First and always the most asked question is, “How much will my project cost” Almost any professional will say “You haven’t given me enough information to do that.” This is always the wrong answer.
You can’t blame them see The Ballpark Estimate Trap.
Their process is careful and linear working through all the likely issues of existing condition, permitting etc., creating some documents and working with a contractor to arrive at a reasonable cost. This is an excellent process and costs a bunch of money and takes time. And when the price is surprising you will be frustrated and feel you are back at square one just a little poorer.
But what you can do is play The Budget Game. Using an AI Assistant, you can build a game board with all the parts of your dream renovation, things you want to do now and future pieces. You can develop a budget for your project.
A professional will say, “that’s not a reliable budget.” They’re correct. But it’s a reasonable guess, the kind a seasoned professional would make. And it allows you to mix and match your ideas into a project; all without the time and cost of engaging a designer or contractor or having to create a spreadsheet.
If you make a cold request in an AI browser about what something costs, you get a lot of information, but it has limited usefulness. So, I created an estimating tool which provides instructions, format and an estimating strategy so that the interaction is useful and consistent. Some might be skeptical ,others just wondering what this might look like. Here is a Case Study, take a look. But don’t forget to come back.
But before you get started. the tools on this site run inside Claude, a free AI assistant— not something built or hosted by me. If you don’t already have it, take two minutes now and set it up: go to claude.ai, sign up with an email or a Google account. No credit card, no commitment.
LET’S PLAY
Open your Claude browse. Here is the link to The Budget Game file. Copy and paste that file into the free Claude browser and enter BEGIN and The Budget Game will take it from there.
You will be prompted to describe your project. Write a little or a lot. You can work directly in the AI browser, but if I have a lot to say I prefer to work in word or google docs first the copy and paste the description. Your first entry will begin a Question-and-Answer session. You will be asked questions intended to clarify your project and to get you thinking about what you really want. Aside from what the assistant asks you can always ask your own questions or seek design advice,
You might be skeptical. How does this work and what kind for budget will I get. Here is a link to a Case Study, a real project description and the resulting budget. Pretty amazing,
In the end, you will have some idea of what your project will cost. Are you prepared to move forward with that in mind? Do you need to recast the project? Do you just need to find more money? You can work through all of this with the Budget Game until you reach a conclusion even if it’s to pause. But you may have identified some smaller projects that you can purse.
Now, if you want to answer How Long Will it Take, go play The Schedule Game
Or browse other content.Table of Contents
Pro tips
The Budget Game was created to minimize frustration. Some of you will have little experience or patience with describing your project. It’s just an idea. That’s fine start with anything. “Build a new deck” and let the Budget Tool lead you from there. Some of you will have a lot of information. You will have researched appliances, browsed images, taken pictures of your home.
I find it’s more fun to start small and begin the game. The Budget Game was designed to be simple, something you could play while sitting in bed over your morning coffee and get the first answer. Then keep playing and add more, photos, notes, or sketches, even on a bar napkin.