How to Prioritize Home Improvement Projects

Caulking windows before winter can be a high-priority project.

If your list of home improvement projects is getting out of control, it’s time to take charge of your planning process. The task of home improvement may seem overwhelming, particularly if your home is older and needs lots of love. You probably already have an idea of the home improvement projects you want to complete but making a list and prioritizing can give you direction and increase productivity.

Instructions

1. Write down in a word-processing program or spreadsheet every possible home improvement project you want to complete. Include small projects or ones that are more for fun. Brainstorm as many home improvement projects as you want to complete.

2. Organize your list of home improvement projects by room or area of the house. This will help you sort through and prioritize the tasks more easily.

3. Color code to indicate the priority levels of your home improvement projects. Set up a key to your font colors of three levels of priority: Immediate or high priority, necessary but not urgent and ones you would like to do more for fun. Once your list is done, the color-coding system allows you to easily glance at the list and differentiate between the projects.

4. Color code projects that need to be completed immediately as high priority. Examples would be a leaky pipe, missing shingles or a cracked window. Include any projects that could result in injury or further damage to the house. Go through your list and change the font color of these top-priority projects.

5. Color code projects that need to be done but can wait until the highest priority home improvement projects are complete. Go through the list and change the font color of these projects.

6. Color code projects that aren't necessary but you would like to do, including cosmetic home improvement projects such as repainting a room, planting flowers or changing drawer pulls on cabinets.

7. Organize your final list of projects that have been assigned a priority level. You may want to leave it organized by area of the house. Another option is to organize the home improvement projects by priority level. Rearrange them putting the top-priority projects together as well as the lower priority projects.

8. Save a copy of your home improvement project priority list. You may also want to print a copy of the list to keep in the garage. This will be your reminder of the projects that need to be completed.

9. Start working on your home improvement projects. You don't have to go through the list in order. There may be a cosmetic project that you want to finish before your higher-priority projects. This list is just to help you decide which home improvement projects need to be done. How you use it is up to you.

Tips & Warnings

• Mark home improvement projects that need to be completed by a professional. This will remind you that you need to contact the professionals to set up an appointment.

• Update and rearrange your list to better fit your needs.

• Don't start too many projects at once. You may become overwhelmed and not finish any of them.

References

• Cleveland.com: Prioritize Your Home Improvement Plans to Make the Most of Limited Time and Dollars

Resources

• JamesBerger.Net: Home Improvement Plan of Attack