We feel it’s important to start this blog post by reminding you why you’re remodeling your home:
1.) You’ve been longing for a better, more functional, more beautiful kitchen/bathroom/basement/bedroom for years.
2.) You’d love the opportunity to simultaneously raise the value of your home and enjoy living in it more.
3.) You can’t wait to live in a home that expresses who you are.
Now that you’re refreshed on why your project is a great idea, we’ll get to the real topic of this blog: how to survive remodeling. We won’t lie and say it’s a piece of cake living with a half-done kitchen, or waiting for your master bath to be usable again. But we will say that the process is much easier with a contractor who’s punctual, friendly, tidy, and extremely skillful (sort of like the guys at V.C.G. Construction).
Surviving your remodeling project is also easier if you take the time to establish some ground rules beforehand. There should be a pre-construction meeting with your contractor in which you find out the following information:
- What parts of your home will be closed off to the work crew?
- How will the trash situation be handled?
- Will there be any interruptions of water, electricity, air conditioning, or other utilities during the project
- Will you need to stay elsewhere during any point in the project? When will this be, and for how long?
- Who will your remodeler contact for everyday decisions and/or after-hours emergencies? Conversely, who is your contact person with the work crew?
- How will children and pets be kept out of the active work site?
- What do you expect in terms of cleanup each day?
- What time will work begin and end each day, and where will workers park?
- Which bathrooms are available for workers?
- Are workers allowed to play music (at an acceptable volume)?
Hopefully, your contractor is consistent and open with communications, and will have clear responses to each of these small but impactful questions. In the meantime, it will help you to set up temporary cooking quarters in a more stable part of the house, establish a relaxation space completely separate from the construction site, and keep dust at bay by sealing off doorways, using drop cloths, and having all deliveries made through one designated entrance.
Remember: Surviving your remodeling project is very much about keeping your eyes on the prize. Once all of the tumult is over, you’ll have the home you’ve been dreaming of, and that makes it all worth it!
