Hard Lessons Shared By a Homeowner
By Rose McCauley

It took three years of perseverance for my family to get the “new” house we wanted.

Our house was 45 years old, 2,000 square feet and six rooms (including three small bedrooms) and one-and-half baths. Our new "palace" is 2,700 square feet with a magnificent great room, a modern kitchen, an expanded basement and an additional bathroom.

It took a long time; a very long time. So long, visiting relatives teased us that they had come expecting to see our renovated house.

I wish knew then what I know now; it would have saved a lot of headaches and frustration. The two keys to surviving -- financially and psychologically -- a big construction project are PLANNING and COMMUNICATION. My husband and I are both patient people and good planners; still there were delays, unforeseen problems and communication breakdowns that tested our emotional endurance and flexibility.
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Plan, Plan, Plan – and Then Plan Some More!

Dreaming, Budgeting, and Searching for a General Contractor

My husband I spent nearly two years planning before we broke ground.

We dreamed, looked through magazines (which, I did not find to be very helpful – too trendy, too expensive, too impractical, too magazine-y!), went to open houses, talked to everyone we knew who had remodeled or was remodeling.

We spent long time thinking about why we really wanted to do this project. Questions we asked ourselves were:

What pieces of the plan were “non-negotiable” and what are we willing to compromise on?
Were we hoping to build a “dream house” or simply make the best of what we had available? 

Next we came up with budget; you can’t plan realistically without knowing how much you can afford.  Remodeling projects almost always cost than the original estimate, so you should have a 10-20% cushion. If you can’t afford the cushion, scale back to avoid the nightmare of living in an 80 percent completed house.

Then we were ready to hire an architect and finally a general contractor. We sought recommendations from people we know, checked out the lawn signs from projects around town. We found our architect by walking our fingers through the phone book. While you want people who do good work a good working relationship with those you hire is equally important. It took six months to swapping ideas and looking over drawings with our architect before our plans were finalized.

It took us three months to settle on a contractor. You meet with each general contractor at least once and then you wait for them work up an estimate, often you have to call him or her to remind before you get the estimate. Our general contractor was recommended by our architect and he was the only contractor who gave us an estimate without a reminder call. We took that as a sign there would be good lines of communication between him and us during the project.

You should also need a plan for dealing with the stress. Some of the stress comes from the daily grind of the project itself and some is personal. For example, how much dust will drive you crazy? How will you handle living in half your old house for months and eating microwave meals? The jarring noise of the generator or the nail gun? The umpteenth change order? The growing gap between your budget and your expenditures? And all the little things that go “wrong” during the project?

You might want to do what I did, take up yoga and meditation six months before you break ground. It will help you get through it.

How to Live through the Construction Project

Get all the help you can and most importantly, prepare yourself for upheaval.

If you have kids, you will need to have strategies in place for their care. Before construction begins you need to shop and meet with many people (architects, potential contractors, possibly subcontractors depending on how much your general contractor does and how much you do on your own), and no matter how much you love your children, you aren’t going to want them around. My kids refused to sit in a cart in Lowe’s while my husband and I checked out cabinet pulls for our new kitchen. No way were they coming to the tile store! So think ahead about how your kids will be occupied while you are busy.

Safety is a crucial concern during construction. Our youngsters were 4 and 2 when suddenly what had for all their lives been the back door to our deck became the door to a ten-foot drop off into what would eventually be our bigger basement. You might need to invest in gates and other safety items.

While our kitchen was torn apart, we moved into our partially finished basement. We stacked the toaster oven on top of the microwave on top of the dryer in our laundry room. We did dishes in the utility sink, though mostly we added to landfills with paper plates during construction. We ate a lot of microwaveable food; relatives and friends prepared and delivered plenty of easy-to-reheat meals and casseroles. After the project, we repaid their kindnesses with a dinner in our new kitchen! Do not be afraid to ask for help!

Remodeling projects take longer and cost more than you think. They’re also usually dirtier, noisier, and more unpredictable than you imagine. I think I just reached a sort of Zen-state in my mind about the meanings of words like temporary and delayed-gratification and clean floor.

It’s important that you know your comfort levels and that you be flexible when those levels are tested – repeatedly.

Communication is Key

Ask Lots of Questions & Get the Answers in Writing Whenever Possible!

Good communication with your general contractor is imperative. Not only will this keep the project moving ahead, it also forges a positive relationship. Be open with your contractor. If you have questions or concerns, ask! Insist that your contractor do the same.

We wound up choosing the contractor we liked best. He did us give us the lowest estimate but the deal maker was that we LIKED and TRUSTED him. Good thing, he practically lived with us for almost six months!

One of the best things our contractor pointed out was that we were coming from different perspectives. For us, this project was our home. He did his best to help us through our once-in-a-lifetime experience, though for him, it was one project in a long line of projects. That attitude and his communication skills made him great to work with. Don’t undervalue your personal connection with your contractor!

You will also need to communicate well with the people you’re buying from and hiring for services. One mishap during our project concerned the bathroom countertop. We wanted a coved backsplash along the back and caulked backsplashes along two sides. The first time the installers came with the countertop, none of the splashes were coved. I held up progress by insisting that the countertop be the way I wanted it – not the way it was on the order form.

Looking back, I see the real trouble was that too many people were involved. I didn’t order the countertop from the people who installed. Instead I bought from a salesperson at a kitchen and bath place, who then worked with someone at a countertop fabricator, who then worked with the installers. Simplifying the lines of communication is SO important!


Be Available in Person, and Fewer Mistakes are Made

After the completion of our project, people asked if there was anything we’d do differently or anything we regretted. I always come back to the kitchen external exhaust fan. It’s too loud. And that fan is one of the few things I bought based solely on what I read about it … on-line!

The web is a great tool, but I recommend you to see, test, use, touch and get a demonstration of everything you buy.
 
We were fortunate to have a person at home throughout the entire construction project (I’m a stay-at-home mom). This was great advantage. Any time a question came up -- Where did we want the light switch? Where did we want the outdoor hose-bib? How high did we want the cathedral ceiling in the great room? -- I was there to consider the possibilities and give them an answer. 

Decide how you will handle the sometimes small, sometimes large, questions that will come up most everyday. It’s an important that you and your contractor agree how those situations will be handled at the start of the project. If not, chances are, if they can’t reach you for an answer (especially if it’s something “small”) they will decide for you. You don’t want any surprises.

Being there also helps make sure your contractor cleans up at the end of the day.

Hopefully you can learn from our experience and get a house you love to call home with a minimum of aggravation.