They've made them go thousands over budget, be unhappy with the results, and never want to renovate anything ever again.

The first mistake is not working to plan. Just a Pinterest board.

We get carried away on Pinterest, get our quotes in, work starts, and then we've got millions of decisions to make all last minute.

Our budget flies out the window.

We need to make plans. Detailed floor plans, wall elevation plans. Consolidate inspiration into a single mood board, and make all of the detailed decisions so that when the work starts, you stay on budget and get what you actually want.

Mistake two is not knowing the structure of your room before you plan

You end up planning something impossible, buying the wrong stuff, and spending way more than you need to.

Looking at a bathroom, for example, you need to know where your soil pipe is and where it runs to and from the room so that you can work out what's going to work in your plan.

Wall types—often stud walls are easier to work with; you can bed some plumbing in there, similar to suspended timber floors.

Then it's about access—how easy it is to access the plumbing from above or below the room will affect the effort needed to achieve your plan.

Mistake three is buying something and it not fitting.

You need to measure, get the exact dimensions of the assembled piece, and add that into your plan so that you know it fits and what you're working with.

Mistake four is just not understanding the options available.

It's difficult to figure out what the most energy or water-efficient choice is - or the cheapest to install.

Whatever your criteria, it's left too late, your decision comes down to who does next-day delivery rather than who has the product you actually want.

You're having to weigh up either a compromise or accepting the cost of delaying the project.

This all comes back to having a proper plan in place right from the beginning.

Mistake five is leaving all of the details to the end, so your project doesn't resemble what you wanted to achieve in the first place.

How do you want your tiles edged? What height is the shower going at? Where is the lighting going? The door threshold—how are the two types of flooring going to meet in the hallway? Your pipes—how do you want them, hidden or concealed on top of that wall over there?

Mistake six is not exploring your options and making enough decisions before you go out and get quotes.

If you haven't made enough decisions before you get quotes, there's no chance that the quotes are going to be accurate.

It will be very difficult to compare like-for-like quotes because they just aren't like-for-like.

Every trade is going to have made some assumptions based on the conversation you've had.

So that's it. Use Reno to save yourself from making the same six big mistakes that everybody else has made at the start of their project.