How to Take the Notorious Horrors Out of Your Home Renovation

“Monika, mine renovazion iss bullsheet”, my friend from Germany boomed on yet another Zoom we were having. Her English becomes heavily accented under duress. She was running out of money, standing in the middle of an utter chaos, her walls open here and there, wires hanging and workers darting in and out. Everything and everyone covered in dust.

Because construction without knowledge and a plan is like a root canal without Novocaine, from Germany to the US and beyond, homeowners suffer from their project-induced trauma and costs as out of control as hair in humid weather.

I don’t want any of that for you. Hence, these 3 tips:

Tip #1: Before anything else, deal with BS.

I mean Budget and Schedule. Also, get really intimate with Quality. These three are capitalized because they are the organizing components of your project. And as intertwined as the father, the son and the holy spirit.

Place them in chronology from the most important to the least important. Whatever ends up occupying the very first place will govern and have impact on the remaining two.

I champion quality because it is what adds value, what endures, what makes us proud, what brings us pleasure. And because it saves us money in the long run.

If you want to control your costs you must set a comprehensive budget. It needs to include relevant construction cost categories, there are 16 of them in total, and at least 15% contingency. 25% if you are renovating instead of building a new home. Take it from someone who had to unexpectedly replace 65% of a historic house foundation because its 120-year old bricks were as powdery as confectionary sugar.

Both your budget and your schedule must be regularly updated. It’s certainly a balancing act but well worth the effort.

Tip #2. Decide what you want to do, have it documented and hire professionals to do the work.

Your home is to be a source of your pleasure. Yours and not some hypothetical future buyers. So don’t torture yourself guessing what they might like and put all your energy into deciding what it is that you want. It is called “scope of work”.

Hire a design professional and a contractor at the same time. Having the latter’s cost input from the very beginning, so that what is being drawn and specified is priced at the same time, will ensure that your project is within your budget.

Additionally, this collaborative approach, rather than competitive bidding approach, saves a lot of time in pre-construction phase and results in a team of likeminded individuals. Consequently, your project will run smoothly and be executed in the spirit of camaraderie with your best interest in everyone’s heart.

So much so that even if you happen to change your mind once construction starts, nobody will wish you stepped on a rusted nail. Your team will have your back. Keep those changes to a minimum though. They can be very costly, especially if you want to add multiple lights after the walls are painted, and they can delay the completion of your project significantly.

Tip #3: Use humor.

Especially when going gets tough, as it will at times. The weather will not cooperate, the delivery truck will not come on time, the building inspector will be obtuse, mistakes will be made unintentionally.

“Monika, construction is better than sex!” my client once exclaimed over a celebratory kale-soup lunch. Maybe you don’t agree with her. The fact is you will have more time once your project is concluded. You might use this extra time to binge on Netflix. OR to have more sex. My favorite “F” word is “Finished!”