Home improvement projects take forever! First you must decide, and agree, on a lot of things. Design contracting teams to budget to labor to materials to timeline, it’s enough to make you stop before you start. From your initial consultation until your home renovation project is complete, it feels like it can take a very long time. Part of the time frame is understanding what you want and having it coincide with what the people you hire can do for you.

The Reason behind the Decision

What is driving your decision to involve yourself in the mess of home improvement? Are you making the space better for you and your family? Are you adding value? Both are valid reasons. But if you are following the latest trends, it might not be worth the time, money and pain. In other words, the reason for the renovation needs to be bigger than the aggravation. https://money.com/diy-home-improvements-add-value/

Process

The initial design can take a while to get right, with many revisions. A job should never be priced out until you know exactly what you want. (You cannot compare apples to apples unless this very important step is taken.) Then the contractor will come see your project. Then the sub-contractors come to see your project. Any of these people can and will make suggestions. You might change your mind and then changes are made to the project. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it does skew any job estimates and timeline already discussed.

Another thing capable of causing a project delay might be the availability of products and professionals. And wow! have we seen this during the pandemic. We have no control over our favorite contractor calling it quits and retiring. We have no control over the manufacturing process of the products you choose. However, we can suggest alternatives that might have a better and quicker availability. Why hire a designer?

Labor

Unless the person you hire is a designer, builder, carpenter, electrician, plumber, painter, etc., he/she must rely on the labor force.

The availability of good, reliable labor is also a relative (and interesting) topic. When someone is readily available, it can mean a few things. Sometimes, they could have just had a cancellation in their schedule. However, they could also be so over-priced that they do not have a backlog of projects. They could also be horrible at what they do and don’t have a ton of clients and so, have plenty of free time.

Project Progress

Then there is the actual work process and order of events to consider. You have planned your home improvement, accepted a job estimate for costs and time, ordered your products or given the professionals the ‘okay’ to place the orders. Once everything has arrived, the sub-contractors begin and then there might be days where nothing is done. Why is that? Well, sub-contractors have to be scheduled to go from job to job and sometimes that schedule does not flow quite the way you – or we – would prefer.

In the end

We would like your job to go quickly and smoothly, so that you can enjoy your new space as soon as possible. Our hope is that in educating you about the project timeline process, you have a better understanding as to how and why things happen the way they do. Home improvement can take a long time. But you don’t want to do the project twice!