If you’re a contractor or have renovated your home before, you know the unfortunate truth that no project goes off without a hitch. In a perfect world, every renovation would be done under budget and before its scheduled completion date; in our world, however, s#*t happens. Even the most skilled of craftsmen and the best organized contractors make mistakes – it’s just the joy of being human! Here are three of the most common (minor) mistakes in remodeling and, more importantly, how to get past them:
- An item doesn’t arrive when it was supposed to. There are a whole plethora of reasons why something important (tile, plumbing fixtures, trim, etc.) doesn’t arrive when it’s supposed to. From workers’ strikes in Italian tile factories from a bout of bad weather, the possibilities are (regrettably) endless. Communication is key here: do speak to your contractor to figure out how/if the delay will postpone your completion date. Don’t assume other work can be completed while you wait for the missing item to come in: renovation projects have a very specific order of operations that must be followed to ensure the end result comes out looking and functioning as it should.
- Something gets broken. Breaking something old that’s going to get demolished is one thing (we’ve had clients spray paint and take a hammer to old cabinets before they get torn out!). Breaking something new, on the other hand, is an uh-oh. Do trust that your contractor will do what is necessary to make the error right. If you’ve hired the right team, they’re focused on your happiness, not how a broken [light fixture/wall/panel of shower glass] affects their bottom line. Don’t expect the fix to happen overnight, but do expect an update from your contractor before the day is over.
- You hate how X looks. If you thought chartreuse paint was the color for your living room, only to find out once the walls were painted that you were sorely mistaken – worry not. Once again, if you’ve got the right guy (or gal!), they’ll work to make sure you’re happy, revising anything as needed. Do pipe up as soon as you realize you’ve made a design mistake; the sooner the better. If you notice you don’t like a paint color and the painters have only begun to dip their rollers, the cost to change the color will be less than if they had already painted the entire room. Don’t beat yourself up. As this article states, everyone makes mistakes – that could mean you! Speak with your remodeler to figure out what a re-do entails, from additional time needed to potential costs involved.
Nobody, neither the homeowner nor the contractor, wants an error during their renovation, but if you’re prepared for the possibility of a hiccup and have a plan in your back pocket for moving forwards, the entire process becomes that much easier. In the mean time, take a deep breath and believe me when I say: everything is going to turn out just fine. Phew! That wasn’t so bad, was it?
