#5 of the Top 10 Tips When Remodeling

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WE LEARNED TO BE FLEXIBLE AND TO BE PRESENT
HAHAHAHAHAHhahahahahahaaaa! It was fun.

No really, picture the scene for just a moment. We are 17 days from breaking ground on our project. Plans, contracts and coffee mugs covered my large round dining table and the chairs were filled with contractors, electricians, plumbers, an architect and our heating and cooling guy. We planned to schedule everyones jobs and get a rough working plan of the flow of the project to project dates when crews would be needed. But first, the guys had some insight.

“We’ve been talking and we think we can save quite a bit of time and keep everyone safer if you all move out.” This was NOT the plan. The plan was to gut and rebuild the basement moving our kitchen on a much smaller scale down to the basement for phase 2. Then we would all move into the basement while they renovated the upper floors. Our guys came prepared and each stated an estimated amount of time they could shave off the job by doing all of the work at one time. Like a smart wife, I said show me in dollars.

A few pages of figures later, we concluded that we were moving. We shaved 5 weeks off of construction. (In contractor weeks, which means more like 3, but at $4,000 a week in builders and subs it was still worth it.) Now, we just had to find a new place to rent, in a small town, that could house 12 people. Challenge Accepted.

NO PROBLEM, BECAUSE I AM FLEXIBLE AND SLIGHTLY CRAZY

We found a house that was open and rent free due to a divorce and a pending foreclosure. I made the owner promise the sherrif was not going to knock on our door and evict us mid-project. With much assurance that the process of foreclosure took much longer than construction, we agreed to move out of the house. We ordered a storage trailer and had it dropped in the yard and started packing. Doug was working at our restaurant full-time, so it was up to me and the kids to pack up and move all the small goods into the storage outside. We packed a suitcase for each child and moved 60 miles from our house. The rest of this story is a whole other post. Because we were willing to our team out, we made a choice that was not even on the table. After the fact I can say we would have, with certainty, lost our God loving minds had we stayed in the house with 10 kids. We just didn’t think we had other options. When we accepted the challenge of moving, doors started opening. Moving 12 people and a house full of goods should have been crazy but it went smoothly, it was like a very weird vacation.

THIS IS WHERE WE LEARNED PART TWO, BE PRESENT

Being far from your job is difficult. Sometimes you have no choice, but if are able, stopping in to the job site is a good idea. Since our business is in the same town as our home Doug was able to stop in often to check productivity, answer questions and clear up any ambiguities that come with working with a 100 year old home. We picked our contractors and subs. Most of them are guys we hire on a regular basis for work at our restaurant, so we have a good working relationship with them. If you don’t have great kismet with your contractor don’t be put off. It is still your job and it is still your money being spent. Being present allows for you to see mistakes before they happen and head off questions before they become big delays. We did a bit of smaller jobs and finish work ourselves to shave money whenever we could. Checking in often insured the opportunity plan for small jobs and several huge ones. It also gave us an overall sense of connection. Since we had to move out we wanted to still be a part of the experience, small jobs and finish work gave us the chance to do just that. We feel like we had a large part to play in our remodel and there is a good deal of satisfaction there. Don’t miss out on the chance to get your hands dirty.

What areas did you have to flex your plans or expectations in a project? I would love to hear about it.