sunk costs.

So, the higher the amount of money spent, the more difficult it is to walk away from those sunk costs.

Interestingly though, it’s rare that homeowners will balance their assessment of sunk costs with prospective costs. 

Far too often, when it comes to spending a renovation or new build budget, I’ll see homeowners admit they’re not happy with their design, but because they spent anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000 getting up to that point, they’re not willing to take a different direction. Even though they’re about to spend six figures or more on building that design, and then living in it, and then having it as their biggest asset. 

This is the thing to remember about budget and being stuck: The prospective cost of taking action with the design you don’t love can be far more costly than the sunk costs you’re letting go of. 

If you’re worried about how much money you’ve already spent, and the cost of walking away from that investment, then it’s worthwhile thinking about all the costs you haven’t experienced yet. Not just financial, but also lifestyle in your future home. 

Chances are they will SIGNIFICANTLY outweigh costs to date, and make those sunk costs easier to assess.

There can be a huge amount of stress that comes in the being stuck stage. Largely because you’re unable to make the decisions you need to move your project forward, and you’re uncertain about what to do next. 

I often say that renovating and building is a marathon, not a sprint. And you need your stamina right till the end – and in fact, the end is when you can need it most. We can all get stuck in a rut when tackling anything big. And if you’re outside of your comfort zone, AND in a rut, it can feel pretty horrible.

Tune into the episode to hear how to avoid getting stuck, how to get unstuck, and learn the mistakes that many make that get them into trouble. Plus how to get it right, and the action step you can take to get unstuck now.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

Access my free online workshop “Your Project Plan” >>> FREE WORKSHOP

Learn more about Undercover Architect’s mini courses

• Set + Stick to Your Budget >>> CLICK HERE
• Choose Your Builder >>> CLICK HERE

Planning to design your own new home or renovation? Home Design Masterclass shares my methods of home design, room by room >>> CLICK HERE

Work with me on your new home or renovation inside The HOME Method >>> CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Brene Brown with David Eagleman on The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain >>> LISTEN HERE

Copyright and design and how to protect yourself >>> READ THIS

Attribution and Moral Rights (and how it relates to reworking your design) >>> READ THIS