Nonstandard Expectations

If you have read any of my other blogs or just have a general knowledge of what is involved in a renovation project, you understand that a renovation project is a stressful undertaking. There is a financial element that commonly creates anxiety for people. There is the time commitment to making selections and approving a design. Often there is uncertainty as to what the final product will look like, even with detailed drawings and renderings. Will the final product be worth the outlay of financial resources? Will the final product add value to our home in the long run? These are all legitimate questions that create anxiety throughout the renovation process. These are all expectations that client’s anticipate, but there are other lesser thought about expectations.

There will be several things that disrupt your day to day life. If you are just doing a bathroom or a kitchen renovation, you will lose the use of that room for a few weeks or so. Temporary kitchens can be set up in a garage or family room, but they will provide limited resources. Typically, a microwave, coffee pot and small refrigerator. Maybe a hot plate if you have one or invest in one for the duration of the project. A bathroom or utility sink serves as your dishwashing station. Losing a bathroom means that the entire household is going to be utilizing the remaining bathroom in the house. This can create difficulties for some family members. If a project requires removal of walls or roof sections, it sometimes necessitates (or at least makes more sense) to vacate the home; at least for a period of time while major structural changes or systems upgrades are made (sometimes if heat or electric is modified it could be a day or two, if more extensive renovations are being done, it might be a period of weeks or months). While this is a major inconvenience, living a day or two without heat, electricity or water service is a bigger challenge.

Not only can these situations create stress and anxiety for family members, often pets are affected by the renovation process and the disruption to their routine. While we do our best to close doors and windows throughout the comings and goings, occasionally bringing a large item into the home creates an opportunity for a sneaky pet to escape. If we are opening walls, both interior and exterior, these openings are an opportunity for pets to inspect previously inaccessible locations (cats are particularly notorious for these shenanigans). 

Plan on giving up your driveway and garage. Every project gets a temporary toilet (porta-potty) that is usually staged in the driveway (weekly servicing requires easy access) and most projects will also have a dumpster in the driveway. Trade partners establish their budgets based upon quick easy access to the driveway. If off-sight parking is required, additional mobilization charges are added to cover the additional time required for transporting tools, equipment and materials to the jobsite. There are a variety of materials and equipment that need to be stored. Larger tools are occasionally left on-site and material packages (such as tubs, cabinets, etc) are too large to store in the work area. Garages are great resources for staging these deliveries. If there is no room in the garage, the additional expense of bringing in a storage pod is often the best solution. As it says, additional expense and another item taking up space in the driveway (if the client has a bunch of household items in the garage, packing it into a pod and sending it to storage allows us to free up that space in the driveway). 

Inside the home, there will be a variety of dust and surface protective equipment. An open concept kitchen remodel or extensive interior remodel may require a plastic barrier wall to be erected between the work area and areas not being modified. Doorways between the work area and unmodified areas will get plastic barriers. These will also have a zipper system installed to allow access into and out of the work area. Transition areas between entrances and the work area will have some sort of floor protection (solid surfaces such as tile and hardwoods get Ramboard – a thick kraft paper – carpet gets a plastic carpet film designed to protect again debris (footprints and general dust and debris). While these are important aspects of preserving your home, after a period of time it can get tiresome to always deal with dust barriers and floor coverings.

If you work from home, there will be disruptions. During the initial phases, there will be excessive noise. Rework to plumbing, HVAC and electrical systems all come with potential loss of service for a period of time. Electrical modifications are the most inconvenient for work from home situations. Home office wiring may be combined with other circuits being modified or a nuisance trip may interrupt power to your home office or WiFi router. Obviously, this will disable your ability to work from home. We work with you to let you know when these schedule items are happening but, occasionally, unforeseen circumstances happen.

Probably the most consistent event that happens during a construction project is the traffic coming and going on a daily basis. Most trades begin work at 8a and wrap up around 4p. Some tradespeople start at 7a. Others may want to work a bit later than 4p (trying to complete a phase or if they have another project to attend to the following day). Occasionally someone will need to work on a Saturday. Work done outside of the 8a-4p window is rare and every effort is made to coordinate with the client to ensure it is not further disrupting their routine. Every tradesperson is juggling a handful of projects and sometimes, things happen that are out of our control. While it may seem to be an inconvenience, willingness to stay late or work on a Saturday shows initiative and dedication to our process and timely completion of your project.

As I said initially, renovation projects can create stress and anxiety for clients (and contractors). Hopefully we can assist with minimizing that stress and anxiety by creating a comprehensive plan and detailed budget prior to beginning a project. Since I do this daily, I know what to expect and sometimes forget that a client may have never done a renovation project and might not understand or foresee the other challenges that come along with that. They don’t understand why there is plastic throughout their home, or why they have to park on the street or why they can’t work from home. Hopefully this helps to outline what to expect during a renovation project and alleviate some of the anxiety from the unknown.